2.The House of Commons

The House of Commons，or the Lower House，is constitutionally the dominant House，consisting of the elected representatives of the people.Each representative，known as a Member of Parliament（MP），sits for a parliamentary constituency，and there were 650members in 2010representing the same number of the constituencies.The number can be varied not only by Act of Parliament，but also by constituency changes recommended by the boundary commission.

Any British man and woman aged over 18years may vote in parliamentary elections.The only exceptions are the obvious ones，such as lunatics and also peers，who already have seats in the House of Lords.Anyone entitled to vote may also be a candidate for election to the House of Commons，but certain classes of people are forbidden to sit in the House.These include judges，civil servants，members of the regular armed forces，full-time police officers，and members of many public boards and commissions.

When a person is formally nominated as a candidate for election to the House of Commons he must pay a deposit of￡150，which he loses if he fails to obtain one-eighth of the votes at the election.A person may be a candidate in any constituency，even if he has no connections with the place.So if a member of the House of Commons loses his seat by being defeated at a general election，he can later try to be elected for another place.Many prominent members have no local connections.They have sat for several different places during their political careers.

The House of Commons

The House of Commons is chosen as a whole at a general election which normally takes place every five years.But if the government is defeated in the Commons on the issue，the Prime Minister either resigns or asks the monarch to dissolve the parliament.In the latter case a general election will be held before the fixed date.The Prime Minister can also decide on a general election before the legal time-limit at the time favourable to the victory of his or her party.By this way the Prime Minister may continue to stay in power.The party that won the majority of seats in the House of Commons will form the government.

All the MPs are elected from constituencies by simple majority of votes.When an MP has retired or died，or he has been transferred to the House of Lords，another is elected at a by-election⁴ to occupy his seat in the House of Commons.On election an MP is required to swear loyalty to the Crown and to acknowledge the sovereign as head of the Church of England.This done，he has no legally enforceable duties to perform and need not even attend the House again.Elected to represent his constituency as a whole，an MP is normally committed to a particular political party，following its policy and subject to the discipline of its whips⁵.If he frequently disagrees with his party he would probably lose his seat in the House without the support of the major party.

The life of parliament is divided into periods called“sessions”.A session normally lasts for about a year，from late October to about the same date of the next year.The beginning of a new session，called“the State Opening of Parliament”，is a fine ceremonial occasion，which takes place in the House of Lords with a few leading members of the House of Commons standing crowded together at the end of the chamber opposite to the Throne.On this occasion，the Queen will read out the Queen’s Speech，which is a document，about a thousand words in length，prepared by the Government，in which the Government outlines its planned program and the policies it intends to follow.When the one-week debates on the Queen’s Speech are finished，Parliament is ready to begin the actual work of the session.

The presiding officer of the House of Commons is called Speaker，who is elected by the House at the beginning of every new parliament.Formerly the seat of a reigning Speaker was not contested at a general election，but there have been departures from this practice in recent years.The duty of the Speaker is to apply the rules and traditions of the House impartially，with regard for the rights of all members.He selects speakers from the MPs who rise to catch his eye，decides on amendments to be discussed，calls divisions，grants or refuses emergency debates，and rules on points of order.