Chapter 5: The UK Government, the Law and Your Role

Parliament: Commons, Lords, Speaker and Elections

Última verificación: 15 July 2026

• 1The UK Parliament sits at Westminster and has two chambers: the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
• 2The House of Commons is the more important chamber because its members (MPs) are democratically elected.
• 3Each MP represents a geographic area called a constituency.
• 4MPs: represent everyone in their constituency; help create new laws; scrutinise and comment on government actions; debate important national issues.
• 5The Speaker is the chief officer of the House of Commons: an MP elected by fellow MPs in a secret ballot, who is politically NEUTRAL (does not represent a political party while Speaker).
• 6The Speaker chairs debates, keeps order and makes sure rules are followed — including ensuring the opposition gets a guaranteed amount of debate time; the Speaker also represents Parliament on ceremonial occasions.
• 7General elections are held at least every five years; MPs are elected by "first past the post" — in each constituency, the candidate with the most votes wins the seat.
• 8If an MP dies or resigns, a fresh election — a by-election — is held in that constituency.
• 9The party with the majority of MPs forms the government; if no party wins a majority, parties may form a coalition.
• 10Members of the House of Lords (peers) are NOT elected and do not represent constituencies.
• 11Since 1958 the monarch has appointed life peers on the advice of the Prime Minister (leaders of other parties can also nominate); life peers hold the title for life and it does not pass to their children.
• 12Hereditary peers lost the automatic right to attend the House of Lords in 1999 (they now elect a small number of themselves to sit).
• 13The House of Lords also includes senior Church of England bishops and (historically) senior judges.
• 14The House of Lords examines and revises legislation, can suggest amendments and holds the government to account; it is normally more independent of government than the Commons.
• 15The House of Commons can overrule the Lords — it has powers to pass laws without the Lords' agreement (used rarely).
• 16Elections for the European Parliament (as of 2013) were held every five years; elected members are MEPs, chosen by a system of proportional representation.
• 17Parliamentary proceedings are public: debates are broadcast on TV and published in official written reports called Hansard (available in libraries and online).
• 18The public can visit Parliament and watch debates from public galleries — get tickets via your MP or queue on the day; the devolved legislatures (Holyrood, the Senedd, Stormont) can also be visited.