English Parliament and Elections (0)

Describe the British Parliament
Works in a large building called the Palace of Westminster aka The Houses of Parliament. There are offices, committee rooms , restaurants, bars , libraries and even some places of residence . Two large rooms: The House of Lords meet in one and the House of Commons in the other . The British Parliament is divided into two houses, but the House of Commons is obviously more important and only they are considered to be the MPs.
In the House of Commons there are just two rows of benches facing each other. On the left sit the members of the governing party and on the right sit the opposition. The Speaker sits between them and controls the action . The arrangement of the benches encourages confrontation between the government and the opposition. There is no place for somebody who isn’t neither in the opposition nor in the government side. Usually peeps like this sit in the opposition furthest from the Speaker. || There are no tables for the MPs. They also have no obvious place to address each other from. They can walk in and out during the debates. There are no names on the benches so the MPs sit down just wherever they find the room .
The Atmosphere of Parliament
Fairly informal atmosphere. People don’t have their own exact place/territory so they feel like they must co-operate. Although they have divided themselves into frontbenchers ( leading members of the government and opposition) and the backbenchers (people who don’t own a meaningful post). MPs have nowhere to address each other from, they have nowhere to put their notes so that means that they speak in a very conversational tone and not for a very long time. The organization of the Parliament is historic because in the history the House of Commons met in a church and now the Parliament looks like one. When the MPs address each other they don’t say the names directly but they address them as “my right honourable friend from Winchester” etc. This was created to take off the heat of a debate.
An MP’s life
The informality of the Commons may result from the fact that in history the members were supposed to be ordinary people just representing people. This way the MPs were not even paid until the 20th century . This way only rich people were able to afford being a member of the Parliament. Even now they don’t get paid very much – one MP has to share an office and a secretary with two other MPs. Most MPs are full -time politicians. But the old tradition where the MPs have other jobs reflects from the working hours of today . The Parliament doesn’t sit in the morning . Work time is “gentlemen’s hours” and they start their work later . They have a lot of holidays too. But it isn’t as easy as it seems. Actually an MPs spends more time than an average person at work, the debates may continue into the night and this way it is one of the longest sitting Parliament in Europe. MP’s mornings are takes up with committee work, research and preapearing their speeches. In the weekends they are supposed to be visiting the places they represent . They have very little time for their families.
The party system
MPs know that they owe their position in the Parliament to their party so they usually vote as their party tells them to. This is controlled by the Whips (MPs chosen among each others from their parties ). They inform the MPs how to vote. There is a tradition that if the government loses a vote in a in Parliament on a big matter they must resign so for the voting day all the MPs have to vote even if they hadn’t been there for the debates. The Whips have a great amount advantages since they are act as intemediaries between the FB-s and the BB-s and so they can have an effect on which BB-s get promoted. Sometimes there are free-votes where every MP votes according to his beliefs .
Bill  Law
Before a bill becomes a law it will go through many stages in the Parliament. First reading – formal announcement without any debate. 2nd reading – The house debates about it on general principles and takes a vote. Committee stage – A committee of MPs examines the details and votes on changes to parts of it. Report stage – The House consideres the changes. 3rd reading – The amended bill is debated as a whole. After that the bill is sent to the House of Lords where it goes through the same process. After both Houses have reached agreement the bill receives the royal assent and becomes an Act of Parliament and a new law.
The House of Lords
Members are not elected. They used to have more power but like the power of the monarch it has reduced significantly. No bill can’t become a law unless the HoL accepts it but after six months it will become a law anyway. Usually the member own an aristocratic title or they are retired from the House of Commons. Usually parties are very keen to send their older members (who once were in the leadership of the party) into the HoL – this gives the party the opportunity to pay them some respect and the same time get rid of them. HoL is like a forum, since they don’t depend on parties they can bring some matter to the public that the Parliament has been ignoring. Plus – they discuss new laws much more in details.
The system of elections
Originally the members of the House of Commons is nobody ’s concern, because every member is a representator for one part of the kingdom. In the 19th century laws were passed of how the elections are to take place. The tradition remains- each MP represents a particular locality and that makes the system easy. Country is divided into constituencies with almost equal amount of people. Somebody who wants to become a candidate must decleare him/ herself there. On polling day each voter is given a ballot paper with the candidate names on it and they make a cross next to the person they vote for. The candidate with the most votes at the end of polling day becomes and MP for that constituency.
Formal arrangement
Government decides when to hold an election, and the law says that an election must take place in every five years , in reality it’s a bit shorter time. After the date has been set, people who want to become candidates in some constituency must deposit 500 pounds with the Returning Officer. The money is gotten back if they get 5% of votes or more. Local associations pay the money for their candidates, but to become a candidate doesn’t mean that you have to belong to a party. Eligible voting age is 18 and the person has to be on the electorial register. Nobody is obliged to vote.
Polling day
Elections take pace on Thursday and the day is not a holiday . Everybody goes to work and the stations are open for a long time so everybody can vote. Only children have day off because schools are used for voting stations. Each voter has to vote at a particular station . After being ticked off on the electorial system he/she receives the ballot paper. In the British mainlands everything is quite ok and nothing is confusig, but in Northern Ireland it has a had a negative effect on democracy for years. After polls close ballot papers are takes to be counted to the central place in the constituency. The Returning Officer makes a public announcement of the votes cast for each candidate and declares the winner of the constituency to become the MP.
Election night
The period after voting has become a television magnet. The first excitement is the declaring. Some constituencies want to be the first one to declare. If the count has gone smoothly the winner is announced sometime 11pm. By midnight only a handful of results have been declared and experts are making their predictions. By two in the morning half of the constituencies have declared their results and when the results are not very close the experts can predict the winners with confidence . Some constituencies have difficulty to get the votes there asap , because they have strict rural or the results are so close that recounts are necessary .
Describe the British Parliament
Works in a large building called the Palace of Westminster aka The Houses of Parliament. There are offices, committee rooms, restaurants, bars, libraries and even some places of residence. Two large rooms: The House of Lords meet in one and the House of Commons in the other. The British Parliament is divided into two houses, but the House of Commons is obviously more important and only they are considered to be the MPs.
In the House of Commons there are just two rows of benches facing each other. On the left sit the members of the governing party and on the right sit the opposition. The Speaker sits between them and controls the action. The arrangement of the benches encourages confrontation between the government and the opposition. There is no place for somebody who isn’t neither in the opposition nor in the government side. Usually peeps like this sit in the opposition furthest from the Speaker. || There are no tables for the MPs. They also have no obvious place to address each other from. They can walk in and out during the debates. There are no names on the benches so the MPs sit down just wherever they find the room.
The Atmosphere of Parliament
Fairly informal atmosphere. People don’t have their own exact place/territory so they feel like they must co-operate. Although they have divided themselves into frontbenchers (leading members of the government and opposition) and the backbenchers (people who don’t own a meaningful post). MPs have nowhere to address each other from, they have nowhere to put their notes so that means that they speak in a very conversational tone and not for a very long time. The organization of the Parliament is historic because in the history the House of Commons met in a church and now the Parliament looks like one. When the MPs address each other they don’t say the names directly but they address them as “my right honourable friend from Winchester” etc. This was created to take off the heat of a debate.
An MP’s life
The informality of the Commons may result from the fact that in history the members were supposed to be ordinary people just representing people. This way the MPs were not even paid until the 20th century. This way only rich people were able to afford being a member of the Parliament. Even now they don’t get paid very much – one MP has to share an office and a secretary with two other MPs. Most MPs are full-time politicians. But the old tradition where the MPs have other jobs reflects from the working hours of today. The Parliament doesn’t sit in the morning. Work time is “gentlemen’s hours” and they start their work later. They have a lot of holidays too. But it isn’t as easy as it seems. Actually an MPs spends more time than an average person at work, the debates may continue into the night and this way it is one of the longest sitting Parliament in Europe. MP’s mornings are takes up with committee work, research and preapearing their speeches. In the weekends they are supposed to be visiting the places they represent. They have very little time for their families.
The party system
MPs know that they owe their position in the Parliament to their party so they usually vote as their party tells them to. This is controlled by the Whips (MPs chosen among each others from their parties). They inform the MPs how to vote. There is a tradition that if the government loses a vote in a in Parliament on a big matter they must resign so for the voting day all the MPs have to vote even if they hadn’t been there for the debates. The Whips have a great amount advantages since they are act as intemediaries between the FB-s and the BB-s and so they can have an effect on which BB-s get promoted. Sometimes there are free-votes where every MP votes according to his beliefs.
Bill  Law
Before a bill becomes a law it will go through many stages in the Parliament. First reading – formal announcement without any debate. 2nd reading – The house debates about it on general principles and takes a vote. Committee stage – A committee of MPs examines the details and votes on changes to parts of it. Report stage – The House consideres the changes. 3rd reading – The amended bill is debated as a whole. After that the bill is sent to the House of Lords where it goes through the same process. After both Houses have reached agreement the bill receives the royal assent and becomes an Act of Parliament and a new law.
The House of Lords
Members are not elected. They used to have more power but like the power of the monarch it has reduced significantly. No bill can’t become a law unless the HoL accepts it but after six months it will become a law anyway. Usually the member own an aristocratic title or they are retired from the House of Commons. Usually parties are very keen to send their older members (who once were in the leadership of the party) into the HoL – this gives the party the opportunity to pay them some respect and the same time get rid of them. HoL is like a forum, since they don’t depend on parties they can bring some matter to the public that the Parliament has been ignoring. Plus – they discuss new laws much more in details.
The system of elections
Originally the members of the House of Commons is nobody’s concern, because every member is a representator for one part of the kingdom. In the 19th century laws were passed of how the elections are to take place. The tradition remains- each MP represents a particular locality and that makes the system easy. Country is divided into constituencies with almost equal amount of people. Somebody who wants to become a candidate must decleare him/herself there. On polling day each voter is given a ballot paper with the candidate names on it and they make a cross next to the person they vote for. The candidate with the most votes at the end of polling day becomes and MP for that constituency.
Formal arrangement
Government decides when to hold an election, and the law says that an election must take place in every five years, in reality it’s a bit shorter time. After the date has been set, people who want to become candidates in some constituency must deposit 500 pounds with the Returning Officer. The money is gotten back if they get 5% of votes or more. Local associations pay the money for their candidates, but to become a candidate doesn’t mean that you have to belong to a party. Eligible voting age is 18 and the person has to be on the electorial register. Nobody is obliged to vote.
Polling day
Elections take pace on Thursday and the day is not a holiday. Everybody goes to work and the stations are open for a long time so everybody can vote. Only children have day off because schools are used for voting stations. Each voter has to vote at a particular station. After being ticked off on the electorial system he/she receives the ballot paper. In the British mainlands everything is quite ok and nothing is confusig, but in Northern Ireland it has a had a negative effect on democracy for years. After polls close ballot papers are takes to be counted to the central place in the constituency. The Returning Officer makes a public announcement of the votes cast for each candidate and declares the winner of the constituency to become the MP.
Election night
The period after voting has become a television magnet. The first excitement is the declaring. Some constituencies want to be the first one to declare. If the count has gone smoothly the winner is announced sometime 11pm. By midnight only a handful of results have been declared and experts are making their predictions. By two in the morning half of the constituencies have declared their results and when the results are not very close the experts can predict the winners with confidence. Some constituencies have difficulty to get the votes there asap, because they have strict rural or the results are so close that recounts are necessary.