Notes 02

House of Commons – Explained

• The House of Commons is one of the two chambers of parliament.
It is also known as the upper house. The members are elected
through a public vote in general elections. Their main role is to
debate and scrutinise proposed legislation and bring forth their
own bills.

• There are six hundred and fifty seats within the house of

commons. Most Members of Parliament (MPs) have been elected
and gained a seat representing a political party, though some may
run independently. MPs also represent their constituency
alongside their political party. There are 650 constituencies within
the UK parliament, and each MP represents a single constituency.
 House of Lords - Explained
• The House of Lords is the second chamber within parliament, also known as
the upper house. Alongside the House of Commons, they vote and debate
upon proposed legislation. Scrutinising it and proposing changes where
necessary. There is not a set number of seats, but in 2022, there were seven
hundred and sixty-seven members within the House of Lords.
• However, unlike the House of Commons, the House of Lords are not publicly
elected. Most are nominated by those who have worked within the political
and legal system throughout their lives, known as life peers.
• Some members of the House of Lords hold their seats as hereditary peers –
meaning that they inherit the position through their family. There are
around 700 hereditary peers, but only 92 are entitled to a seat. The rest vote
for who will sit in the House of Lords. The third type of seat held within the
House of Lords is the Lords Spiritual, 26 of which the bishops of the UK hold.
 Functions of UK’s Parliament
• The UK's parliament has three primary
functions, passing legislation, parliamentary
scrutiny, and providing ministers. Arguably the
most important of these functions is to pass
legislation. To do this, all proposed legislation
must be deeply evaluated so that laws are fair. As
such, parliament must debate and adjust them
before they become legislation. The process in
which this is done is known as the billing process.
 Billing Process for a UK Act of Parliament

• To pass an Act of Parliament in the UK a proposed bill needs to go through the billing
process in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. While most bills begin in
the House of Commons, they can start in either house. For both Houses the process is the
same:
i. First Reading: read the bill that has been put forward, no debate
ii. Second Reading: debate the bill, but no amendments are made
iii. Committee Stage: amendments are made to the bill
iv. Report Stage: changes are reported back to the relevant House
v. Third Reading: final debates and changes are made
• Once approved by the House of Commons, the bill moves to the House of Lords (or vice
versa) to undergo the billing process. If changes are made to the bill, it will go through the
process again. If the houses don’t agree on the changes made, it will move back and forth
between the House of Commons and the House of Lords until they agree.
• Finally, once the houses have agreed, the bill gets passed to the Crown to receive 'royal
assent'. This is the final stage in the billing process, where the monarch signs the bill so
that it becomes law.
 Parliamentary Scrutiny – another imp.
function of the parliament
• Parliament is also there to hold the executive branch of the government to
account. Making sure that they adhere to the constitution and don't abuse
their power. Parliament is, therefore, part of a process known
as parliamentary scrutiny whereby a parliament “scrutinises the policies and
actions of the executive to ensure they are held to a high standard”.

• They do this in three primary ways:

i. Firstly, through select committees which relate to governmental
departments.
ii. Secondly, by posing questions to individual ministers on the matter,
requesting either an oral or written response (e.g. a weekly Q&A in the
House of Commons through the prime minister's questions).
iii. Finally, through a debate within the House of Lords or the House of
Commons.
 Additional features include:
• Ensure the availability of ministers to represent
and sit in cabinet as part of the executive
branch of the government. To be a minister
you must hold a seat in one of the Houses of
Parliament.
• Lastly, the representation of the people is also
a function of the UK parliament, though this
only happens through the House of Commons,
as this is the elected chamber of parliament.
 Members of the UK Parliament

• People of the UK elect the Members of Parliament, or

MPs, to the House of Commons in general elections.
• The public votes for the candidate they wish to represent
their area within this process.
• These nominees usually represent a particular political
party, such as the Conservatives or the Labor Party. How
many constituencies a party wins determines how many
seats they gain in the House of Commons.
• Therefore, every MP will represent their constituencies and
their political party and will therefore often raise issues in
the House of Commons relevant to their own constituency.
 Petitioning Parliament in the UK

• In the UK, one of the civil rights is that every individual is allowed
to petition their parliament on matters of concern. If a petition gets
enough signatures, it may persuade parliament to debate specific
issues. Petitioning is a great way for parliament to understand and
be made aware of the public's concerns. The ability to petition
parliament is how the public can directly affect parliament.
• There is a UK Parliament petitions website which organises
petitions in the UK. If a petition reaches 10,000 signatures, then the
government must respond. If it reaches 100,000 signatures, then
there is usually a debate in parliament. The Petitions Committee in
the House of Commons is responsible for organising this.
 Examples
• Over 600,000 people signed one recent petition that was debated
in parliament. This petition was asking for the provision of a
government ID to be required before opening a social media
account. The petition was ignored by parliament as it would be
too difficult to implement this law on all social media platforms.
• A successful example is a petition in 2015 which argued that the
government needed to accept more refugees and give greater
support to refugees. This petition received over 450,000
signatures. After this, the government admitted 20,000 more
Syrian refugees under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation
scheme and spent an additional £100m in humanitarian aid.
 Devolution in UK Parliament

• “Devolution is the sharing of powers, which can be

legislative, executive, and judicial powers, to lower levels
such as local or regional governments.”
• “Devolution is the passing of powers to regional or local
levels within a state.”
• It is a particularly important feature for the UK as
parliament, the executive and the judiciary share devolved
powers with Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and
England. These powers are usually over more local matters
such as education and the environment but differ
depending on who the powers are devolved to.
• Even though the parliament has devolved some powers to these regional and local
governments, there are some powers that only the UK parliament has; these are
called reserved powers. They include matters of criminal law, human rights,
international and national trading laws, laws that concern the NHS, and powers over
detention.

• There are several reasons that parliament has devolved some of their powers to these
regional and local governments.
i. Firstly, there is often greater local knowledge at the regional and local levels, meaning
these areas can be governed more effectively than by the central government.
ii. Another reason that parliament shared devolved powers is that some of these areas,
especially Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, wanted more control over their
nations. For Scotland and Wales, there were successful referendums in 1997 to ask the
people if they wanted devolved powers.
 However, Northern Ireland gained its devolved powers
through the Belfast Agreement 1998, also known as the
Good Friday Agreement 1998, which helped end the
conflict between Ireland and the UK. Therefore, giving
devolved powers to these nations within the UK was due
to their desires for autonomy and independence from the
central government.

iii. The last reason that parliament shared devolved powers

was to lessen the strain on the system, especially for the
devolution of parliamentary powers within England.
Criticism on the idea of devolution
• Some people have criticised the devolution of parliamentary
powers by saying that it weakened parliamentary sovereignty,
which is an important principle in the UK. Though others say
that even though it does reduce the power of parliament
because they still hold reserved powers, they are still sovereign.

• Another criticism of parliamentary devolution in the UK is that

giving regional governments increased independence and
autonomy, especially Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, will
give them a taste of freedom and leave them wanting more.
Though others argue the opposite, that giving them this extra
independence will satisfy them
 UK’s Parliament - Key takeaways

• The UK Parliament makes up the legislative branch of the government and

consists of two separate bodies, the House of Commons and the House of
Lords.
• The main functions of parliament are to pass Acts of Parliament, to perform
parliamentary scrutiny, and to provide ministers for the executive.
• The people elect the House of Commons’ members, whereas the 
House of Lords' are not.
• MPs sit in the House of Commons and can therefore sit on the cabinet and
various committees, representing their political parties and constituencies.
• Petitioning parliament is a great way for the public to make parliament
debate and decide on issues that the public is concerned about.
• Devolution has spread out the powers of parliament to other authorities
(and parliaments) within the UK, although the central parliament still holds
reserved powers.