Describe the structure and composition of the British Parliament. The House of Lords, main functions and recent changes. The House of Commons: fuctions and role. Devolution

Great Britain is known as Mother of Parliaments. This is because in the Western world since the downfall of Rome, she was the first to introduce a workable body, an assembly of elected representatives of the people with the authority to resolve social and economic problems by free debate leading to the making of law.

The Parliament, consisting of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, is the centre of British politics.

One of the fundamental principles of the unwritten constitution is the sovereignty of Parliament. It means that Parliament has unlimited power in the legislative and the executive spheres and that there is no institution that can declare its acts unconstitutional (unlike in the United States where the Supreme Court can declare acts of Congress unconstitutional).

It means that Parliament can act as it pleases: to make, unmake, or change any law; to destroy established conventions or turn a convention into binding law, It can prolong its own life beyond the normal period without consulting the electorate. But in practice, however, Parliament does not make use of its supremacy in this way. Its members bear in mind its responsibility to the electorate.

The supreme legislative authority in Great Britain, Parliament, resides in Westminster Palace, and all its power is concentrated in the House of Commons, which is elected by the adult population of the country.

The chief officer of the House of Commons is the Speaker. He is elected by the House at the beginning of each Parliament. His chief function is to preside over the House in its debate. When elected the Speaker must not belong to any party.

The House of Lords underwent a major reform in 1999. Today it is composed of Lords Spiritual (2 Anglican Archbishops and 24 Bishops), 21 law lords and life peers (appointed for life). The hereditary lords or peers lost their right to sit in the House of Lords. Thus the hereditary principle is a matter of the past.

The procedure of the House of Lords is rather informal and is comparable to that of the House of Commons. The Lord Chancellor presides over the House as its Speaker and is sitting on a large couch known as the Woolsack, a symbol surviving from the 14th century when wool was England's staple trade. There is no Minister of Justice in Britain, but the Lord Chancellor performs some of the functions which would normally belong to a Minister of Justice if there was one.

The powers of the House of Lords are now strictly limited. The main Bills are introduced first in the Commons, and the Lords can only hold them up for one year, and they cannot do even this to money Bills.The reform of the House of Lords was initiated by the Labour government in 1999 and it was intended to bring it closer to the principles of democratic society when people win the seats to Parliament through merit.

At present the House of Lords consists of 675 members, but eventually the number of Lords will be reduced to 550 who will be either

The Chamber of the House of Lords elected or selected by an independent committee for a term of 15 years but not for life.

The main functions of Parliament are as follows: to pass laws, to provide the means of carrying on the work of Government, to control the Government policy and administration, to debate the most important political issues of the day.

Nevertheless, the principal duty of Parliament, as we have noted, is legislation, making laws.

In the past, legislation was initiated from both sides of the House: from the Government and from the Opposition. But in present-day practice almost all Bills are brought forward by the Government in power.

Bills may be introduced in either House: the House of Commons or the House of Lords, unless they deal with finance or representation, when they are always introduced in the Commons.

The process of passing a Bill is the same in the House of Lords as in the House of Commons. On introduction the Bill receives a formal First Reading. The Bill is not yet printed. The Clerk of the House reads out only the short title of the Bill and the Minister responsible for it names a day for a Second Reading. It is then printed and published.

After a period of time, which varies between one and several weeks, depending on the nature of the Bill, it may be given a Second Reading as a result of a debate on its general merits or principles. It is then referred to one of the Standing Committees, or, if necessary, to the whole House sitting in Committee (if the House so decides), where each clause in the Bill is considered and voted on. When this stage is finished the Bill is formally reported to the House by the Chairman of the Committee, and a further debate takes place.

Finally the Bill is submitted for a Third Reading. At this purely formal stage the Bill is reviewed in its final form which includes the amendments made at earlier stages and, if passed, it is sent on from the Commons to the Lords or from the Lords to the Commons, depending on its place of origin, where it enters on the same course again.

All Bills which have passed through their various parliamentary stages are sent to the Sovereign for Royal Assent (approval), which is automatically given by Royal Commission. After this the Bill becomes law and is known as an Act of Parliament, The Royal Assent has not been refused since the time of Queen Anne (1702-14).

The arrangement of seating in both Houses of Parliament reflects the nature of the party system. Both debating chambers are rectangular in shape and have at one end the seat of the Speaker, in front of which stands the Table of the House. The benches for members run the length of the chamber on both sides. Five rows of benches on each side face each other across a broad area known as the "Floor of the House". This arrangement expresses a fact which is fundamental to the British parliamentary system. The benches to the right of the Speaker are used by the Government and its supporters, those to the left are occupied by the Opposition and members of any other parties. As a rule, the front benches are occupied by the leaders of the Government and the Opposition.

A typically British institution in the House of Commons is Question Time. It is a period when for an hour (from 2.30 until 3.30 p.m.) each afternoon on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday members of Parliament may question any minister on the work of the entrusted department and the Prime Minister on general national policy.