United Kingdom of Great

Britain and Northern

Ireland
The United Kingdom is a
union of four constituent
countries:

England
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales

Map of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern

Ireland

Monarchy of the United

Kingdom
The United Kingdom

Elizabeth Alexandra
Mary

is a parliamentary
monarchy
with
Queen Elizabeth II as
head of state; the
monarch of the UK
also serves as head
of state of fifteen
other
Commonwealth
countries.

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary

Elizabeth was born at 17

Bruton Street, in Mayfair,
London,the first child of
Prince Albert, Duke of
York,
and
Elizabeth,
Duchess of York, the first
granddaughter of King
George V and Queen
Mary,
and
the
first
princess born into the
immediate royal family
since Princess Mary in
1897.

Elizabeth became Queen

of the United Kingdom
upon the death of her
father, George VI, on 6
February 1952. Elizabeth
II is currently the second
longest
reigning
monarch of the United
Kingdom, who reigned
over the UK for 63
years..

In the past:
The Prime Minister was chosen by
the Monarch.
Now:
Accordance
with
the
current
'unwritten constitution', the Prime
Minister is the leader of the largest
party in the House of Commons.

The Prime Minister of the

United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland
He is the political leader of the United Kingdom
and the Head of Her Majesty's Government.
The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively
accountable for their policies and actions to the
Sovereign, to Parliament (of which they are
members), to their political party, and ultimately
the electorate.
The cabinet has about 20 members; all are
members of the House of Commons or House of
Lords. Ministers of a specific department are called
secretaries of state; if the do not have a specific
department, they are called ministers without
portfolio. They do specific tasks as needed. The
prime minister is also the First Lord of the Treasury
and Minister of Civil Service. The Lord Chancellor,
although having executive duties is also head of
the judiciary.

Prime
Winston Churchill (1951-1955)
Ministers
Anthony Eden (1955-1957)

Harold Macmillan (1957-1963)

Alec Douglas-Home (1963-1964)
Harold Wilson (1965-1970) y (19741976)
James Callaghan (1976-1979)
Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990)
John Major (1990-1997)
Tony Blair (1997-2007)
Gordon Brown (2007 - Presente )

James Gordon
Brown
James
Gordon
Brown
(born
20
February 1951) is the
Prime Minister of the
United Kingdom of
Great
Britain
and
Northern Ireland. He
took office on 27 June
2007, three days after
becoming leader of
the Labour Party.

The Queen and her

Relations with ministers
Carrying on the tradition of her
predecessors, the Queen holds
weekly audiences with her
British Prime Minister usually
on Tuesdays, and with no other
advisers and with her other
prime ministers when they and
she are in the same country; be
they in the UK, she in the
minister's respective realm, or
both in another country for a
Commonwealth
Heads
of
Government Meeting.

Type

Bicameral

Houses

House of Lords
House of Commons

Lord Speaker

Baroness Hayman, since May

2006

Speaker of the
House of Commons

Michael Martin MP, since 5 May

2005

Members

1,378
732 Lords
646 Commoners (MPs)

Last elections

Meeting place

5 May 2005
Palace of Westminster,
Westminster,
London, United Kingdom

THE PARLIAMENT
It is the supreme legislative body in the United
Kingdom and British overseas territories.
It is composed of:
The Queen Elizabeth II
The House of Lords (upper house)
The House of Commons (lower house)

-The two Houses meet

in separate chambers
in
the
Palace
of
Westminster
(commonly known as
the
"Houses
of
Parliament"), in the
City of Westminster in
London.

In theory, supreme
legislative power is
vested in the Queen;
in practice in modern
times, real power is
vested in the House
of Commons.

Parliament's role
Its main roles are:
Examining and challenging the
work of the government (scrutiny).
Debating and passing all laws
(legislation).
Enabling the government to raise
taxes.

HOUSE OF LORDS
The House of Lords has the principal
function of studing and approving bills.
This House includes two different types of
members:
The Lords Spiritual (the senior bishops of
the Church of England)
The Lords Temporal (members of the
Peerage)

All bills except money bills

are debated and voted upon in
House of Lords.
Its
members
are not elected
by
the
population
at
large but are
appointed
by
past or current
governments.

Member
s

Members
of
the
House of Lords are
mostly appointed by
the Queen, a fixed
number are elected
internally
and
a
limited
number
of
Church
of
England
archbishops
and
bishops sit in the
House.

HOUSE OF COMMONS
Members of the Commons (MPs) debate the big
political issues of the day and proposals for new
laws. They are responsible for making decisions
on financial Bills, such as proposed new taxes.
The members of this House are elected
democratically.
All government ministers, including the Prime
Minister, are members of the House of Commons
or, less often, the House of Lords.

 The party with the

largest number of
members
in
the
Commons forms the
government.

There are representantives of every country member

of the United Kingdom ( Northern Ireland, Scotland,
Wales and England )

The speakers
Both houses of the British Parliament are
presided over by a speaker, the Speaker of
the House for the Commons and the Lord
Speaker in the House of Lords.
Speaker of the House of Commons:
Baroness Hayman.
Lord Speaker:
Michael Martin.

ELECTIONS
General elections
When Parliament is dissolved every seat in the House of
Commons becomes vacant and a general election is held.
By-elections
A by-election takes place when a seat in the House of
Commons becomes vacant between general elections.
Parliamentary constituencies
The UK is currently divided into 646 parliamentary
constituencies, each of which is represented by one MP in
the House of Commons.

 During an election, the

United Kingdom is
divided in 646 electoral
districts so every citizen
votes for one member of
the House of Commons.