The British Parliament began in 1265, and held a hierarchical meeting of nobles, monks, knights and citizens in the name of regent. Parliament is divided into two houses. The upper house is composed of monks and nobles, which is called the aristocratic house; The lower house is composed of knights and citizens' representatives, and is called the lower house or the House of Representatives.
1688 after the "glorious revolution", the principles of "parliamentary supremacy" and "parliamentary sovereignty" were established, and the power of the king was transferred to the parliament, which became the highest organ of state power.
The composition of modern British parliament
The modern British Parliament consists of the King, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Members of the House of Lords are unelected and consist of religious nobles (archbishops and bishops), hereditary nobles, lifelong nobles, royal nobles and appeal nobles (senior judges, attorneys general and deputy attorneys general, etc.). ). At present, there are about 65,438 members+0,000 people. Members of the House of Commons are directly elected by voters in accordance with the majority representation system in small constituencies. At present, there are 650 members. The maximum term of office of members of the House of Commons is five years, and the minimum age limit for members of both houses is 2 1. The speaker of the upper house is concurrently appointed by the Chief Justice, and the speaker of the lower house is appointed by the majority party members as usual. The upper and lower houses have committees, standing committees, special committees, joint committees and other institutions to assist the two houses in deliberating relevant bills.
The British Parliament has the power to legislate, determine taxes, approve budgets, supervise the government and decide the succession to the throne. These powers are mainly exercised by the House of Commons. The functions and powers of the House of Lords mainly include shelving the veto. If the upper house does not agree with the bill passed by the lower house, it can only delay the entry into force of the 1 year bill, and the fiscal bill passed by the lower house can only be delayed by 1 month. The House of Lords is also the highest court of appeal in Britain, and has the power to hear all civil and criminal appeals except criminal cases in Scotland, as well as aristocratic cases and impeachment cases brought by the House of Commons.
The legislative process includes three stages: ① proposing a bill. There are three kinds of bills: public bills, private bills and mixed bills. Pass the bill. Any bill must go through the "third reading" procedure of the lower house and the upper house respectively, and it can only take effect after being approved by the king. (3) announced the motion. After the bill is passed by the two houses of parliament, it is submitted to the king for approval, and the king issues a charter, which is announced by the speakers of the two houses and sometimes by the royal Committee. The king of England has veto power over the bill, but it has never been used for more than 200 years.
The British Parliament is located in Westminster, London, near Whitehall, to show that the administration is under parliamentary control. The meeting room of the House of Commons is very small, which can only accommodate 2/3 members. On the left of the hall are seats for members of the opposition party and on the right are seats for members of the ruling party. Members of the government and the leader of the opposition (shadow cabinet) sit in the front row, which is called front-seat members, while ordinary members sit in the back row, which is called back-seat members. The lower house meets four days a week, and the annual meeting time is about 175 ~ 200 days, while the upper house meets on average 140 days. Except for a few cases, all the records of the upper and lower houses of parliament are public. There is an archives office in the upper house for people to consult the archives of the two houses.
upper house
When holding a debate in the British Parliament, agreeing with the speaker's point of view generally means standing up and shouting "yes" and "NAY" (No).
The House of Lords and the House of Commons are held in different rooms of the PalaceofWestminster in Greater London.
The decoration of the chamber of the upper house is very gorgeous. It is a place where many formal ceremonies are held, the most striking of which is the opening ceremony of parliament held before each new session. During the ceremony, the king boarded the throne in the hall, appeared in both houses of Congress, and delivered a speech for the new Congress, outlining the government's administration.
The benches in the hall have red manes, so the upper courtyard is sometimes called the "Red Chamber".
The "wool bag" was arranged at the front of the hall.
Members who support the government stand on the right side of the wool bag.
The congressman who opposed the government sat in the seat on the left side of the wool bag.
Cross-bencher sits in the seat opposite the wool bag.
Members of the upper house do not need to obtain the consent of the chairman before speaking, but they must obtain the consent of the chairman before speaking in the lower house. If more than two members get up to speak at the same time, they will decide which side to listen to first by applause in the hospital.
Leaders of the House of Lords usually make suggestions on the order of speeches, and they are generally respected. Speaking in the hospital should face the whole hospital ('Members'), not just the chairman (this is the practice of the House of Commons). Parliamentarians don't address each other (you) by the second person, but by the third person, such as' noble duke',' noble earl',' noble senator',' noble friend' and so on.
During each meeting, each member shall not speak more than 1 time. Only the convener can speak at the beginning and end of each meeting. There is no time limit for speeches in the House of Lords. However, the House of Lords can stop members from speaking through the motion "We will no longer listen to the opinions of outstanding members" ("The noble Lordbenolongerhead"). The hospital can also end the debate by moving "I stop speaking on this topic immediately". This process is called "clothing" (Closure in American English). There is also a name called the guillotine, which is extremely rare in hospitals.
Once the speech on a topic is concluded, or when a vote is required, the bill can be put to the vote. At the beginning, there will be an oral vote, and the topic will be read out by the minister or vice-chairman of the House of Lords. Members will respond with "content" (that is, for the motion) or "no content" (against), and then the chairman of the meeting will announce the voting result. If any member has any questions, a written vote will be taken immediately. Members enter one of the two rooms ("satisfactory" room or "unsatisfactory" room) respectively, and their names are recorded in the room by the staff. Each room (held by members) has two tellers to count the number of members voting. Ministers and vice-chairmen of the House of Lords can express their intentions on wool bales. After the written vote is completed, the tellers shall submit the counting results to the chairman of the meeting.
If the voting result is a draw, the proposal will be decided according to the following procedures: continue to use the existing provisions unless a majority of members advocate amendment or veto; Other new proposals were rejected unless a majority of members advocated their adoption. The quorum for general or procedural voting in the hospital is three; Thirty people voted for the bill. If there is less than a quorum, the vote is invalid.
House of Commons: Mother of Parliament
The layout of the British House of Commons is simple. Known as the "mother of parliament", it is the most important part of the country's political life. The House of Commons elects the British Prime Minister. Unlike the US Congress, which is only an advisory body, the British House of Commons has enormous power.
There are wonderful debates in both houses of Britain. The debate in the House of Lords is much more exciting than that in the House of Commons, but the resolution made by the House of Lords doesn't count and is only for the government's reference.
Debates in the House of Commons mainly take place between the ruling party and the opposition party, and sometimes the Liberal Party, the third largest party, will join in.
During the debate, all members are angry with each other, and they don't want to give in to each other, but they are generally polite. Although they sometimes hate each other in their hearts, they never show it on the surface. It will not turn into a personal attack by the parliament like Japan and Italy. There are many professionals in the House of Lords, many of whom are specialized scientists, financiers and international relations scholars. Therefore, their debates can get to the heart of the problem, and sometimes they can quote classics and make many incisive and practical conclusions, which are wonderful enough to be used as university textbooks.
After all prime ministers step down, they will be knighted and enter the House of Lords. However, if members of the House of Lords want to enter the House of Commons, it will not be so easy. First, he has to resign from the House of Lords, that is, he has to resign his title before he can be elected to the House of Commons.