The British Parliament: House of Commons, House of Lords and the Speaker
Political Science - Major World Governments · Unit I · Topic 3 of 17 · 5 min read
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Cases checked to exist. Read the judgment before quoting a holding.
Every case cited here has been checked to exist — the citation resolves and names the right parties. The propositions attributed to each case have not been verified line by line against the judgment. Case names link through to the full judgment: read it before quoting a holding in an examination answer, and never carry a proposition from notes into court on trust.
1. Parliamentary sovereignty
Dicey stated the doctrine in two parts: Parliament has the right to make or unmake any law whatever; and no person or body has the right to override or set aside an Act of Parliament. Three corollaries follow: no Parliament can bind its successor; there is no distinction between constitutional and ordinary law; and courts cannot review the validity of an Act. De Lolme’s remark that Parliament can do everything except make a woman a man and a man a woman is the usual illustration. Modern qualifications: membership of the European Union (until 2020), the Human Rights Act 1998 (courts may declare an Act incompatible but not void), and devolution, which in practice Westminster would find hard to reverse.
2. The House of Commons
- Composition. 650 members (MPs), each elected from a single-member constituency by the first-past-the-post system, on universal adult suffrage at 18.
- Tenure. A Parliament lasts at most five years from its first meeting, when it dissolves automatically (Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022). It may be dissolved earlier by the King on the Prime Minister’s advice.
- Officers. The Speaker and three Deputy Speakers; the Leader of the House; the whips.
Powers and functions.
- Legislation. Nearly all important bills begin in the Commons. A bill passes through first reading, second reading (debate on principle), committee stage, report stage and third reading, then goes to the Lords and finally receives royal assent.
- Finance. Only the Commons can impose taxes and grant supply. Money bills begin there; the Lords cannot amend them and can delay them for only one month.
- Control of the executive. Question Time and Prime Minister’s Questions; adjournment and opposition-day debates; departmental select committees; and ultimately the vote of no confidence, which can bring a government down (as in 1979).
- Making and unmaking governments. The government is formed from the party that commands the House.
- Ventilating grievances of constituents and representing public opinion.
- Judicial and quasi-judicial functions such as punishing breach of privilege.
3. The House of Lords
Composition. The Lords is unelected and has no fixed size (roughly 800 members eligible to sit). It contains:
- Life peers appointed by the King on the Prime Minister’s advice under the Life Peerages Act 1958, the large majority, including crossbenchers recommended by the House of Lords Appointments Commission;
- Hereditary peers, reduced to 92 by the House of Lords Act 1999; the government elected in 2024 introduced legislation to remove this remaining hereditary element;
- Lords Spiritual — 26 archbishops and bishops of the Church of England.
Members sit for life (life peers may now retire or be removed for non-attendance under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014). Until 2009 the Lords also included the Law Lords (see the note on the British judiciary).
Powers after the Parliament Acts.
| Bill | Lords’ power |
|---|---|
| Money bill (certified by the Speaker) | Delay of one month (1911 Act) |
| Other public bills | Delay of about one year, two sessions (1949 Act; two years under 1911) |
| Bill to extend the life of Parliament beyond five years | Full veto |
Functions today. Revision of Commons bills (most government amendments are made here); initiating less contentious bills; scrutiny through committees such as the Constitution Committee; debate by experts on matters of public policy; and the delaying power as a check on hasty legislation. The Salisbury convention keeps the Lords from blocking manifesto bills.
Assessment. The Lords is the weakest second chamber among the systems in this paper. Its defence is that an appointed House, free from electoral pressure and rich in expertise, improves legislation without challenging the elected House. Its critics say a legislature with hereditary and appointed members has no place in a democracy.
4. The Speaker of the House of Commons
Selection. Elected by MPs from among themselves at the start of each Parliament and when the office falls vacant, by secret ballot since 2001. On election the Speaker gives up party affiliation. By convention the major parties do not contest the Speaker’s seat at a general election, and a Speaker who seeks it is re-elected to the chair.
Powers and functions.
- Presides over debates, maintains order, calls members to speak, and can suspend a sitting or name a member.
- Interprets the rules of procedure; rulings are final and not questioned in court.
- Certifies money bills under the Parliament Act 1911; the certificate is conclusive.
- Selects amendments for debate and decides whether an urgent question or emergency debate is allowed.
- Casting vote in a tie, used by convention (Speaker Denison’s rule) to keep matters open for further debate.
- Represents the House to the Crown and the Lords, and guards its privileges.
The British Speaker’s impartiality is the model for Speakers elsewhere. Compare the American Speaker, who is the leader of the majority party (Unit II), and the Indian Speaker, who is elected on a party ticket and does not resign from the party (Unit V).
How this is examined
As an essay: the composition, powers and functions of Parliament and its role (February 2025), or the House of Lords alone, or a comparison of the two Houses. As a short note: the Speaker of the House of Commons, or the Parliament Acts. For a full answer, begin with the definition of Parliament as King, Lords and Commons, deal with each House under composition, tenure and powers, and close with sovereignty of Parliament and the dominance of the Cabinet over it.
Now try the real questions: Political Science - Major World Governments past question papers.