Political system of Great Britain

Great Britain is a parliamentary monarchy. The Queen is at the head of the nation. She is the head of the system of justice and of the armed forces and temporal head of the Church of England. The Queen does not take part in politics, but the country is governed in her name. She summons the Parliament. Laws are made by Parliament and her Royal Assent is needed before any Bill becomes law as an Act of Parliament.

Parliament consists of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of Lords (the Upper House) is presided over by the Lord Chancellor and is formed partly on a hereditary basis. It includes the English peers (lords), a certain number of elected Irish and Scottish peers and a number of the Bishops of the Church of England. The House of Commons (the Lower House) is elective. Each member of the House of Com­mons is elected from one of 635 areas, called constituencies. Elections are held every five years by secret ballot. The House of Commons is presided over by the Speaker.

Members of the House of Commons belong to different political parties. The main parliamentary parties are: the Conservative Party, the Labour Party, the Liberal Party. The Government is formed by the party that gains a majority in the House of Commons. The leader of that party becomes Prime Minister, the head of the Government. He forms his Cabinet from members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Cabinet is collectively res­ponsible for all Government decisions. It is answerable to Par­liament. The second largest party normally becomes the official Opposition, with its own leader and shadow cabinet.

Local government is carried out by elected councils, repre­senting local areas. They deal with housing, education, social services, police, fire brigades and many other services.

Дата добавления: 2015-09-01