Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[d] is the supreme legislative body[e] of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories.[3][4] It meets at the Palace of Westminster in London. Parliament possesses legislative supremacy and thereby holds ultimate power over all other political bodies in the United Kingdom and the Overseas Territories. While Parliament is bicameral, it has three parts: the sovereign, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons.[5] The three parts acting together to legislate may be described as the King-in-Parliament.[6] The Crown normally acts on the advice of the prime minister, and the powers of the House of Lords are limited to only delaying legislation; thus power is de facto vested in the House of Commons.[7]
"British Parliament" redirects here. For the legislature before 1801, see Parliament of Great Britain.
Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
1 January 1801
since 8 September 2022
since 1 May 2021
since 4 November 2019
since 25 October 2022
since 4 April 2020
- Conservative Party (277)
- Labour Party (172)
- Liberal Democrats (80)
- Democratic Unionist Party (6)
- Green Party (2)
- Plaid Cymru (2)
- Ulster Unionist Party (2)
- Independents (2)
- Non-affiliated (37)
- Crossbenchers (181)
- Lord Speaker (1)
- Conservative Party (347)
- Labour Party (201)
- Scottish National Party (43)
- Liberal Democrats (15)
- Democratic Unionist Party (7)
- Plaid Cymru (3)
- Alba Party (2)
- SDLP (2)
- Alliance Party (1)
- Green Party (1)
- Reform UK (1)
- Workers Party (1)
- Independents (17)[b]
- Sinn Féin (7)
- Speaker (1)
- Vacant (1)
The House of Commons is the elected lower chamber of Parliament, with elections to 650 single-member constituencies held at least every five years under the first-past-the-post system.[8] By constitutional convention, all government ministers, including the prime minister, are members of the House of Commons, or less commonly the House of Lords, and are thereby accountable to the respective branches of the legislature. Most Cabinet ministers are from the Commons, while junior ministers can be from either house.
The House of Lords is the upper chamber of Parliament,[9] comprising two types of members. The most numerous are the Lords Temporal, consisting mainly of life peers appointed by the sovereign on the advice of the prime minister,[10] plus up to 92 hereditary peers. The less numerous Lords Spiritual consist of up to 26 bishops of the Church of England. Before the establishment of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in 2009, the House of Lords performed judicial functions through the law lords.
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the oldest legislature in the world and is characterised by the stability of its governing institutions and its capacity to absorb change.[11] The Westminster system shaped the political systems of the nations once ruled by the British Empire, and thus has been called the "mother of parliaments".[12][f]
Broadcast media[edit]
All public events are broadcast live and on-demand via parliamentlive.tv, which maintains an archive dating back to 4 December 2007.[36] There is also a related official YouTube channel.[37] They are also broadcast live by the independent Euronews English channel.[38] In the UK the BBC has its own dedicated parliament channel, BBC Parliament, which broadcasts 24 hours a day and is also available on BBC iPlayer. It shows live coverage from the House of Commons, House of Lords, the Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Senedd.
