How Britain is Governed

Политическая система

Великобритании, США, Канады, России

How Britain is Governed.

The United Kingdom is a parliamentary monarchy. This means that it has a monarch as its Head of State. But the powers of the King or Queen are limited.

The present Sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II. The monarchy is hereditary. The eldest son of the Queen, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, is the heir to the throne.

Everything is done in the Queen’s name but on the advice of the elected Government. The monarch takes no part in the decision-making process.

The British Parliament is the supreme legislative body in the country. It consists of two chambers known as the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Parliament and the monarch have different roles in the government of the country. They only meet together on symbolic occasions such as coronation of a new monarch or the opening of Parliament.

The House of Commons plays the major role in law-making. It consists of Members of Parliament (MPs). They are elected either at a general election or at a by-election following the death or retirement of an MP.

Parliamentary elections are held every five years. The voting is taken by secret ballot.

The British parliamentary system depends on political parties. The political parties choose candidates in elections. The party which wins the majority of seats forms the Government. And its leader becomes Prime Minister. This Minister has an official London house; it is at No. 10, Downing Street.

The Prime Minister chooses about twenty MPs to become the Cabinet of Ministers. Each minister is responsible for a particular area of the government. The second largest party becomes the official opposition. It has own leader and ‘Shadow Cabinet’.

The House of Commons is made up of 650 MPs. It is presided over by the Speaker. MPs sit on two sides of the hall. One side is for the governing party and the other for the opposition.

Each session of the House of Commons lasts for 160-175 days. MPs are paid for their parliamentary work and have to attend the sittings.

New laws may be proposed either by the Government, or by private MPs, or by members of the House of Lords. The proposed law, a bill has to go through three stages in order to become an Act of Parliament. These are called readings.

Nowadays the first reading is a formality. It is simply the publication of the proposal. On the second reading, a discussion takes place. The bill must go to a committee for detailed examination. The next stage is called the report stage. The work of the committee is reported on to the House. The bill is now ready for its third reading. If the majority of MPs still votes for the bill, it is sent to the House of Lords for discussion. When the Lords agree the bill is taken to the Queen for the Royal Assent. The Queen signs, and the Great Seal is fixed. The bill becomes the Act of Parliament and part of the Law of Land.

The other house of the Parliament is the House of Lords. For centuries, the House of Lords had included several hundred members who inherited their seats (hereditary peers). The House of Lords Act 1999 removed such a right. However, as part of a compromise, the Act did permit 92 hereditaries to remain in the House on an interim basis. The Act decreased the membership of the House from 1,330 (October 1999) to 669 (March 2000). As another result of the Act, the majority of the Lords were now life peers.

The chairman of the House of Lords is the Lord Chancellor. He sits on a special seat called the Woolsack.

The British political scene is dominated by a two-party system: one party in power, the other in opposition. The main British political groupings are the Conservative and Labour Parties. There are also some other parties. People belonging to smaller political parties join one of the larger ones to work in the Parliament.