How Britain is governed

How Britain is governed

The Houses of Parliament at Westminster. Lance Bellers
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Parliament is the centre of national government in Britain. It is responsible for making all the important laws of the country about crimes and punishment, taxation, etc. Parliament in Britain is made up of the House of Commons, the House of Lords as well as the Monarch. The two Houses of Parliament are situated in Westminster in central London. This is why Westminster is often used to mean the Houses of Parliament. Now, lets take a closer look at how the country is run.

The House of Commons

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This is often simply called the Commons which is the lower but more powerful of the two Houses of Parliament. It has 650 elected members who are called Members of Parliament or MPs. Each MP represents a particular area of the country which is called a constituency. The three main parties represented in the House of Commons are:

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The Labour Party The Conservative Party (often called the Tories) The Liberal Democratic Party There are a few other very minor political parties such as the extreme right wing National Front and the environmental Green Party, but presently these do not have any representation in the House of Commons. The largest political party is the Labour Party which is presently led by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
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How Britain is governed The House of Lords

The House of Lords, often simply called the Lords, is the higher but less powerful of the two Houses of Parliament. The Lords has more than 1,000 members, none of whom are elected. Instead, these members consist of: hereditary peers life peers A hereditary peer is a person who has a title such as Lord which has been passed down to him on the death of his father. A life peer is a person who has been given a title as a reward for long service in public life, but whose children do not inherit this persons title. The archbishop and bishops of the Church of England are also life peers, and thus entitled to sit in the House of Lords. A typical example of a life peer rewarded for long service in public life is Margaret Thatcher, Britains first woman Prime Minister who led the Conservative Party for many years. She now has the title of Baroness.

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The Monarch
Britain is a Constitutional Monarchy, which means that the Monarch is the Head of State, meaning the countrys official ruler. Queen Elisabeth II is the present monarch. In this role, she has to agree to all new laws before they can come into force, she performs the State Opening of Parliament each year when she makes a speech telling what the government in power intends to do, she appoints the Prime Minister, and Queen Elisabeth II is the present she gives titles to people who have done Monarch. www.britainonview.com good things for the country. However, in practice, she has very little power and she is not allowed to express her political opinion in public. Furthermore, she cannot refuse to agree to a new law which has been decided on by Parliament and she must appoint as Prime Minister the leader of the political party that has won the most Parliamentary seats to the House of Commons. The titles she gives are chosen by the government. This means that her duties as the Monarch are almost entirely ceremonial.

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How Britain is governed How laws become Acts of Parliament

First of all, a bill, being a suggested law, is discussed by the Members of Parliament in the House of Commons. The bill is then passed on to the House of Lords to be discussed. The House of Lords can suggest changes to the bill, but does not have the power to reject it. The bill is then returned to the House of Commons for a final vote by the members of Parliament. If the bill is accepted, it is then signed by the Monarch (Queen Elisabeth II) to become an Act of Parliament, thus becoming an official law.

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Devolution
Until recently, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were all governed by Parliament in Westminster. However, a devolution process is taking place whereby both Scotland and Wales are being given more autonomy to govern their own affairs. The same applies to Northern Ireland, but here they have their own political parties representing Northern Irelands domestic affairs which are also represented in the House of Commons.

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Local government
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While Parliament makes all the important laws for the country as a whole, local government, also known as Councils, can make local laws, also called bylaws, which only apply in their local area. Such bylaws can be how much people should pay as parking fines in certain streets. Councils are financed by local taxes as well as by an amount of money given each year by the national government. The main task of the Councils is to provide local services such as organising hospitals, schools, libraries, public transport, street cleaning, etc. They are also responsible for determining the amount of local tax that people must pay as well as for collecting this tax. Each local council is elected by the people living in the local town, city or country area. The people who are elected are called councillors. Councillors can be elected because of the national political party they belong to or more usually because of their policies on local issues.

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How Britain is governed Parliamentary elections in Britain

Britain is divided up into 650 political areas which are known as constituencies or seats. Each constituency is represented in the House of Commons by one Member of Parliament who is elected by the people over the age of 18 years living in that constituency. The main political parties choose a candidate to fight for a seat in each constituency. This means that in each constituency people have at least three candidates to choose from, each representing a different political party. The person who gains the most votes in the constituency is elected to become a Member of Parliament representing that constituency. When all the voting in the country is completed, the political party that has won the most constituency seats forms a government, and the leader of that party becomes the Prime Minister. The longest period of time that a parliament can run is five years. However, the Prime Minister has the power to call a general election at any point during this period. The time the Prime Minister chooses usually depends on the general opinion people have of the political party in power so that it has a better chance of being re-elected.

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The Prime Ministers official residence is at 10, Downing Street in Westminster. Jeff Gynane

What the main British political parties represent

The Labour Party
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This is presently the party that is in power with Tony Blair as the Prime Minister. The party claims to represent the interests of the working class (i.e. labour) as against the interests of the employers who represent capital. It draws most of its support from the highly industrialised areas, particularly in the Midlands and the North. Today, it is the main party for working and many middle class people. The Conservative (Tory) Party This is the leading right-wing party that represents the interests of free enterprise and private ownership. It draws its support mainly from middle and upper class people from the south of England as well as from country areas.

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The Liberal Democratic Party This is the third major political party in Britain and the youngest. It was founded by four right-wing Labour Party members who immediately formed an alliance with the Liberal Party to form the Liberal Democratic Party. The Partys main aim is to offer a realistic alternative to the Labour and Conservative parties. There are a number of other minor political parties but these are not represented in Parliament because of Britains voting system. In a general election only the candidate who wins the most votes in a constituency is elected. Thus, there is no proportional representation in the British voting system as there is in many other countries. This means that minor political parties never get enough votes in a constituency in order to be elected to Parliament. The reason for this is as stated earlier that only one candidate can be chosen for Parliament from each constituency. A constituency in a large city can have a considerable number of voters while a similar constituency in a country area may only have a limited number of voters. By tradition, the Conservative Party tends to be more popular in country areas where constituencies are less populated while the Labour Party tends to be more popular in industrial areas where constituencies have a far greater voting population. This is why the Conservative Party earlier won general elections despite the fact that more people in total voted for the Labour Party. This is also the reason why the Liberal Democratic Party usually only wins a limited number of seats in Parliament although the proportion of voters in total for this party is far higher.

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How Britain is governed

Check your words

Parliament the main law-making body, consisting of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. When people talk about Parliament, they often mean only the House of Commons. the ruler of a state, such as a king or queen the main part of central London containing Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace an area of the country that elects a Member of Parliament as well as the voters who live in that area a position or title that can be passed on from one generation to another, especially within the same family a member of any of five British noble ranks: baron, viscount, earl, marquis and duke, who has the right to sit in the House of Lords the highest position in the Church of England a female baron a state ruled by a king or queen, in which the powers of the ruler are restricted to those allowed by the constitution and laws of the country bill devolution a written proposal for a new law the giving of governmental power to a group at a more local level, such as to Scotland and Wales the right of self-government internal a special law made not by a national government but by a local council a time when all the voters in a country take part in choosing the members of a new government choose someone for an official position by voting an economic system in which supply and demand are very important, and in which private trade and business is carried on without government control a system of voting in elections by which all political parties are represented in the governing body according to the proportion of votes they receive, rather than having to get more votes than any other party in each voting area

Monarch Westminster

autonomy domestic bylaw

general election

constituency

elect free enterprise

hereditary

peer

proportional representation

archbishop baroness constitutional monarchy

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How Britain is governed

Check your knowledge

I. True or false?

True False
1. People in Britain often talk about Westminster when they mean the Houses of Parliament. 2. The Houses of Parliament consist of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, with the latter being the most powerful. 3. Each Member of Parliament represents a particular voting area in the country. 4. The Liberal Democratic Party is just one of a wide variety of different political parties represented in the House of Commons. 5. Margaret Thatcher is now a member of the House of Lords, but she cannot hand over this right to her son when she dies. 6. As the Head of State, Queen Elisabeth II has the right to stop a bill from becoming law if she disagrees with it. 7. The House of Lords has the function of being able to make adjustments in the wording of a bill before it is sent back to the House of Commons where it is finally voted on. 8. The amount you pay in local tax in Britain is determined by the local government where you live. 9. A Member of Parliament must first be elected by the people living in the constituency he or she represents. 10. General elections take place once every five years. 11. The Labour Party tends to be more popular in the south of England than in the Midlands and the North.

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How Britain is governed

12. People living in country areas tend to favour the Conservative Party. 13. The Green Party is the fourth largest party in Britain when considering the number of parliamentary members representing this party. 14. There is no proportional representation in the British voting system as only one candidate from each constituency can be elected to be a Member of Parliament II. What is the missing word? 1. Members of the Conservative Party are often called _________. 2. A Member of Parliament is entitled to sit in the House of ________________. 3. Margaret Thatcher, who is entitled to sit in the House of Lords, is a typical example of a ________________ peer. 4. Britain is a _____________________ Monarchy, meaning that the Queen is the Head of State, but she has no right to decide on new laws. 5. Before a new law can become official, a ______________ must first be discussed in both Houses of Parliament and then signed by the Queen. 6. In Britain, a _____________________ process is taking place giving more autonomy especially to Scotland and Wales. 7. A ________________ is a local law made by a local Council. 8. The people elected to be members of a local council are called _____________________. 9. The leader of the political party that wins the most constituency seats in a general election becomes the __________________. 10. Being a right-wing political party, the Conservatives represent the interests of free _____________________ and private ownership.

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III. Quick repetition questions

Working in pairs, take it in turns to ask and answer the following questions:
1. What is an MP? 2. In which House will a peer sit? 3. What do the Tories believe in? 4. What is the difference between a hereditary and a life peer? 5. In which House is a bill first introduced. 6. Which political party is in power in Britain at the present time, and who is the Prime Minister? 7. What is the role of Queen Elisabeth II in the governing of Britain? 8. What is the role of the House of Lords? 9. Who decides about matters such as organising schools, public transport, street cleaning, etc in local areas where people live? 10. How many Members of Parliament are there in the House of Commons? 11. Who is automatically chosen to be the Prime Minister as a result of a general election? 12. How long can a political party remain in power? 13. What does the Labour Party stand for? 14. What is the main aim of the Liberal Democratic Party? 15. What is the voting system used in Britain instead of proportional representation? IV. Subjects for further discussion and investigation 1. Now that you have studied how Britain is governed, make a comparison with how your country is governed. Make a list of the main differences, and then compare your notes with others. 2. In Britain, there is no proportional representation in the voting system as only one candidate can be elected to be a Member of Parliament from each constituency. Argue with others whether or not you consider this to be a fair voting system.

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How Britain is governed

3. In the British Parliament there are only three main political parties represented. Make a comparison between these three parties and the main political parties in your country. List other political parties represented in your Parliament and what they represent. 4. Which political party is the strongest in your country? Start up a debate whereby you either agree or disagree with this partys policies. 5. In many countries today, new political parties are constantly being formed. Often, they tend to have extreme policies in areas such as feminism, racism, etc. In Britain, for example, there are extreme political parties such as the British National Party with neo-Nazi and racist views, the National Front which campaigns for the expulsion of coloured immigrants from Britain, Plaid Cymru, a Welsh nationalist party campaigning for the separation of Wales from the United Kingdom as well as Sinn Fin, the political wing of the Provisional Irish republican Army which wants Northern Ireland to be part of the Republic of Ireland instead of the United Kingdom. Make a list of all the different political parties represented in your country and state what their political policies are as well as their impact on the general political situation. V. Profiles of famous British Prime Ministers As from the time of World War II until the present time, Britain has been led by quite a number of Prime Ministers who have had a considerable influence on the nation. Here are examples of four such Prime Ministers: Winston Churchill, who led the country during World War II and inspired the confidence of the British people in their struggle for victory. In one of his speeches at the beginning of the war he said: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. Many years later he was acclaimed by Queen Elisabeth II as the greatest living Briton. Clement Attlee, the Labour Party leader who defeated Winston Churchill in the general election in 1945. He started a vigorous nationalisation programme and also introduced the National Health Service which gave British people free medical and dental treatment.

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Margaret Thatcher, who became Britains first woman Prime Minister and Britains longest serving Prime Minister of the 20th century. Her Thatcherism programme meant that industries nationalised during Clement Attlees leadership became privatised again. She was also responsible in 1982 for ordering British troops to take back the Falkland Islands that had been occupied by Argentina. Tony Blair, the present leader of the Labour Party which he has moved towards the centre of British politics and created what is now called New Labour. He brought about controversy in Britain by supporting the US government and sending troops to invade Iraq in 2003. Now, choose one of these British Prime Ministers and write an in-depth profile of this person using about 300-400 words. When you have completed your profile, swap with others so that you can comment and discuss what you have written about these politicians. VI. Further exploration of how Britain is governed Open the following Internet address: www.explore.parliament.uk/ Here, you will find a long list of topics that you can click on to get further information as to how Britain is governed. Choose a specific topic, write notes, and then either prepare to give a short talk or write a short essay. If you decide to write an essay, and when you have completed it, swap with others so that you can discuss and ask questions about the topics you have chosen to write about.

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