What does the House of Lords do?
It does not have the same power as the House of Commons.
Many people want to abolish it because the members have not
been elected by the people.
The House of Lords can:
Pass Bills sent to it from the House of Commons.
Amend Bills and send back to the Commons for approval.
Delay Bills for a limited time.
Start its own Bills, but it must send them to the House of Lords for approval.
Politics
The House of Lords is also the highest Court of Law in Britain.
Bills must both the Houses of Parliament and then receive the Royal Asset (be signed by
the Queen) before they become Acts of Parliament
It deals with the group of advisers of the monarch composed by more than 300
members: legislators, judges, distinguished scholars.
It was created in the Middle Ages, but it has lost most of the judicial and political functions since the 17° century and now replaced by
the Cabinet.
The Privy Council
The British democratic system depends on political parties:
Conservative and Labour.
When one party wins more seats than the other in an
election, it forms the Government. The other party is called:
the Opposition.
In 1981 there was a split in the Labour Party and the Social Democratic Party was formed.
The U.K. is divided into 650 areas called constituencies.
Each constituency returns one member of Parliament. Before an election a candidate is chosen the local support for a
party, it may decide not to have a candidate. But the two parties always fight the election in every constituency.
Elections in Britain are decided on a simple majority, the candidate with the most votes is elected.
The Party System
In Britain the Civil Service is non-political, it has a tradition of serving and giving advice to whatever government is in power.
Civil Servants are “servants of the Crown” of the Queen.
Since World War II there has been a big increase in the number of civil servants because governments now provide many more services for the citizen: the National Health Service, for example.
The Civil Service
Central government affects the citizen in many ways: it
provides him with hospital treatment and with a pension in old age.
But it also provides the organization of: schools, dustbin, police, fire service.
The people elect Councillors for both County and District Councils.
The Councils elect their Chairman to preside over meetings.
Borough Councils call the chairman “Mayor”.
Small towns and villages elect Parish Councils or Community Councils. They have very little power but give local people a chance to express their opinions about local affairs in public.
Local Government
A transfer (decentralization) of political parties from Westminster to gain
independence first started in Ireland.
Political and cultural nationalism also in Wales and Scotland.
Regional Development Agencies.
The authority of the Mayor.
