The two-party system
The voting arrangements in Britain have always tended to produce two major parties. In the 18th century, it was Tory versus Whig, then Tory versus Liberal, and in modern time, Conservative versus Labour. This fact is reflected in the constitution itself. The second biggest party in the House of Commons becomes the Official Opposition; its leader is paid a salary from the public purse and given an office.
As in the legal system the parties confront each other and argue. The House of Commons is built for confrontation: two sets of seats face each other across a neutral no-man's land. In fact, the space between the two sides is two swords' length and one foot, to prevent fights! This theatrical way of doing things has some advantages. For one, it is easy for the public to understand. Also, it means that the government is always being publicly challenged, which is good for democracy.
It is significant, however, that the new Scottish parliament Chamber is built on a different model – horse-show shape around a central Speaker's platform. This reflects the new voting system for Scotland, a form of proportional representation. If the rest of the UK moves away form the current first-past-the-post system, there will be more parties in Westminster, and there is likely to be a profound change in the way politics is done.
Discussion
- If you were a prime minister, would you be dictatorial?
- Do you have two dominant parties in your country, or a number of smaller ones?
Reading 5
Democracy in Britain
Language focus
Cornerstone – краеугольный камень
violation – нарушение, попрание, насилие
observation – наблюдение, соблюдение (законов, правил)
adequate – соответствующий, адекватный, достаточный
disability – нетрудоспособность
compulsory – обязательный
to promote – способствовать, поддерживать, поощрять, стимулировать
understanding – понимание, разум, взаимопонимание
tolerance – терпимость, толерантность
resident – постоянный житель
taxation – налогообложение, взимание налога
Great importance is attached in Britain to human rights. Respect for individual freedoms forms a cornerstone of Britain's democratic system. British public opinion is concerted about violations of human rights throughout the world. The British government regards the observation of human rights and their protection as an important element of its foreign policy.
These rights and freedoms are listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948. They include the right to: work; an adequate standard of living; social security; education; the highest attainable health care standards; form and join trade unions; participate in cultural life.
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Work
Everyone has the right
-to work,
-to free choice of employment,
-to just and favorable conditions of work,
-to protection against unemployment.
Standard of living
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, and old age.
Social Security
The social security system aims to provide financial help to people who are elderly, sick, disabled, unemployed, widowed or bringing up children. The system includes contributory national insurance benefits covering sickness, invalidity, unemployment, widowhood and retirement. There is also statutory sick pay paid for their employees by employers.
Education
Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups.
Health
The National Health Service (NHS) provides comprehensive health care to all residents. Treatment is based on medical priority regardless of patients' income and is financed mainly out of general taxation.
Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Discussion
1. What forms a cornerstone of Britain's democratic system?
2. What is British public opinion concerned about?
3. What does the British government regard s an important element of its foreign policy?
4. When was the Universal Declaration of human Rights adopted by the UN General Assembly?
5. What do the main right and freedoms include?
6. What does the right to work include?
7. What does the right to a standard of living include?
8. What does the social security system aim to?
9. What shall education promote?
10. What does the National Health Service provide?
Reading 6
THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT
Language focus
session – заседание, сессия
abbey – аббатство
to entertain – принимать, угостить
set – установленный, предписанный
reluctance – неохота, нежелание
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replica – реплика, точная копия
Close by Westminster Abbey on the riverside stands the Palace of Westminster, generally known as the Houses of Parliament. Although these buildings are in Gothic style, they are not truly historic, for they were built in 1840 on the site of the old Palace which was destroyed by fire in 1834.
Parliament consists of two separate chambers whose membership and duties have evolved slowly over centuries: the House of Lords (or Upper House), whose members sit there by hereditary right or conferred privilege (there is an increasing number of life peers, whose titles cease when they die), and the House of Commons, where the elected Members of Parliament sit.
Although the Upper House is the larger in membership – more than one thousand peers have the right to attend the sittings – nearly all the legislation is initiated in the House of Commons and presented to the lords for approval. This is, however, little more than a formality, for the powers of the House of Lords are strictly limited. The Queen opens Parliament at the House of Lords.
The six hundred and fifty elected members of the House of Commons meet in a Chamber which is still sometimes called St. Stephen's Chapel. The original chapel where the first parliaments assembled centuries ago was lost in 1834, and the present Chamber is a replica of the one built in 1840, but destroyed during World War II. The members sit on two sides of the Chamber, one side for the Government and the other for the Opposition. Between them sits «Mr. Speaker,» who acts as chairman in the debates. Traditionally, his role was to inform the House of Lords and the monarch of decisions taken by the elected parliament, and as there have been periods in British history when such a duty could be dangerous, the member chosen to be Mr. Speaker always accepted the position with the pretence of great reluctance and fear!
It is a privilege of democratic government that anyone may visit the Houses of Parliament and may sit in the Strangers' Gallery, looking down into the House of Commons, to listen to a debate. The Central Lobby entrance hall is usually busy with people coming and going, some just curious to see the inside of the buildings, others wanting to see their own elected MPs. On fine days, the terrace overlooking the river is crowded with small tables where Members can entertain their guests to tea.
The Parliamentary session begins in November and, with recessions at holiday periods (Christmas, Easter and in summer), lasts for about one hundred and sixty days. The sittings begin at 2.30 p.m. from Monday to Thursday and at 11 a.m. on Friday. There is no set finishing time for sittings and if there is urgent business to discuss the sittings may go on until late at night or, indeed, all through the night. All the time Parliament is in session, a flag flies at the top of the Victoria tower, and when the House is still sitting after dark, a light burns over the clock face of Big Ben.
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Discussion
1. Where are the Houses of Parliament situated?
2. What is another name for them?
3. When were the present Houses of Parliament built and why?
4. What are the two Chambers in Parliament?
5. What is the present role of Mr. Speaker and what was it in the past?
6. Where do visitors to the House of Commons sit?
7. When is Parliament actually in session?
8. What signs are there which indicate when Parliament is sitting?
The British Houses of Parliament
The House of Commons meets every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and Thursday at 2.30 p.m. Normally it sits until 10.30 p.m. although sometimes the debates continue until well after midnight.
The life of Parliament is divided into periods called sessions. At the end of every session Parliament is prorogued; this means that all business which has not completed is abandoned, and Parliament does not meet again until it is formally summoned by the Monarch.
The beginning of a new session is marked by the State Opening of Parliament. This ceremony takes place in the House of Lords, with a few members of the Commons crowded together at the far end of the Lord's Chamber. The Monarch reads the Speech, which is a document, prepared by the Government. In this speech the Government gives a summary of the things which it intends to do during the Session which is about to begin. A debate on particular aspects of the Monarch's speech follows, usually lasting five or six days. When the debates on the Speech are finished, Parliament begins with the work of the session.
The British Parliament is often referred to as the Legislature – the body which makes laws. New laws can only come into force when they have passed through Parliament and got the Royal Assent. A proposal for a new law is known as a bill. Most bills, and nearly all important bills, are introduced by the government about fifty bills are passed each year. Every bill brought in by the Government has been approved first by the Cabinet.
Once the Government has decided to introduce a bill, one minister is put in charge of it. The preparation of the text often takes many months, with long consultations involving civil servants in the minister's department and with the parliamentary Counsel.
Correct the false sentences
1. The Queen opens a session of Parliament with a speech.
2. The State Opening of Parliament takes place in the House of Commons.
3. The House of Lords prepares the Monarch's speech.
4. The government introduces about fifty bills every year.
Reading 7
The House of Lords
There may be other constitutional monarchs around the world, but nowhere is there is anything quite like the upper Chamber of the British Parliament, the House of Lords. In fact, it is difficult to talk about it in the present tense, as it is in the process of being radically changed. In the 1997 election, part of Labour's manifesto was a promise to reform it – hardly surprising if you look at the extraordinary nature of the House of Lords before these reforms began.
The function of the upper Chamber is to act as a brake on the government of the day. Its members take a long, cool look at new legislation prepared by the Commons. They discuss it, revise it and sometimes send it back to be reconsidered. Their power has for a long time been very limited. Even before the 20th century it was accepted that the Commons was the real seat of power; but from time to time the Lords tried to take control.
The problem was that the permanent Conservative majority in the Lords opposed the Commons when it was in the hands of its enemies, the Liberals. In 1909, the Liberals tried to introduce a radical People's Budget increasing taxes and benefits. The House of Lords did its best to stop the budget going through, and the Commons lost its patience. A law was passed to limit the powers of the upper Chamber: the Parliament Act of 1911. From then on, it could only delay new laws for a fixed period, and it could not alter budgets (normally the most important of government measures).
The problem of the Conservative majority did not, however, go away. It was still the main reason for Tony Blair's promise to reform the Lords in 1997. The origin of this built-in, permanent Conservative majority was the bizarre and medieval composition of the House of Lords. Most members were from the ancient aristocracy: dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts and barons. These are hereditary titles, like the monarchy, passed on from father to son through the generations.
In recent years, it has been the practice to create new lords, known as life peers, Senior politicians such as ex-Prime Ministers, and other important public figures were given titles (for example, Baroness Thatcher) and a seat in the House of Lords. But the relics of feudalism were joined by many more Conservatives among the life peers. In the 1990s, the Lords consisted of about 750 hereditary peers, 26 bishops of the Church of England, nine senior judges and about 500 life peers. You can see form the figures that another problem was the size of the membership; luckily, only a small proportion of them ever came in to work.
Discussion
- Does your country's parliament have a second Chamber? What is its function?
- What is wrong with hereditary power?
House of Lords
The House of Lords consists of about 900 members, but the largest class – about 800 of a total of nearly 900 – is that of the Hereditary Peers. The other classes of Members of the House of Lords are quite small. They are:
a) the bishops of the Church of England;
b) the nine Law Lords. The House of Lords is still the Supreme Court of Appeal;
c) the new life peers created under the Life Peerages Act of 1958;
d) the sixteen Scottish representative peers.
Of the total of 900 members there are only a small number of members who attend the House of Lords regularly. Those who attend rarely are sometimes known as «backwoodsmen.»
Only in the 14th century after the gradual formation of a separate Commons body, the House of Lords took definite shape. At that time its members were predominantly Lords Spiritual (Abbots and Bishops), Earls and Barons numbered only about 50. The Reformation did away with the Abbots and the Abbeys, at the same time increasing the powers of the Lords Secular. No House of Lords met for 10 years after the Civil war. Toward the end of the 18th century the numerical strength of the Lords was greatly increased, by the creation of a large body of new peers from among wealthy landowners, merchants and industrialists.
The House of Lords no longer has the power it once had of rejecting altogether measures passed by the House of Commons. The 1911 Parliament Act provided that the Lords could not reject a measure passed three times by the Commons – they could only hold it up for a maximum period of two years by the process of proposing amendments.