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Let’s start...
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy.
Britain does not
have a written constitution, but a set of laws
Parliament is the most important authority in Britain. Technically Parliament is made up of three parts: the Monarch, the House of Lords; and the House of Commons. In reality the House of Commons is the only one of the three which has true power.
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Th Monarch
The monarch serves formally as head of
state.
. But the monarch is expected to be politically
neutral and should not make political decisions.
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The present sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II. She
was crowned in Westminster Abbey in 1953.
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The House of Commons
consists of Members of Parliament.
There are 650 of them in the House of
Commons. They are elected by secret ballot. General elections are held every five years. The country is divided into 650 constituencies.
All citizens, aged 18 and registered in a constituency, have the right to vote. But voting is not compulsory in Britain. Only persons convicted of corrupt and certain mentally ill patients don't take part in voting.
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More facts about the House of Commons
This is
the lower chamber but the one with the most
authority.
The House of Commons sits each week day for about half of the weeks of the year
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The Commons is chaired by the Speaker.
The
House of Commons currently comprises 650 Members of Parliament
or MPs
Each member in the House of Commons represents a geographical constituency.
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The last General Election was held in May
2010 and the result was as follows.
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The House of Lords
This is the upper chamber
but the one with less authority.
Its main roles
are to revise legislation and keep a check on Government by scrutinizing its activities.
Since 1911, its power to block "money bills" is limited to one month and its power to block other bills is limited to one session, so ultimately it cannot block the will of the House of Commons.
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The House of Lords
comprises about 1,200 peers
It is
presided by the Lord Chancellor.
The House of Lords
has no real power.
It acts rather as an advisory council.
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There is no fixed number of members in
the House of Lords, but currently there are around
830 members - many more than in the House of Commons. Historically most members of the House of Lords have been what we called hereditary peers.
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İMPORTANT!!!
It's in the House of Commons that new
bills are introduced and debated.
If the majority of the
members are in favour of a bill, it goes to the House of Lords to be debated.
The House of Lords has the right to reject a new bill twice.
But after two rejections they are obliged to accept it. And finally a bill goes to the monarch to be signed. Only then it becomes law.
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The Prıme Minister
the current PM - David Cameron
- is the 53rd
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the Prime Minister is a very powerful figure
and increasingly has been behaving much like a president
in other political systems, especially in the area of foreign policy.
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The official residence of the Prime Minister is
at 10 Downing Street.
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There are few political parties in Britain thanks
to the British electoral system. The main ones are:
the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the Liberal / Social Democratic Alliance.
Each political party puts up one candidate for each constituency. The one who wins the most votes is elected MP for that area.
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The party which wins the most seats in
Parliament forms the Government. Its leader becomes the Prime
Minister. His first job is to choose his Cabinet. The Prime Minister usually takes policy decisions with the agreement of the Cabinet.
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Let’s check up your knowledge (mark the statement
as TRUE of FALSE)
Great Britain is the only active
constitutional monarchy in the world.
true/ false
2. A constitutional monarch is a figurehead with no power in the government.
true false
3. Queen Elizabeth II is also known as Her Majesty Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada. true false
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5. The Prime Minister is the Commander-in-Chief of
the British Armed Forces. true false
6. Britain has a written constitution
similar to the United States Constitution. true false
7. In the British system, the Queen appoints the prime minister and cabinet ministers and assents to legislative bills passed by Parliament. true false
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8. Who is the head of state?
9. The
British Parliament consists of which two chambers?
10. The House
of Commons is where ...
11. How many Members of Parliament (MP) are there?
12. What is the House of Lords' function in parliament?
