английский для продолжающих / the UK

Parliament in the UK

There are 3 brunches of power in the UK

• Parliament, which makes laws

• Government, which executes laws

• Law Courts , which interpret laws

Parliament has 2 parts: the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

The members of the House of Commons are selected by voters of 650 constituencies.

As for the House of Lords it consists of Lords temporal and spiritual.

Lords spiritual are:

• Arch Bishop of York Canterbury ;

• 24 senior Bishops of Churches of England.

Lord temporal are :

• hereditary peers who have inherited the title ,

• life-peers who are appointed by the Queen for various services to the nation ,

• 9 lords of appeal (Law-Lords) who become life peers on the judges appointment.

Prime Minister is also the member of Parliament and usually the leader of political party with the majority in the House of Commons .

He is admitted by 20 other ministers in charge.

Now Labor party is in power.

Although the Queen is the head of all 3 branches, she has little direct power, though we may say that she plays a central role in state affairs, not only through her ceremonial functions such as opening the parliament, but also because she meets Prime Minister every week and receives copies of all cabinet papers.

However she is expected to be above politics. And any advise she offers is kept secret.

She has a power to prevent any politician from establishing a dictatorship.

Other functions include:

• Approving the appointment of the Prime Minister;

• Gives Her royal accent to the bills;

• Gives honors, peerages, knighthoods and medals.

She is also:

• The head of the Commonwealth;

• The head of the Church of England

• The Commandor-in-Chief of the armed forces

• Probably the wealthiest woman in the world, but most of her money comes from her family investments, rather than from the state. But since the 17^th century parliament has effective control over the monarch’s finances. All Her expanses are paid by government money.