The United Kingdom (political system)

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. It has a monarch – a King or a Queen.

The present British monarch is Queen Elizabeth the Second. She became Queen in 1952. The monarch has little power and can reign with the support of Parliament.

British Parliament is the legislative body at the country. It consists of two Houses. The House of Commons and House of Lords. Parliament and the monarch have different roles in the Government of the country. In reality, the House of Commons has truth power. It introduces new bills. Then they go to the House of Lords for approval. Then the monarch signs them.

The functions of the Queen are: to open the sessions of the Parliament, to head the commonwealth, to be Commander-in-Chief, to declare the war, to make peace. The house of commons is made up of 650 elected members of parliament. The party which has the majority of seats in the Government and its leader usually becomes prime minister. The prime minister forms his or her Cabinet Ministers. The chairman of the House of Commons is the Speaker. The chairman of the House of Lords is the Lord Chancellor. He sits on a special place, which is called the woolsack. It means that wool made England rich. The members of the House of Lords are not elected.

There are several political parties in Great Britain. They are the Conservative, the Liberal, the Labor, the Social Democratic and the Communist parties. Prime minister of the country Antony Blair is representative of the Labor party.