9.1a Houses of Parliament Flashcards
Palriament
The UK has a bicameral system of parliament. This means it is made up of two chambers - the House of Commons and House of Lords. Parliament is the legislature and has the role of making laws in the UK.
House of Commons: Selection
The House of Commons is the lower house in the bicameral system of the UK, which is where Members of Parliament (MPs) sit.
MPs are elected to the House of Commons at a general election.
People vote from a list of candidates standing in their constituency.
The winning candidate represents the constituency in Parliament.
House of Commons: Membership
Most Members of Parliament are called backbenchers.
Backbenchers are MPs that do not sit in the two front benches in the House of Commons. All political parties have backbenchers.
The MPs who sit on the front benches in the House of Commons are members of the government, cabinet ministers, members of the shadow cabinet and the opposition party’s leadership team.
The speaker in the House of Commons is an MP who manages and chairs debates in the chamber. The speaker is elected by other MPs.
House of Lords
The House of Lords is Parliament’s upper house in the bicameral system of the UK (two chambers which are involved in law-making). Some members of the House of Lords are known as ‘Peers’.
House of Lords: Peers
Members of the House of Lords include life peers, hereditary peers, archbishops and bishops.
Peers are known as ‘Lords Temporal’.
Most members of the House of Lords are Life peers, meaning that they are a Lord for their lifetime but cannot pass the title on to their children.
There are 676 Life peers as of 2018.
Members of the House of Lords used to all be hereditary peers, meaning that they inherited their title as a Lord from their family.
House of Lords: Lords Spiritual
Other members of the House of Lords are archbishops and bishops.
Bishops and archbishops are known as ‘Lords Spiritual’.
There are 26 archbishops and bishops who are members of the House of Lords.
The Lords Spiritual come from the Church of England.
House of Lords: Selection
The House of Lords appointments committee can appoint members to the House of Lords who are not aligned with any party.
Any member of the public can nominate a person to be reviewed for membership selection by the committee.
House of Lords: Selection 2
The prime minister can appoint members to the House of Lords through using the power of patronage.
Gordon Brown (prime minister from 2007-2010) appointed Lord Sugar to the House of Lords in 2009.
David Cameron appointed Ed Llewellyn, his former chief of staff, as a member of the House of Lords in 2016.
Party leaders of the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats can use political lists to include people their party want appointed to the House of Lords, and act in the party’s interests.
