UK Parliament

UK Parliament: House of Commons

The House of Commons is one of the two chambers of parliament. It is also known as the upper house. The members are elected through a public vote in general elections. Their main role is to debate and scrutinise proposed legislation and bring forth their own bills.

There are six hundred and fifty seats within the House of Commons. Most Members of Parliament (MPs) have been elected and gained a seat representing a political party, though some may run independently. MPs also represent their constituency alongside their political party. There are 650 constituencies within the UK parliament, and each MP represents a single constituency.

UK Parliament: House of Lords

The House of Lords is the second chamber within parliament, also known as the upper house. Alongside the House of Commons, they vote and debate upon proposed legislation. Scrutinising it and proposing changes where necessary. There is not a set number of seats, but in 2022, there were seven hundred and sixty-seven members within the House of Lords.

However, unlike the House of Commons, the House of Lords are not publicly elected. Most are nominated by those who have worked within the political and legal system throughout their lives, known as life peers.

Some members of the House of Lords hold their seats as hereditary peers – meaning that they inherit the position through their family. There are around 700 hereditary peers, but only 92 are entitled to a seat. The rest vote for who will sit in the House of Lords. The third type of seat held within the House of Lords is the Lords Spiritual, 26 of which the bishops of the UK hold.

UK Parliament's functions

The UK's parliament has three primary functions, passing legislation, parliamentary scrutiny, and providing ministers. Arguably the most important of these functions is to pass legislation. To do this, all proposed legislation must be deeply evaluated so that laws are fair. As such, parliament must debate and adjust them before they become legislation. The process in which this is done is known as the billing process.

Billing Process for a UK Act of Parliament

To pass an Act of Parliament in the UK a proposed bill needs to go through the billing process in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. While most bills begin in the House of Commons, they can start in either house. For both Houses the process is the same:

• First Reading: read the bill that has been put forward, no debate

• Second Reading: debate the bill, but no amendments are made

• Committee Stage: amendments are made to the bill

• Report Stage: changes are reported back to the relevant House

• Third Reading: final debates and changes are made

Once approved by the House of Commons, the bill moves to the House of Lords (or vice versa) to undergo the billing process. If changes are made to the bill, it will go through the process again. If the houses don’t agree on the changes made, it will move back and forth between the House of Commons and the House of Lords until they agree.

Finally, once the houses have agreed, the bill gets passed to the Crown to receive 'royal assent'. This is the final stage in the billing process, where the monarch signs the bill so that it becomes law.

Process of the passage of a bill, Wikimedia Commons

Other parliamentary functions

Parliament is also there to hold the executive branch of the government to account. Making sure that they adhere to the constitution and don't abuse their power. Parliament is, therefore, part of a process known as parliamentary scrutiny. They do this in three primary ways. Firstly, through select committees which relate to governmental departments. Another way they do this is by posing questions to individual ministers on the matter, requesting either an oral or written response (e.g. a weekly Q&A in the House of Commons through the prime minister's questions). The final way is through a debate within the House of Lords or the House of Commons.

Another function of parliament is to provide ministers to represent and sit in cabinet as part of the executive branch of the government. To be a minister you must hold a seat in one of the Houses of Parliament. Lastly, the representation of the people is also a function of the UK parliament, though this only happens through the House of Commons, as this is the elected chamber of parliament.

Members of the UK Parliament

People of the UK elect the Members of Parliament, or MPs, to the House of Commons in general elections. The public votes for the candidate they wish to represent their area within this process. These nominees usually represent a particular political party, such as the Conservatives or the Labour Party. How many constituencies a party wins determines how many seats they gain in the House of Commons. Therefore, every MP will represent their constituencies and their political party and will therefore often raise issues in the House of Commons relevant to their own constituency.

Petitioning Parliament in the UK

In the UK, one of the civil rights is that every individual is allowed to petition their parliament on matters of concern. If a petition gets enough signatures, it may persuade parliament to debate specific issues. Petitioning is a great way for parliament to understand and be made aware of the public's concerns. The ability to petition parliament is how the public can directly affect parliament.

There is a UK Parliament petitions website which organises petitions in the UK. If a petition reaches 10,000 signatures, then the government must respond. If it reaches 100,000 signatures, then there is usually a debate in parliament. The Petitions Committee in the House of Commons is responsible for organising this.

Devolution in UK Parliament

Devolution is an important feature of the parliamentary system of the UK.

It is a particularly important feature for the UK as parliament, the executive and the judiciary share devolved powers with Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and England. These powers are usually over more local matters such as education and the environment but differ depending on who the powers are devolved to.

Even though the parliament has devolved some powers to these regional and local governments, there are some powers that only the UK parliament has; these are called reserved powers. They include matters of criminal law, human rights, international and national trading laws, laws that concern the NHS, and powers over detention.

There are several reasons that parliament has devolved some of their powers to these regional and local governments. Firstly, there is often greater local knowledge at the regional and local levels, meaning these areas can be governed more effectively than by the central government.

Another reason that parliament shared devolved powers is that some of these areas, especially Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, wanted more control over their nations. For Scotland and Wales, there were successful referendums in 1997 to ask the people if they wanted devolved powers. However, Northern Ireland gained its devolved powers through the Belfast Agreement 1998, also known as the Good Friday Agreement 1998, which helped end the conflict between Ireland and the UK. Therefore, giving devolved powers to these nations within the UK was due to their desires for autonomy and independence from the central government.

The last reason that parliament shared devolved powers was to lessen the strain on the system, especially for the devolution of parliamentary powers within England.

Some people have criticised the devolution of parliamentary powers by saying that it weakened parliamentary sovereignty, which is an important principle in the UK. Though others say that even though it does reduce the power of parliament because they still hold reserved powers, they are still sovereign.

Another criticism of parliamentary devolution in the UK is that giving regional governments increased independence and autonomy, especially Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, will give them a taste of freedom and leave them wanting more. Though others argue the opposite, that giving them this extra independence will satisfy them