The ultimate legislative body of the United Kingdom is the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[d]. It has the authority to enact laws for both the British Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies.[/3]*[4] It convenes in London in the Palace of Westminster.
As the legislative branch of government in the United Kingdom and the Overseas Territories, Parliament has the final say over all other political entities. The sovereign (King-in-Parliament), the House of Lords, and the House of Commons comprise the three components of the bicameral Parliament.(5)(6) The King-in-Parliament is officially vested with power, in principle.
The King-in-Parliament is officially vested with power, in principle. But since the House of Lords may only postpone legislation and the Crown often follows the prime minister’s recommendation, the House of Commons de facto holds the reins of power.(7)
First-past-the-post elections are used to elect 650 single-member constituencies to the House of Commons, which is the elected lower house of Parliament, at least once every five years.(8)
According to constitutional convention, the prime minister and all other government ministers are answerable to the different parts of the legislature as members of the House of Commons, or less frequently, the House of Lords. Junior ministers may come from either chamber, however the majority of Cabinet ministers are Commons members.
There are two categories of members in the House of Lords, which is the upper house of Parliament [9]. The most numerous are the Lords Temporal, which are made up of up to 92 hereditary peers in addition to life peers that are appointed by the sovereign on the prime minister’s recommendation [10]. The Lords Spiritual are made up of no more than twenty-six Church of England bishops. Through the Law Lords, the House of Lords also carried out judicial functions before the Supreme Court opened for business in 2009.
One of the oldest legislatures in the world, the British Parliament is distinguished by the stability of its governing structures and its adaptability to change.11] The Westminster system formerly influenced national political systems.
History of Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Acts of Union passed by the Parliament of England (founded in 1215) and the Parliament of Scotland (circa 1235) ratified the Treaty of Union and established the Parliament of Great Britain, which was established in 1707 with the stated purpose of “That the United Kingdom of Great Britain be represented by one and the same Parliament to be styled The Parliament of Great Britain.
” Acts of Union, which were ratified by the Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland at the beginning of the 19th century, further expanded Parliament by abolishing the latter and adding 100 Irish MPs and 32 Lords to the former, creating the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland were merged on January 1, 1801, under the Acts of Union 1800, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The chamber of Lords was superior to the House of Commons in both theory and practice, and the concept of ministerial duty to the lower chamber (Commons) did not emerge until the 19th century.
There were wide variations in the size of the constituencies used to elect members of the House of Commons (MPs) in an outdated electoral system. Consequently, the borough of Dunwich, which had nearly vanished into the sea as a result of land erosion, and the borough of Old Sarum, which had seven voters, each had the ability to elect two representatives.
Members of the House of Lords controlled a large number of tiny constituencies, referred to as pocket or rotten boroughs, and could guarantee the election of their supporters or relatives. The 19th-century changes, which started with the Reform Act of 1832, gradually regularized the House of Commons electoral system. MPs became more self-assured as they were no longer reliant on the Lords for their seats.
Early in the 20th century, the British House of Commons’ dominance was confirmed. When the “People’s Budget” was passed by the Commons in 1909, rich landowners suffered greatly from the many modifications made to the tax code. The Budget was shot down by the House of Lords, which was primarily composed of wealthy landowners.
H. H. Asquith, the Liberal Prime Minister, saw the outcome as a mandate and sponsored the Parliament Bill, which aimed to limit the authority of the House of Lords. (He did not bring back the People’s Budget’s land tax provision.) Upon the Lords’ refusal to approve the bill, Asquith responded by secretly obtaining a guarantee from the King prior to the 1910 general election and asked for the establishment of several hundred Liberal peers in order to eliminate the Conservative majority in the House of Lords. The House of Lords just almost passed the bill in the face of this menace.
The resulting Parliament Act of 1911 prohibited the Lords from delaying a money bill, or a bill pertaining to taxes, and permitted them to postpone any other item for a maximum of three sessions (which was shortened to two sessions in 1949), at which point the bill might pass into law notwithstanding their objections.
Nevertheless, the House of Lords has always had the unfettered authority to veto any bill outright that seeks to prolong the length of a parliament, regardless of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949.
Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
The Irish republican party Sinn Féin, which promised to create an independent Irish Republic in their manifesto, won a resounding win in the 1918 general election in Ireland. As a result, despite being formally elected to serve in the House of Commons, Sinn Féin MPs declined to take their seats in Westminster and instead convened in 1919 to declare Irish independence and establish Dáil Éireann, a revolutionary unicameral parliament for the new Irish Republic.
The Government of Ireland Act 1920 decreased the representation of both Northern and Southern Ireland at Westminster and established home rule parliaments in each region concurrently with the Dáil. Following the implementation of direct rule in 1973, the number of seats allocated to Northern Ireland was once more raised.
In response, the Irish republicans said that membership in a new Dáil Éireann would be determined by the results of these home rule Parliament elections, which took place on the same day in 1921. Unionist parties ran and won the elections in Northern Ireland, but in Southern Ireland, all 128 candidates for the Southern Irish seats received the same number of votes. Of these, four were gained by independent Unionists representing Trinity College, Dublin University, and 124 by Sinn Féin.
The home rule parliament was adjourned sine die without ever having met, since only four Members of Parliament (MPs) sat in the home rule Southern Irish parliament, with the rest 124 members sitting in the Republic’s Second Dáil.
Tower Victoria, London.
Tower Victoria, London.
The revolutionary Irish Republic was replaced by the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which recognized the state as a separate entity and prevented its representation in the Westminster Parliament. Northern Ireland continued to be a part of Britain, and the parliament there was renamed the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1927.
The 20th century saw several changes made to the House of Lords. The regular formation of life peerage dignities was authorized by the 1958 Life Peerages Act. Hereditary peerage dignities were no longer regularly created by the 1960s; practically all new peers were life peers alone.
Although it made an exemption for 92 of them to be elected to life terms by the other hereditary peers, with by-elections held upon their death, the House of Lords Act 1999 abolished the hereditary peers’ automatic entitlement to sit in the House of Lords. As of right now, the House of Commons has supreme authority over the House of Lords. Furthermore, the House of Lords’ judicial functions were eliminated as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005.
Composition and powers
The House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Monarch make up the three distinct parts of the legislative authority, or the King-in-Parliament. No person may hold office in both Houses, and members of the House of Lords are not permitted to cast ballots in elections to the House of Commons. The idea of the separation of powers was once upheld by prohibiting anybody from serving as a Member of Parliament (MP) and holding a lucrative position under the Crown.
However, this has been increasingly undermined. Members of Parliament nominated to ministerial positions forfeited their Commons seats until 1919 and were required to run for reelection; however, the rule was removed in 1926. Office holders are not qualified to be Members of Parliament.
All bills must get the monarch’s royal assent in order to become law, and the monarch must enact orders in council in order to make some delegated laws. Through prerogative powers, the Crown also possesses executive powers independent of Parliament, such as the authority to negotiate treaties, declare war, bestow honors, and appoint officers and public officials.
In actuality, the monarch always exercises these based on the counsel of HM Government ministers, including the prime minister. Through its oversight of public finances and the election of lawmakers, the Prime Minister and administration are directly answerable to both the public and Parliament.
The Prime Minister is chosen by the Monarch and assembles a cabinet from members of both Houses of Parliament. This person needs to be able to get a majority in the House of Commons during a vote of confidence. The king has in the past occasionally been forced to make a decision. One such instance is the 1963 selection of Alec Douglas-Home as prime minister, which came about despite the belief that Harold Macmillan, the then-prime minister, had developed fatal disease. But now, the departing prime minister recommends to the king who ought to be given the job.
“The Right Honourable The Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled” is the official title of the House of Lords. The Lords Spiritual are the bishops of the Church of England, while the Lords Temporal are the Peers of the Realm. Though they sit, deliberate, and cast votes separately, the Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal are regarded as distinct “estates”.
The House of Lords has far fewer powers than the House of Commons since the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949. The House of Lords debates and votes on all legislation, with the exception of money bills. If the Lords vote against a measure, they can only postpone it for a maximum of two parliamentary sessions within a year.
After that, the Parliament Acts allow the House of Commons to ram the Bill through without the Lords’ approval. Through questioning government ministers and using a limited number of select committees, the House of Lords can also keep the government accountable. Formerly a committee of the House of Lords, the highest court in England and Wales and Northern Ireland was established as an independent supreme court in 2009.
All of the Church of England’s senior priests, including archbishops, bishops, abbots, and mitred priors, used to be members of the Lords Spiritual. Following Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries, the abbots and mitred priors were excluded from Parliament.