Westminster - the seat of Parliament




Her Majesty's Government, in spite of its name, derives its authority and power from its party representation in Parliament. While the government machinery is frequently referred to as 'Whitehall', Parliament is known as 'Westminster', since it is housed in the Palace of Westminster, once a home of the monarchy... Like the monarchy, Parliament is an ancient institution, dating from the middle of the thirteenth century.

Parliament is the seat of British democracy, but it is perhaps valuable to remember that while the House of Lords was created in order to provide a council of the nobility for the king, the Commons were summoned originally in order to provide the king with money.«The more money a king demanded, the more the Commons questioned its use. Because of its growing, financial power, its ability to" raise or withhold", money, the House of Commons eventually - from the seventeenth century onwards - gained power not only in matters of finance but also of legislation over both the monarch and also the Lords. Parliament is the supreme legislative body of the state. Free from the constraint of a written constitution it may make any laws it pleases. It could even prolong its own life without consulting the electorate, if it chose to do so. Thus Parliament, rather than the will of the people, is clearly the real sovereign power in the state. The only guarantee against parliamentary tyranny is the sense of tradition and reasonablenance of its members.

Furthermore, in practice it is not Parliament as a whole which is sovereign, but the government of the day and its supporters, since they almost invariably form a majority in the Commons. For the duration of its normal term, five years,.the government of the day may enact or implement its policies, so long as it can ensure party support in the Commons. In the words of one distinguished and long-serving parliamentarian who has sat in both the Commons and the Lords, Britain's parliamentary system is in practice a form of 'elective dictatorship', an important qualification on the idea of Britain as a democracy.

Parliament's functions today are to pass laws, to raise enough money through taxation to enable the government to function, to examine government policy and administration, particularly its financial programme, and to debate or discuss important political issues.

The life of a Parliament is not fixed, and the government of the day may call for a general election at any time during its five-year term. Each Parliament is divided into annual sessions, running normally from October to October with breaks for public holidays and for a long summer 'recess' (usually late July until October)".

The House of Commons

The dynamic power of Parliament lies in the House of Commons. Its 659 members represent 529 constituencies in England, 40 in Wales, 72 in Scotland and 18 in Northern Ireland. There are only seats in the Commons debating chamber ftor 370 members, but except on matters of great interest, it is unusual for all members to be press at any one time. Many MPs find themselves in other rooms of the Commons, participating in a variety of committees and meetings necessary for an effective parliamentary process.

The shape of the Commons debating chamber makes an important comment on the political process in Britain. Unlike many European chambers which are semicircular, thus reflecting the spectrum of political opinion in their seating plan, the Commons is rectangular, with the Speaker's (the presiding MP) chair at one end, and either side of it five rows of benches running the length of the chamber. On one side, to the Speaker's right, sits Her Majesty's Government and its supporters, and on the other Her Majesty's Opposition, composed of all Members who oppose the government. The front benches on either side are reserved for members of the Cabinet and other Ministers, and Opposition spokesmen, known as the 'Shadow Cabinet', respectively.

Behind them and further down the chamber sit MPs from their own party, known as 'back-benchers”. The layout Hints at two features of British political life: that it has traditionally been a two-party system and that the process is essentially adversarial (indeed, a red line on the floor in front of each front bench still marks the limit - a little more than two swords' lengths - beyond which a Member may not approach the opposite benches). The Speaker is chosen by a vote of the entire House, although in practice the party leaders consult their supporters in order to achieve informal agreement beforehand. The Speaker is responsible for the orderly conduct of business, and is required to act with scrupulous impartiality between Members in the House. In the words of one past Speaker, 'It's not my duty as Speaker to bend arguments in any way, but to ensure that everything that happens here is seen clearly by those who put us here. We are, after all, the servants of those who put us here: the electorate.' The Speaker is assisted by three Deputy Speakers. Unlike peers, who can only claim expenses, MPs are paid salaries, approximately twice the average national wage, but substantially less than most MPs could earn outside the Commons.

The House of Lords

The upper chamber of Parliament, the House o Lords, is not democratic in any sense at all. It consists of four categories of peer, totalling 1,1 members in 1996. The majority are hereditary, peers, currently about 750, of whom only about half take an active interest in the affairs of state. A smaller number, about 400, are 'life' peers - an idea introduced in 1958 to elevate to the peerage certain people who have rendered political or public service to the nation. The purpose was not merely to honour but also to enhance the quality of business done in the Lords...Only one-quarter of these life peers are women. All life peers are created on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of the day, with nominations also sought from opposition parties. Nine of the most senior judges, the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (commonly known as the “Law Lords”), are also entitled to sit in the Lords. Finally, alongside these secular peers, the Lords Temporal, are the 26 most senior bishops and archbishops of the Church of England, the Lords Spiritual: The Law Lords and the Lords Spiritual are the ancient non-hereditary component of the Lords.

Until 1911 the Lords were able to reject draft laws, known as bills, passed in the Commons, and thus frustrate not only the government of the day, but also the will of the Commons. Since then the Lords have been unable to challenge financial legislation, and have only been able to delay other legislation (since 1949 for no more than one session) but not prevent it. Their only other surviving discretionary power is to veto an attempt by the Commons to prolong its own life beyond its five-year term. The role of the Lords, therefore, is now more to warn than to frustrate over-zealous governments, and they have done this more by the proposition of amendments to legislation which causes them unease, than by direct opposition.

Although there are over 1,000 peers entitled to sit in the House of Lords, average daily attendance is only about 300 and most of these are life peers who retain a strong interest in the affairs of state. The Lords conduct their business in a far more orderly fashion than the Commons. The House is presided over by the Lord Chancellor, the senior law officer of the state. The position is not like that of the Speaker, for the Lord Chancellor is not impartial, but a government officer. He or she is responsible for the administration of justice and is also an automatic member of the Cabinet.

A larger number of peers support the Conservative Party than the other parties-. Those active peers who support Labour or the Liberal Democrats, plus the independent peers (who have 'cross-benches' across the back of the chamber to sit upon), are together almost the same in number as the Conservatives; This preponderance in favour of the Conservatives arises partly because the majority of hereditary peers sympathise more with the Conservative Party than its opponents. Also Labour declined to nominate candidates for life peerages for a period during the 1980s since its party policy included abolition of the Lords on the grounds that it was an undemocratic anachronism. Despite this preponderance, however, no Conservative government can be absolutely sure of a majority, if its proposals are controversial. Peers, of whatever party loyalty, are far freer to vote according to their own convictions, rather than party policy, than are members of the Commons.

Parliamentary procedure

Each parliamentary session begins with the 'State Opening of Parliament', a ceremonial occasion which the Queen proceeds from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster where she delivers the Queen's Speech from her throne in the House of Lords. Her speech is drafted by her government, and describes what the government intends to implement during the forthcoming session. Leading members of the Commons may hear the speech from the far end of the chamber, but are not allowed to enter the House of Lords. During the next five or so days, the government and Opposition debate aspects of the Queen's Speech in the Commons and vote on the amendments which the Opposition proposes. Since the speech is a statement of policy, defeat on any such vote would oblige the government to resign.

For most of the year the Commons adopts a routine of meeting each weekday afternoon, and 'sitting until about 10.30 p.m. although it sometimes sits beyond midnight. On Fridays the Commons sits from 9.30 a.m. through to 3.00 p.m., rising early in order to allow MPs to return to their constituencies for the weekend, where they must make themselves available and accessible for local matters, complaints and attendance at formal functions. The proceedings of Parliament are public, and space is available for a small number of people, especially the press, to listen. Since 1803 the proceedings of Parliament have been published the following day as Hansard, named after the man who first began to publish the record. Proceedings of both Houses are also now televised, the Lords since 1984 and the Commons since 1989. The manner in which business is conducted is the result of custom and

precedent, from which have emerged standing orders which govern the details of practice in each House.

Each day begins, after brief opening formalities, with Question Time, lasting approximately an hour. MPs are able to ask ministers or other MPs questions on any point they may choose. Questions must be handed in 48 hours ahead, to allow ministers and their departmental staff time to prepare an answer. Naturally, both the Opposition and the party of government seek to use this period in order to reveal the weakness of their opponents. Once a minister's formal answer has been given, supplementary questions may be asked which the minister is expected to answer, Ministers and their civil servants are expected to have anticipated what further questions may be asked. Supplementary questions are used by the Opposition to outmanoeuvre a minister and reveal a weakness in government policy, or by an MP anxious to persuade the government to modify its course of action. On two afternoons each week the Prime Minister will answer questions on general policy matters. These occasions are usually the most lively.

After Question Time, the main debate of the day takes place. Time is given on 24 days during a session for individual MPs representing neither government nor Opposition to introduce debates or private Members' bills. But most of the time available in any parliamentary session is devoted to scrutiny of government spending, and debating new bills the government wishes to introduce. The system of debate is much the same in both chambers. It originates in a 'motion' (a proposal) 'moved' (proposed) by a minister or Member of the House. The Speaker then proposes the question as a subject of debate.

This is not as spontaneous as it may seem. The Leader of the House (appointed by the government) agrees with the Prime Minister the general business, including debates, which they want. The Leader of the House has cabinet rank, and is responsible for planning the transaction of government business in the Commons (a Leader is appointed in the Lords also), and for enabling proper debate of those matters of concern to the House. Twenty opposition days each session allow the Opposition to choose the subjects for debate. At the end of a debate the Speaker asks MPs if they accept the motion. If there is disagreement, there is a division as MPs enter either the 'Aye' (yes) or 'No' lobbies, corridors running either side of the Commons chamber. A bell rings throughout the House six minutes before the lobby doors close to enable MPs, wherever they may be in the House, to vote. Party 'whips' (or managers) stand outside the door of the lobby into which they expect their party's members to pass. Unless it is a free vote, members who ignore party policy risk the strong displeasure of the party leadership. Indeed, the leadership may 'withdraw the whip' from a disobedient member, in other words suspend him or her from party membership either temporarily or in a few cases, expel that member from the party. Without membership of the party, an MP's political career is only likely to last until the next general election Parliament's most important function is to create law. A draft law takes the form of a parliamentary bill. Most of these are public bills, implementing government policy. A bill is normally only drafted after exhaustive consultation with concerned professional, voluntary and other agencies. Proposals sometimes take the form of 'white papers', stating government policy, which can be debated before a bill is introduced. 'Green papers' are published when the government wants a full public discussion before it formulates its own proposals.

The process of passing a public (or government) bill is similar in both Houses. Its publication in printed form is announced in the chamber, and this announcement is called its 'first reading'. Its 'second reading', usually a few weeks later, is the occasion for a full debate in the House, unless there is general assent that a debate is unnecessary. If necessary the bill is passed to a committee which considers whether amendments would be desirable in the light of MPs' criticisms or concerns. At the 'third reading' the revised bill is considered in its final form, and a vote taken if necessary. The bill then passes through the Lords in г similar fashion. Once a bill has completed its parliamentary procedures, it is sent to the Queen foi royal assent (the third formal element of Parliament), by which it passes into law as an Act of Parliament. Royal assent has not been refused since 1 707.



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