2. Parliament

The British Parliament consists of three elements: the Crown, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. They do different work in different places and meet only on occasions of symbolic significance such as the coronation, the opening of Parliament by the Crown in person or when the Commons are summoned by the Crown to the House of Lords. The official head of Parliament is the Queen.

The British Parliament is often referred to as “the legislature”—the body which makes or unmakes laws. The life of Parliament is fixed at five years. During its life it even has power to prolong its own life by legislative means beyond the normal period without consulting the electorate. New laws can come into effect only when they have passed through Parliament. As a lawmaking organ of state, however, Parliament is a corporate body and cannot legislate without the concurrence of all its elements.

When a bill is proposed, it first begins in the House of Commons. According to very ancient practice, it must have three readings there. If the Commons and the Lords pass it, it must finally go to the Queen for her signature.

Apart from passing bills, the British Parliament has other things to do. The government cannot legally spend any money without the permission of the House of Commons. This permission is given in the form of Acts of Parliament authorizing the payment of sums ofmoney out of the consolidated fund, which can be regarded as the government’s central bank account and the people’s money. There are two bills for payment in each year one in late March, the other at the end of July. If the House reduced any expenditure, the government would regard it as a vote of no confidence, but that would not happen because the party majority can be relied on to vote for it. The House of Commons still keeps in rather close contact with taxation. Each year the taxes are authorized by a Finance Act, which is based on the Budget presented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

2.1　The House of Lords

The House of Lords is the oldest part of Parliament. It evolved from a council. Before the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Anglo-Saxon kings consulted the Great Council （an assembly of the leading men from each district） before making important decisions. Between 1066 and 1215 the king ruled alone, but in 1215 King John signed the Magna Carta and gave some of his powers to the nobles. In later centuries, the king was forced to take advice. In 1264 the first parliament of nobles got together.

After the House of Commons appeared in late 13th century, the House of Lords continued to exist as a separate part of Parliament. The 1688 “Glorious Revolution” established its status as part of the English Parliament through compromising with the House of Commons.

Though the House of Lords （also called the Upper House） is largely a historical relic, the lords still keep their titles and even have many of their ancient privileges. On certain state occasions they all assemble in their magnificent robes with little coronets on their heads. They come according to rank: the Dukes and Duchesses, then the Marquesses and Marchionesses, then the Earls and Countesses, then the Viscounts and Viscountesses, and finally the Barons and Baronesses. Of the total of 1 162 members （mid-1985） there are about 300 who never attend at all and about 500 who only come very rarely. There are only about 250 who come with any degree of regularity. Since a peer is excluded from the Commons and therefore, from the office of Prime Minister and in addition gets no parliamentary salary. Though he can enjoy a small allowance for each day of attendance, politicians of the first rank are not usually willing to be made peers. Engels called the House of Lords a resthouse of the retired in political circles.

The House of Lords and the House of Commons, which share the same building of the Palace, were built between 1840 and 1852, to replace the buildings which had been ruined by the fire in 1834. The House of Lords meets on three afternoons each week （from Tuesday toThursday） and sometimes on Monday, too. It sits on about 120 days a year. Its timetable is less crowded than that of the Commons because it has no urgent government business to tackle, and it is really powerless to decide any important things.

Theoretically the House of Lords is equal in power with the House of Commons, except in matters of taxation and expenditure; no bill of Parliament can become law unless the House of Lords has been consulted.

But in 1911 an Act was passed under which the House of Lords could not prevent for more than two years a bill from passing into law. That period was reduced to one year by a further Act passed when the Labor Government was in power in 1949. So the House of Lords has no power to prevent the passing of legislation approved by the House of Commons.

The House of Lords seems to be useless, yet the British people are unwilling to lose something they have had for so long. However, the Labor Party now objects to the principle of the existence of a House with an aristocratic foundation. So it is reasonable to say that in the long run much of the work of the House of Lords is wasted because few people pay much attention to it.

2.2　The House of Commons

The House of Commons which is also known as the Lower House is where the real power lies. Though it came into being at the end of the 13th century, universal suffrage did not begin in the U.K. until comparatively recently. Therefore, the members of the House of Commons are not appointed, but elected at the present time. The Commons consists of 651 members（1993） who are elected from the 651 electoral districts of the U.K. called constituencies. Its members hold their seats for a maximum period of five years, although the government can hold a General Election at any time during its term. When a member of the Commons dies or goes to the House of Lords, another is elected at a by-election to occupy his seat in the House of Commons.

The head of the House of Commons is the Speaker or President of the Chamber, who is chosen by a vote of the House, but only after the private agreement of the Party leaders on a particular person has been reached. After he accepts office as Speaker, he is expected to refrain from any party political activities for the rest of his period of office and there is no normal partisan representative of his constituency in Parliament. He is very influential, next only to the Prime Minister in rank. He has the right to maintain the order of the Chamber, to decide which member should speak first, to appoint members of the quorum and to do many otherthings. Since 1911, all the members of the House of Commons receive salaries. In 1992, each member got £30 854 a year, and an allowance of £39 960 for secretarial and research expenses, and other allowances, including the privilege of being able to travel free of charge on the railway between London and his constituency.

The Commons use the northern part of the Palace of Westminster. Ministers have offices for themselves in that part of the palace, but most of the other Members of the Commons do not. The House of Commons meets every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 2:30 in the afternoon and sits until 10:30 p.m., sometimes until twelve or even all through the night. On Friday it meets at 11 a.m. and finishes at 4:30 p.m..

The quorum in the House of Commons is forty members. If there are not forty in attendance the session is put off. The average attendance of an M. P. （Member of Parliament） is about 175 days a year. The shape and arrangement of the chamber of the House are of great political significance. It is rectangular.

When the meeting is in progress, the Speaker sits at one end in the center; the right side of the Speaker is occupied by the Government and the majority members who support it; and the left side by Her Majesty’s Opposition—the members of the party who are opposed to the Government. The arrangement expresses the fundamental principle of the British Parliamentary system. The arrangement of the benches on either side in the House of Commons suggests a two-party system.

The House of Commons is divided in the light of political parties. The stronger party forms the Government and the weaker the Opposition, that is, the Government governs and the Opposition opposes.

The British greatly value their Opposition. They think there is not a democracy without one because the members of the Opposition are not just trouble-makers. The Opposition criticizes government policy, suggests Government policy, suggests amendments and points out other matters which the Government might ignore. Their work is based on the agreement:“the minority agrees that the majority must govern, and therefore accepts its decisions; and the majority agrees that the minority should criticize, and therefore sets time aside for that criticism to be heard. So there is some cooperation between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The latter also receives a salary from state funds.

There is about an hour of “Question Time” every day after prayers and some preliminaries, except on Fridays, in which Members are given a chance to ask questions like,“Is the Minister aware that?” when they think there is something not quite as clear as it shouldbe. Every written question must be handed to the officials of the House at least 48 hours before the answer; these officials then give the questions to the ministers.

At “Question Time” the ministers answer the questions one by one. Question Time is the most widely known and the procedural device of the British House of Commons is admired by many other countries. Many bills are initiated by the Cabinet nowadays in the House of Commons. The function of the British Parliament is to discuss, criticize, oppose, ask for minor amendments, and in the end to approve. Because the majority of the members of the House of Commons belong to the stronger party which forms the Government, the majority will inevitably vote for the Cabinet’s proposals. So, though the Parliament is normally a law-making body, M. P. s are not law makers. The members of the stronger party in the House of Commons are law makers.

Apart from legislation and finance mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, the House of Commons can discuss “what the Government has done, is doing and intends to do”. They discuss the Government’s policies in many respects, urgent or long-term, showing up the Government’s errors and persuading it to change or modify its policies. Unemployment, the state of agriculture, the improvement of roads, a crisis in foreign affairs, a strike at home and many other topics of political interest require action by the Government. Members of the Commons may urge the Government to act more quickly or less quickly and are constantly looking for ways of improvement.