PARLIAMENTARY LAW MAKING
Parliament is the place where all of the laws of the land are made. It comprises of two Houses; the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Traditionally, the House of Lords was the Upper House and the Commons was the Lower House because of the members' social class. The House of Commons now holds the most power as it consists of 650 MPs who are all democratically elected into their seat. Each seat represents a constituency, a large area of the UK.
The House of Commons is made up of Members of Parliament from all over. They usually belong to a political party. The two main parties in the UK are the Labour Party and the Conservative Party. There are others, such as The Liberal Democratic Party and the Green Party. The SNP also have seats from Scotland and there are some Plaid Cmyru MPs from Wales. The party with the largest majority, that means the most seats in the house, are the leading party and will choose what is debated and how much time topics are given on the floor. A majority means that a political party has 325+1 seats to gain more than anybody else. The party with the most seats asks the Queen if they can form a government. She will then say yes, and then the Prime Minister, the leader of the party with a majority, selects people to join the Cabinet and form a government.
The House of Lords is separate to the Commons and contains appointed peers who are Lords and Ladies. They are experts in their field and have specialist knowledge and experience in certain aspects of politics and life. They cannot reject legislation but can amend and suggest changes as well as delay it for a short period of time. Well known members include Lord Bassum, who was from the local Brighton area, and Lord Alan Sugar, as seen on TV!
The House of Commons is made up of Members of Parliament from all over. They usually belong to a political party. The two main parties in the UK are the Labour Party and the Conservative Party. There are others, such as The Liberal Democratic Party and the Green Party. The SNP also have seats from Scotland and there are some Plaid Cmyru MPs from Wales. The party with the largest majority, that means the most seats in the house, are the leading party and will choose what is debated and how much time topics are given on the floor. A majority means that a political party has 325+1 seats to gain more than anybody else. The party with the most seats asks the Queen if they can form a government. She will then say yes, and then the Prime Minister, the leader of the party with a majority, selects people to join the Cabinet and form a government.
The House of Lords is separate to the Commons and contains appointed peers who are Lords and Ladies. They are experts in their field and have specialist knowledge and experience in certain aspects of politics and life. They cannot reject legislation but can amend and suggest changes as well as delay it for a short period of time. Well known members include Lord Bassum, who was from the local Brighton area, and Lord Alan Sugar, as seen on TV!