TOPIC The House Of Commons
The two Houses of Parliament, the Lords and the Commons, share the same building, the Palace of Westminster. The Commons occupy the north part of the Palace, the Lords – the south end.
The new House of Commons, built after the war instead of the bombed one, has, however, seats for only two-thirds of its 650 members. Only four members of the House of Commons have reserved seats. One is the Speaker, who presides over the House of Commons. Another is the member has sat in the House for the longest unbroken period, the member, who is known as “the Father of the House of Commons”. The other two reserved seats are for Prime Minister (the leader of the party that has a majority in the House of Commons), and the Leader of the Opposition.
The House of Commons is made up of 650 elected members, and it is presided over by the Speaker, a member acceptable to the whole House. MPs sit on two sides of the hall, one side for the governing party and the other for the Opposition. The first two rows of seats are occupied by the leading members of both parties (called “front-benchers”), the back benches belong to the rank-and-fire MPs (“back-benchers”). Each session of the House of Commons lasts for 160-175 days. The necessary quorum in the House of Commons is 40 persons. When MPs want to speak they have to catch the Speaker’s eyes, then they rise from where they have been sitting to address the House, and must do so without either reading a prepared speech or consulting notes.
Any MP may introduce a bill to Parliament. Every bill has three readings, at first in the House of Commons. There is no debate allowed after the first reading. After the second reading, there may be a discussion. The Speaker calls upon different members who are eager to speak. All speeches are addressed to him, beginning with “Mr. Speaker, sir”. After the discussion the voting is done, but not by show of hands. There are two corridors – “Division Lobbies” – at each side of the House. The one on the right is for “Yes”, and on the left – for the “No”. When voting is announced, the MPs go out into these lobbies, to the right or to the left. As they re-enter the House, they are counted at the door, one by one – and it may take ten or fifteen minutes before the Speaker reads out the results of voting.
After the third reading the bill goes before the House of Lords. If the Lords agree to the bill, it will be placed before the Queen for signature. The Queen having signed it, it becomes an Act of Parliament.
TOPIC The House Of Lords
The House of Lords is a non-elected hereditary second chamber of Parliament. The House of Lords has more than 1000 members, although only about 250 take an active part in the work of the House.
The House of Lords is composed of lords spiritual and lords temporal. The lords spiritual are two leaders of the Church of England, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and twenty-four bishops. The lords temporal are persons of royal decent.
The chairman of the House of Lords is the Lord Chancellor, and he sits on a special seat called “the Woolsack”. The woolsack is now stuffed with wool from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and from the Commonwealth countries. Members of the Government and their supporters sit to the right, and those of the Opposition to the left.
The House of Lords has formally the power only to revise and amend bills passed through the House of Commons. About 95 per cent of the amendments proposed by the lords are accepted by the Commons. The House of Lords is the highest court in the UK and can be called to hear an appeal.
The division of Parliament into two chambers took place over 700 years ago when feudal assembly ruled the country. In modern times, real political power belongs to the elected House of Commons although members of the House of Lords still occupy important Cabinet posts.