Anglais Juridique

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CAVEJ L1 Cours Anglais juridique
CAVEJ L1 Anglais juridique
I. The formation of the U.K.
II. The British Constitution & Monarchy
III. Democracy in Britain
IV. Political parties in GB
V. The British Government
VI. The British Parliament
VII. Specific aspects of the House of Commons and the House of Lords
VIII. Devolution in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
IX. Britain and the Commonwealth; Britain and Europe
X. Citizens’ rights in Britain
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http://www.oodoc.com – Tous droits réservés – Copyright 2010
Lecture 1: The formation of the UK
I. Glossary:
 To brush up: dépoussiérer
 Lay the emphasis on
 Course: series of lessons or lecture
 Lecture: talk given to a group of people
 Country, adjective, people
 GB, British, the British
 English, the English, English people
 Wales, welsh, the welsh or welsh people
 Scotland, Scottish, the Scots
 Ireland, Irish, the Irish
 A flag: un pavillon, un drapeau
 To result in: avoir pour conséquence
 To result from: être la consequence de
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 To come to an end = se terminer
 North, Northern, East, eastern
 To warn: mettre en garde
 Warning: une mise en garde
 A rule, a legal rule
 A code => to codify (codifier)
 A survey: une étude
 A trend : une tendance
 A brand : une marque
 Shape : forme
 Cross : une croix
 To found : fonder
 Voyage : périple en mer
 A trade union : un syndicat
 To take place, to sum up
 To accomodate: loger => accommodation
 Former: ancien, ex => formely : autrefois
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 Tricky : trompeur, rusé, difficile
 Actually: en réalité
 Eventually: en fin de compte
 A reading: lecture
 Trip, travel: court voyage, long voyage
 To put an end to: achiever
 Possibly, maybe: eventually
 To achieve: réussir, mener à terme
 Deputy : vice
 Member of the French Assembly, Député : depute
 To stand for : Représenter, symboliser
 To break away from: se séparer de, s’éloigner de
 To give up: rejeter, abandonner
 To pile up: accumuler
 To bring up: Elever
 To end up: Finir par être, finir par devenir
 To break out: éclater (des conflits)
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 To be given the peerage: être anobli
 Headed by : avec à sa tête
 Union Jack : drapeau anglais
 The Church of England: l‘anglicanisme
 The established Church: la religion officielle
II. Translations :
 Preterit : action révolue
 Present perfect ; bilan dans le présent d’une action passée, action commence dans le
passé et qui continue dans le présent
 Durée d’une action avec le mot « for » et point de départ ponctuel suivant le mot
« since »
 De nombreux conflits éclatèrent au 19ème siècle entre la GB et l’Irlande : Numerous

conflicts broke out in the 19th century between GB and Ireland
 L’anglicanisme est religion d’Etat depuis 1534: The Church of England has been the
established Church since 1534
 La reine Victoria a régné pendant 63 ans: Queen Victoria reigned for 63 years
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 De nombreux bâtiments à Londres ont été reconstruits après qu’ils aient été
bombardés pendant la seconde guerre mondiale: Many buildings in London were built
again after they have been bombed during Second World War.
 Avez-vous remarqué que le drapeau britannique était composé de trois croix de

couleur et de forme différente ? Have you noticed that the Union Jack is composed of
three crosses of different colors and shapes?
 Les normands avec à leur tête Guillaume Le Conquérant ont envahi l’Angleterre en
1066: The Normans headed by William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066.
 John Major, l’ancien Premier Ministre Conservateur n’a pas encore été anobli par la
reine: John Major, the former Prime Minister has not yet been given the peerage by
the queen.
 L’exercice est un peu difficile, je n’ai pas fait d’anglais depuis 10 ans : The exercise is
a bit difficult, I have done any English for ten years.
 Responsible for
 As a result of
 Came into existence
 Came over to England
 A rank below
III. From England to UK
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 England, GB and UK are not synonyms.
 The formation of the UK is a long history of military conquests and political

domination of the British Isles by the England.
 England took its name from a group of population (the angles) who came from
continental Europe to settle in Britain back in the 5 th century, with the Judes and the
Saxons and pushed the existing population to Wales.
Wales remained a separate entity from England until the 16 th century. Wales is composed of a
number of principalities (principautés) with distinct characteristics. Those differences
resulted in various conflicts until the middle Ages. Fortunately, in 1536, the Act of Union
integrated together England and Wales administratively but also legally. From that time on,
Wales became administered by the English Parliament and English Law started to apply on
their territory. When ones refer to England, it actually means England and Wales.
Scotland remained separate longer than Wales. There were numerous wars until 1603 but
things started to change after the death of Queen Elisabeth who had no successor and
therefore led to a King who was Scottish: James the 6th. He became the king of England under
the name of James the 1st of England. During one century, England and Scotland shared the
same king but with different Parliaments. In 1707, the Act of Union definitively united
England and Scotland: Great Britain came into existence. GB is composed of England, Wales
and Scotland. It is important to note that Scotland’s integration was however less complete
tan that of Wales: Scotland continued to keep its own educational system, legal system and
courts as well as it brand of Protestantism.
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Ireland’s domination by England started in the 12 th century when Henry the 2nd of England
once he became lord of Ireland. Over the centuries, English kings gave away plots of Irish
lands to their loyal friends and this resulted in conflicts between the native Irish Catholics
population and the protestant English settlers. The UK was created only in 1801 was the Act
of Union. The UK was the name of GB and Ireland. However, despite this union, there were
still conflicts and rebellion from Irish until 1922 with the signature of the Anglo-Irish treaty
which recognizes the Irish Free State with a large autonomy. A few provinces of the North of
Ireland remained linked to GB and so today UK is referred to as GB and Northern Ireland.
The National Flag of the UK reflects this history quite well. It is called the “Union Jack” and
is dated 1801, date of formation of the UK. The flag is composed of:
- a red perpendicular cross on a white background (St George’s cross), standing for
England
- a white diagonal cross on a blue background (St Andrew’s cross), standing for
Scotland
- a red diagonal cross on a white background (St Patrick’s cross), standing for Ireland
It is interested to notice that Wales was not represented separately, which shows how
perfectly it was integrated to England.
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Currently, there is a trend for more autonomy and even sign of disunions for Wales, Scotland
and Northern Ireland, which is called “Devolution”.
IV. The establishment of Protestantism as the State religion
 Originally, GB was a Celtic country and became Christian in the 5 th and 6th centuries
when Saint Agustin came over to the country leading to GB opting for the Roman
Catholic Church in 1664.
 At the beginning of the 16th century, in Holland and in Germany, Erasmus and Luther
started to protest against the pope (pape) and his notion of religion and decided to
establish a new trend “The reformation” which wanted to bring Protestantism as the
official country religion. Henry the 08th, the monarch at the time broke away from
Rome and opted for the Protestantism since:
- he had a need for political alliances
- his first wife Catherine of Aragon (who was very catholic) did not give him a son
but only a daughter and he wanted to get rid of her
- he was tempted to get hold off, to lay his hands on all the wealth piled up in the
Catholic Monastery located in Britain
 The Act of Supremacy of 1534 established the Church of England. It however took
some years before Protestantism was really established throughout the country.
Elisabeth the 1st contributed to it.
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 Religion is important in GB as the British monarch is the supreme governor of the

Church of England and the sittings at the Parliament always start with prayers.
V. A few kings and queens
William the Conqueror: He was the 1st Norman (Duke of Normandy) king of England. He
started his reign in 1066 thanks to his victory on the English pretender to the Throne (trône)
at the battle of Hastings. He brought feudalism and a centralized administration leading to a
stable and effective government, therefore contributing to the unification of England.
Henry the 8th: he reigned during the first half of the 15 th century. He is known for the
reformation of England and for the creation of a very effective navy that will enable the
country to expand overseas.
Elizabeth the 1st reigned during the second half of the 16 th century. She was Henry the 8 th
second daughter that he had with his second wife. Her main achievement was to pacify the
country following the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants. She also brought back
prosperity in England notably through the expansion overseas.
Very famous names are associated to her reign: Sir Walter Raleigh who founded the first
colony in America (Virginia), Sir Francis Drake who was famous for his three and a half
voyage throughout the globe and William Shakespeare.
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Oliver Cromwell was the Head of GB but he was not a king. He was appointed during the
short period of time when monarchy was abolished in GB: from 1649 when Charles the first
was beheaded (décapité) till 1660. He chose the title of Lord Protector and his reign is
referred to as “Cromwell’s protectorate”. He pacified the country but finally had to rule as a
dictator.
William of Orange started his reign in 1689. He was a Dutch (from Holland) King but
married James the 2nd daughter called Mary. He was appointed King after accepting two
constitutional principles mentioned in the Bill of rights:
- recognize Protestantism as the official religion
- acknowledge the fact that present and future kings had to respect the supreme, exclusive
authority of the Parliament.
William of Orange was the first constitutional monarch, in the modern sense, since he had to
reign with the Parliament.
Queen Victoria was famous for having had the longest reign ever in British history (63
years). Her reign started in 1837 and ended up 1901. During her reign, very important
legislation was passed, changing the political and social culture of the country. For instance:
- In 1842, a law forbade the children and women employment underground. Following that
law, many British companies started to reduce the maximum number of working hours.
- In 1871 and 1876, the Trade Union Acts regulated the activity of Trade-Unions in GB
- In 1832, 1867 and 1884, the right to vote was extended to all men. Women had to
wait till the 20th century.
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During Queen Victoria’s reign, the British Empire doubled in size through the expansion with
Australia, New Zealand and Canada. In 1876, Queen Victoria also became empress of India.
VI. The Act of Parliament or “Act”
It is the specific name given to a piece of legislation voted by the British Parliament. It can
only be used in a GB context. We mention an act by saying the short title of the act (which is
actually the subject matter) followed by the year the act is voted. For instance: The
Representation of the people Act, 1980.
VII. Key Places
Buckingham Palace is the official residence of the monarch. The Palace was built in 1703
by the Duke of Buckingham.
Westminster is the name of an area where there are most of the places associated with the
British central government: Buckingham Palace, Downing Street, the Whitehall and the
Houses of Parliament. Westminster is also used as the alternative name for the Houses of
Parliament.
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The two Houses of Parliament are located next to each other on the site of what was
formerly the Palace of Westminster (which no longer exists). The buildings look old but they
were built again only in 1945 after having been bombed during the 2 nd World War according
to the same architecture and decoration. The two Houses of Parliament are to be called the
Westminster-based Parliament which enables to make the distinction with the EU, Wales,
Scotland and Northern Ireland Parliaments.
The House of Commons is one of the two chambers. Its members are called the Members of
Parliament: MPs (an MP, MPs). MP is only used in the British context: when talking about
the French, you just need to say “depute”.
The House of Lords’ members are the Lords. Individually, a man is called Lord followed by
name or a peer. Women can be called Lady or Baroness followed by the first name and the
last name. She can also be called a peeress (from peerage).
Downing Street is a short street in Central London (in Westminster), off (qui donne dans)
Whitehall where the official office of the Prime Minister is located at number 10. At number
11, you can find the office of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The words Downing Street are
also used to mention the British Government.
The Deputy Prime Minister is the name of the replacement of the Minister in case of issue,
like the American VP.
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The chancellor of the Exchequer is the minister responsible for the financial matters (tax
levels, budget…). The word can only be used in a GB context as to talk about his French
colleague; you would have to say simply the Finance minister. He is a t the Head of the
Treasury.
The Lord Chancellor is the minister responsible for the Justice but this function was
abolished by Tony Blair in June 2003.
The Foreign Secretary is at the Head of the Foreign Office. He is responsible for the
International affairs, the diplomatic matters.
The Home Secretary is at the Head of the Home Office. He is responsible for the public
safety on the territory.
The Whitehall is the street in Central London, in Trafalgar Square. The Whitehall notably
includes the Houses of Parliament and also lots of important buildings and government. The
main government departments and the top people who run these offices, the top civil servants
(hauts fonctionnnaires) are located there.
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Lecture 2: The British Constitution & Monarchy
 To convey: traduire (au sens de communiquer, transmettre)
 To set up: établir, ériger
 To embody: incarner (embodiement)
 To draft: rédiger
 A landmark: un point de repère
 To lay down : établir par écrit
 A tax : un impôt
 Taxation : fait de payer des impôts
 To summon: convoquer
 A trial : un procès (from to try: juger)
 To make sure that
 Bill : Texte de loi proposé au Parlement (projet ou proposition)
 A money bill: un projet de loi de finances
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 To veto a bill: opposer son veto à un projet de loi
 As a result of: en consequence de
 Comprehensive: complet, exhaustif
 To be entitled to: avoir droit à
 To implement: appliquer (une loi, règle)
 To regulate, regulation: réglementer, un réglement ou une réglementation
 Faith: la foi
 Advice: des conseils (some advice)
 To appoint: nommer
 To raise a question: soulever une question
 A duty: un devoir, une obligation
 To give rise to: donner lieu à
 Capital punishment: la peine capitale
 A press release: un communiqué de presse
 To question : remettre en cause
Part 1 The British constitution
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I. The British constitution
The British Constitution is rather an English Constitution imposed on Wales, Ireland,

Scotland : saying a set of constitutional rules rather than a constitution is more
appropriate
English constitution is unwritten, unentrenched and set to be flexible as opposed to the

French and American Constitution which are more rigid.
Unwritten means uncodified: never put into one single all inclusive code, one single
document
2 main categories of constitutions: ordinary acts of parliaments and rules that exist
without ever having been put formally in a document. Napoleon contemptuously (avec
mépris) looked down at England because of that and since he was the Code Man in
France.
This is a specificity of UK as their law is judge-made law (droit jurisprudentiel).
Unentrenched: trench (tranchée) conveys the idea of protection, to entrench: to put in a

trench = to protect => to be entrenched = to be protected, unentrenched is the opposite:
not to be protected
It has no superior value and no constitutional council or Supreme court to control

conformity with Constitution.
Constitutional laws in the UK have the same value as ordinary law
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I. constitutional rule are easy to modify
A new practice or act of parliament can be used for unheard (inédites) situations. That’s
why the British constitution is said to be flexible.
England has only one Constitution whose first rules were established in a very old
document in 1215 and has continuously evolved to adapt to circumstances. The first
French Constitution embodied a rejection of absolute government by the kind and most of
the others were in order to put in place a new regime. In The USA, the independence has
lead the Americans to establish their own constitution. In England, the monarchy is still a
monarchy since 1215, only the democracy evolved.
II. A few landmarks
Magna Carter in 1215 was the finding stone of the English constitutional rules: main
principles of democratic government…
Magna Carter is a Latin expression meaning the Great Charter (la Grande Charte), charter
granted by King John who recognizes the rights and privileges of 3 categories of people,
those who played an important role in the community at that time: the barons (noble men
who served the king and who would become members of the aristocracy), the Church, the
Free men (crafts men –artisans -and merchants and shop keepers who lived in the towns
and the ports of the Kingdom). These rights and privileges: right to be consulted by the
kings to examine taxation. The Kind had to consult the barons and the Church on one
hand and the representatives of the big cities and ports of the kingdom on the other hand.
Magna Carter clearly states that the representatives of the towns and the ports and only
elected people would be summoned to assemble and discuss taxation. and the date and
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place of Assembly would be fixed and all representative would be allowed to travel to
that place for the meeting. Also, the agenda would be communicated and only those
matters listed on the agenda would be discussed. The King committed himself to require
only reasonable taxes: only as much money as needed to maintain his court, make wars to
protect and extend the territories, carry out alliances and negotiation with other countries.
What Magna Carta really achieved is a reorganization of the state so that the king could
no longer govern alone in an absolute way but had to share his power with other classes
of the community. In fact, the Assembly of Barons and Church will become the House of
Lords and the Other Assembly of representative would become the House of Commons
(Commons for common people, not noble). The discussion would become the
Parliamentary debate over the Budget. But only did Magna Carta put an end to the
absolute Power for the king but he also insisted on fundamental liberties: the habeas
Corpus (freedom from arbitrary arrest) or the right to a fair trial and the right to trial by
jury. Finally, judges had to be independent and impartial. Magna Carta is therefore
considered as the basis of liberties and constitutional principles.
Such principles were not respected by all the kings leading to numerous conflicts with the
Parliament until the end of the 17 th century. The excesses and abuses of the Stuart Kings
throughout the 17th century, Catholics of Scottish origin who wanted to govern in an
absolute way without taking into account the Parliament => a very important document,
the Bill of Rights voted in 1689. It is about the constitutional obligation of kings to
respect the law making. The Bill of Rights laid down the rules concerning the functioning
of the various branches of the state: the monarch who is the Head of the Executive would
govern with the Parliament, parliament only Law making body of the state. The courts of
justice were independent from the Parliament and the Monarch and had to ensure a fair
trial for all people concerned. By 1689, the distribution of power was made and the
monarchy became a constitutional one (parlementaire). The Bill of Rights also added
another constitutional principle: parliamentary sovereignty, only Parliament can make
laws applicable in the UK. It made an obstacle to international treaties which had to be
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incorporated in a British Act of Parliament to be voted by the British Parliament. THE EU

legislation is the exception Act of 1972: EU legislation (community law).
A series of law gave all men and women the right to vote: 1st reform Act in 1832 lowered
the financial qualification required and the 1867 Act gave the right to all men working in
a factory. Then the Act of 1884 gave the right to vote to agricultural workers. In 1918,
women had the right to vote but they had to be 30 years old vs. only 21 for the men. In
1928, strict equality between men and women at 21 years old. In 1969, another
representation of the people act lowered the voting age to 18.
III. Examples of Parliament Acts
The Parliament Act of 1911 was about the relationships between the two Houses of
Parliament put an end to the equality between the 2 houses after conflicts about the
budget. The House of Lords had refused to approve the budget approved by the
Commons. The House of Commons obliged the House of Lords to vote a legislation that
reduced its legislative power.
From 1911 onwards, the House of Lords lost all power concerning money bills
(legislation involving financial arrangements) and lost its veto power over non financial
bills. Voting money bills became the sole responsibility of the House of Commons and the
House of Lords could not also veto a bill anymore during more than 2 parliamentary
sessions (one session lasts one year in England).
Another parliamentary Act in 1949 reduced the legislative power of the Lords even
further by reducing the period of veto to one parliamentary session instead of 2.
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More recently, in 1999, the House of Lords Act drastically modified the House of Lords
by cutting down the number of hereditary lords allowed to vote: 1st stage of a reform of
the House of Lords to make it more democratic and more representative (adaptation to the
21st century context which makes these powers almost unacceptable).
Another series of constitutional rules:
The EU Community Act in 1972 as a result of Britain’s becoming a member of the EU

community.
Later in 1992, the Maastricht treaty completed further the integration of the countries
including UK within the EU.
Areas covered by the Parliament:
Parliament: the suffrage, the structure of the territory are the main areas which are
regulated by written constitutional rules contained in Acts of Parliament acts but what
about the government’s structure and function including existence and competence of the
key figure that is the Prime Minister, Human rights as well….
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Almost all the rules concerning the functioning of the executive were never formally laid
down in an act of parliament but developed out of practice: “constitutional conventions”.
It is a procedure concerning the functioning of the government that is regarded as general
practice at any given time. It is based on the acceptance of that practice over the years
both by the governors and the governed people.
IV. Examples of constitutional conventions
In 1689, the Bill of Rights laid down that the British Monarch was the head of State and
the head of the Executive, thus making the most important decisions concerning the
kingdom. Yet, we all know that today it is the Prime Minister who is at the head of the
Executive. This shift of power occurred progressively as a result of various constitutional
conventions that appeared at various kids. This shift took approximately 150 years to be
complete: from 1689 to 1850. The monarch progressively gave up his power to the Prime
Minister, whose position was more or less established by the middle of the 18 th century.
Then in the 19th century as a result of the extension of the right to vote, the king lost the
right to choose the Prime Minister and it became obvious that this person would be the
head of the winning party of the elections, having the majority of seats at the Commons.
Later in the 20th century, another constitutional convention led the function of prime
Minister become more precise again: he had to be a member of the House of Commons
and had the power to choose the day of general elections.
Similarly, the royal prerogatives have been reduced by constitutional conventions. Those
the monarch is supposed to be the head of state, his/her responsibilities have been
transferred to the Prime Minister or other members of the government.
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V. Human Rights in GB:
Until very recently, no comprehensive text gave a list of rights that British citizens were
entitled to. They have never been any formal text like the DDHC or the American Bill of
Rights. Of course, the English citizen had rights but such rights were judge-made, when
deciding certain cases. However, there was a constant risk that these rights could be
questioned/ challenged and that judges might not recognize the necessity to recognize that
are better adapted to the current population. Things are therefore changing slowly. In
1998, Parliament voted the Human Rights Act which incorporated the text of the EU
Convention on Human Rights in British Law. The EU convention was signed in 1950 and
has been implemented ever since in nearly all the EU countries which ratified the
Convention. Britain was an exception until 1998. It signed and ratified the convention but
it was not applied because Parliament never approved the full text in a formal Act of
Parliament. We can use the example of Human Rights to conclude on the British
constitutional practice: they show how British are reluctant to codify rules and second
how important a principle parliamentary sovereignty is. International treaties do not apply
in GB unless incorporated in an act of parliament.
Part 2: the British Monarchy
The monarch has lost almost all the power he was used to have but he can still have a
certain influence.
The BM is a constitutional monarchy established by the Bill of Rights. The shift of power
from monarch to PM was made by convention. The act of settlement of 1701 regulates
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the succession to throne and precisely stipulates that the monarch must be protestant. The
Royal Title Act (1953) established that the official title of the present monarch is
“Elizabeth the 2nd, by the grace of God, of the UK, of GB and Northern Ireland, and of
Her other Realms (royaumes) and Territories Queen, head of the Commonwealth,
defender of the faith” This title was chosen by Elisabeth the 2 nd when she was crowned. It
is interesting to notice the reference to God, to the geographic territories of the UK and to
the Commonwealth.
I. The royal prerogatives today:
“The monarch, the queen at the moment but does not rule”: The queen is head of the state
but does not govern. The PM and the other ministers make the decisions.
The monarch acts on the PM’s advice.
The monarch’s duties:
- Appointing the PM but he/she has no choice to appoint the leader of the party that has
won the majority of seats at the Commons. In case of absence of majority at the
Commons, the situation is called the “Hung Parliament”. In the UK, rules only exist to
answer a practical situation, they are never made to cover a situation that might occur. So,
in case of absence of majority, nobody knows how the monarch has to behave. Probably,
will he/she consult the leaders of parties to see if any coalition could be possible or
consult other key figures of the state and constitutional experts. If the situation proves to
be satisfactory, it will become a set constitutional rule.
- Appointing all the ministers of the government and a big part of public officials
(ambassadors, judges, the top members of the army, directors of nationalized
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industries…) but he/she does it only on recommendation (in reality decision) of the PM.
The same process is used to dismiss these personalities.
- Signs all the important document but does not participate in the making of them
- Summons, prorodes (tells all the MPs that the session is over and tell the next session
date) and dissolves parliament, especially when new elections are planned to be held. She
simply officially publicizes the Pm’s decision.
- A good illustration of the fact that the monarch acts as a sort of spokesman of the
government is when she delivers the queen speech at the state opening of parliament.
Each new parliamentary session gives rise to a lot of ceremonies and rituals. On the day
of the state opening of parliament, members of the House of Commons are allowed to go
the House of Lords to join them and listen to the monarch’s speech. The speech is
physically delivered by the monarch but she actually reads a speech that has been drafted
by the Prime Minister for her. The speech gives the legislative program for the coming
sessions: the list of bills that the government intends to propose to parliament.
- Even the queen’s official state visits of foreign Head of states have to be approved by the
Prime Minister beforehand
- The monarch must give his royal assent to legislation: in the British parliamentary
session, for a bill to become an act of parliament, it must have been discussed and voted
by the two houses of Parliament but it must also have received the royal assent. In case of
disagreement of the Queen, she could refuse but in practice no (the last time was in 1707).
The monarch shall therefore not object to a bill voted by the Parliament.
- Treaties are made by the queen but perhaps for emergency reasons probably, it happened
in the past that the PM declared war and went to get the approval of the houses of
parliament and so the queen did not play her role of spokesman.
- The queen is commander in chief of the armed forces of the crown but since 1689, the
consent of Parliament is necessary to keep a standing army in times of peace.
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- The Trooping the Colour, a ceremony which takes place in July of each year on the day of
the official birthday of the sovereign
- The monarch also has in theory the power to create peers and to confer honors and
decoration. But in reality since two acts of parliament in 1958 and 1963, the queen has
not created hereditary peers. She may only create life peers and she does so on the advice
of the PM who gives a list of personality recommended for peerage (both from the
majority and the opposition). The monarch then simply officializes the list.
- A few traditional honors linked to the monarchy such as the order of the Garter (l’ordre de
la jarretière) or the order of the fessel (l’ordre du chardon) or the royal Victoria cross
which rewards persons or services rendered to the queen, are all granted by the queen out
of her own decision
- The queen has the duty to pardon (grâcier) convicted offenders (auteurs de crimes et de
délits ayant été reconnus coupables) and to reduce prison sentences but she does it on the
advice of the Home Secretary. This duty is what is left from the privilege of mercy which
originally enable the monarch to avoid capital punishment (abolished in 1963) for
someone.
- The monarch is also the head of the Church of England. Since Henry the 8 th, British
monarchs have had this duty. Her duty is to be a dutiful protestant. She also chooses the
Spiritual Head of the Church, the archbishop of Canterbury (l’archevêque de Canterbury)
but here again the queen must discuss the appointment with the PM.
- Besides, As Head of the Commonwealth, the queen is supposed to help unify the
relationships between countries that may have very different characteristics. And she goes
on state visits in all the Commonwealth countries and she presides over the two yearly
meetings of the Head of Government.
II. Does the monarch have any influence?
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The monarch is said to be above politics: he/she must be neutral. In fact, the queen and some
members of the royal family are not allowed to vote.
The monarch has the right to be consulted (personalities come to the monarch to ask advice),
encourage, and to warn (the queen may offer a different opinion and express doubts) in the
following situations:
- during the weekly (on Tuesday after the Cabinet meeting) audiences with the PM when
they discuss the state issues, the PM actually informs the queen - the audience is
completely private- the discussion will also depend on the relationship between the queen
and the PM.
- When the queen receives foreign heads of state, she can give and receive information
III. What future for the monarchy?
For a long time, monarchy was not discussed. The current queen has been an exemplary
queen. She has a major experience and has known 11 PMs. According to all experts, she is of
good advice and she manages to maintain monarchy popular, at least until 1992 when:
- the prince and the princess of Wales separated
- the queen’s second son Andrew also separated from his wife Sarah Ferguson
- the queen’s daughter divorced after several years of separation to remarry discretely (the
Church of England authorizes divorce but not remarriage) in Scotland
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All these events had an effect on the royal glamorous image.
- the queen’s private apartment required extensive repairs
As a result of all these events, the queen decided that she would pay taxes like any British
citizen, starting in April 1993. She also committed that she would not ask for money to the
parliament to repair Windsor Castle anymore and she decided to open Buckingham Palace for
paying visits. She also decided to take charge of the civil lists: the money allocated by
parliament to the members of the royal family to contribute to the expenses that they incur to
perform their official duties. Only the queen and the prince of Edinburgh receive allowances
(money allocated) now from citizens tax payment. The queen had realized that in order to
survive, the monarchy had to be cost-efficient and give good values f or money. The queen
managed to restore the confidence.
How long will monarchy survive? Public opinion is much readier nowadays to question
monarchy especially since Charles is not very popular despite his efforts. He sometimes make
statements that are far from being neutral especially on religious matters or acts in a way
which is not appreciated (his marriage with Camilla Parkerball for instance), which is not
appreciated by the British citizens. Prince Charles is 58 and will become king when his
mother dies but the queen’s mother died well over 100 years old.
IV. Exercice 1
 Uncodified: unwritten
 To control: to check
 Value: ranking
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 To give: to grant
 To promise to do: to commit oneself to do
 All the judges of the country: the judiciary
 Legislative: law making
 To reduce: to cut down
 To have a right to enjoy: to be entitled to
 To govern: to rule
 To prepare in a written form: to draft
 Money allocated by the state or another institution: allowance
 To question: to challenge
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Lecture 3: Democracy in Britain
Glossary:
 to vote: voter
 a voter: un électeur
 a vote: une voix
 to sit: siéger
 A seat: un siege
 To take place: avoir lieu
 To represent: représenter => a representative
 Turnout: participation (à une election)
 (on) average: (en) moyenne
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 to hold, call an election: organiser, decider d’organiser une election
 retire: prendre sa retraite
 to be in office: être au gouvernement
 to be out of office : être dans l’opposition
 a term: un mandat
 to expect: s’attendre à ce que
 to be expecte, unexpected : être attendu, inattendu
 unexpectedly : de manière inattendue
 to delay : retarder
 boundary: limite géographique, fronitère au sens figure
 to return : élire
 a ballot : un bulletin de vote ou un tour se crutin
 to be likely, unlikely to : il est probable, improbable que
 a figure: un chiffre
 to have a say: exprimer son opinion
 policy, policies: politique (au sens de mesure politique)
 to commit oneself to : s’engager à faire quelquechose
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 commitment : engagement
 a mayor : un maire
 a council : un conseil
 a local council : un conseil municipal
 a counsellor : un membre du conseil municipal
 to account for : expliquer (example: the voting systems accounts for the very low
turnout)
Introduction (Different categories of elections in the UK):
At general elections, all citizens vote to choose their representatives at the parliament who
seat in Westminster. The different parts of the UK are represented by the number of MPs
which depends on the number of inhabitants:
England: 529 MPs, Wales: 40 MPs, Scotland: 72 MPs and Northern Ireland returns 80 MPs
with a total of 659 MPs. The total number of MPs is subject to changes to reflect the increase
of population: The last change occurred in 1997 from 651 to 659. Participation in general
election (singular in English) is 76.5% since 1950.
Local (government) elections to choose local government: counsellors. As opposed to general

elections the average of voters is smaller, around 42%.
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More recent election: EU elections to choose the UK representatives who will be Members of
the European parliament: MEPs. Since 1973, UK has been represented by 84 MEPS. The
turnout is predictably very low: 34.7% on average.
Since May 1999 for Wales and Scotland and July 1998 for Northern Ireland, the elections
take place in local regions (only the residents of these regions vote) to elect the local MPs.
The representatives of Wales are called “Members of the Welsh Assembly”, the Scottish:
“Members of the Scottish Parliament” (MSP) and like for Wales and unlike the Scottish, the
Northern Irish reps are called “Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly”.
A by-election is held between one election and the other when a seat becomes vacant
(retirement, death or appointment to the House of Lords by the queen, of an MP)
I. General elections in the UK:
Double purpose: to choose Mps who will seat in the House of Commons and represent their
voters but also choose the party that will form the government and the MP ultimately.
Frequency: Since parliament act of 1991, it is a constitutional rule that the elections will take
place every 5 years maximum (maximum duration of parliament) but there is no minimum.
The British parliament is a no fixed-term parliament. It lasts as long as the PM does not call
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one. The usual inter-votes period has been 4 years only in case of exceptional circumstances,
the maximum time is used.
An example of 5 years duration between two elections:
1979: Margaret Thatcher became PM following a general election won by the conservative
party. She was very popular (notably because a winning on the Falklans war against
Argentina in 1982) so she called for an election in 1983 and she won again. She did this again
in 1987 and won again as the Labour Party was facing ideological difficulties but her refusal
to hear a dissident position in her own party as well as her authoritarian way of governing led
to her dismissal in November 1990. John Major succeeded her (the new leader automatically
becomes the new PM). John major did not call an election in 1991 since it took time to take
over from Margaret Thatcher, his party had also lost its popularity and the Gulf War ending in
1991 made the international scene unready for that. So John Major waited until 1992 (5
years) to call for a new election. Unexpectedly, the conservative won but in 1996 when john
major could have called new election, he delayed doing it as it was certain that they would
loose. In 1997, the conservative lost and the Labour party won under Tony Bair’s situation
and they were very popular. So Tony Blair called genera election in 2001 and then in 2005.
The next election can happen whenever he wants as long as before 2010.
An example of two elections held the same year:
In 1974, 2 general elections were called (Feb and Oct). The reason for Harold Wilson to do
that? He needed to increase the number of seats to have the majority at the commons cause
after February, he had the greatest number of seats but not enough to have the absolute
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majority and Wilson had to negotiate alliances. Wilson was successful at that time due to his
achievements and in October Labour won again with more seats and the majority in the
Commons.
The choice of the General Election Day: 1st day (Monday) of the week in order not to
bother the inhabitants and put them away from their religious duties, and winter and summer
are avoided: May, June are big favourites and sometimes October. Since 1965, every adult
can vote by secret ballot, each voter costs one vote and voting is not compulsory.
A constituency is a geographical area whose voter elects a representative who will seat at the
parliament. Now, there are 659 constituencies which return a single MP.
Each constituency is made up of approximately 60 000 voters for equitability purposes.
4 boundary commissions have been set up to review the constituencies and possibly suggest
changes. A constituency can be considered as safe or marginal :
o a safe seat/constituency: a seat elected with a very large majority and therefore
unlikely to change in the near future. Over 80 % of the constituencies are safe
either for the Labour Party (Northern industrial areas like Manchester and
Liverpool) or Conservative Party (South of England, and especially the South
east all around London) for many years.
o Marginal seats are constituencies whose MPs are elected with difficulties:
places where the opinion changes quite easily => unpredicatble results.
II. Voting systems in use in GB
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Since elections happen in the UK, the voting system used is the most simple straightforward:
the winner is the candidate who has obtained the greatest number of votes. But there is now a
demand for proportional representation.
The relative majority system (so far traditionally used in the vast majority of elections): the
FPTP “the First Past The Post” system: (le système du premier qui a franchi le poteau). The
British use simple expressions understandable by all.
Thad vantage of this system is that it is simple, quick and cheaper:
- Simple: voters simply choose one candidate
- Quick: only one ballot
- cheaper: as only one ballot, no need to organize a second one so no money required for a
second campaign
The Drawback is that it is an unfair system: it tends to magnify the advance in terms of seats
of the winning party whereas the second party’s number of seats is reduced, the system is
totally inadequate in a country where there are more than 2 parties (which starts to be the case
in the UK)
Example: 40% for party A, 24 % for B and 36 % for C => A wins whereas 60 % of the voters
did not want him!
FPTP is alright in a two-party system (it was great for many centuries but since the 80s and
the 90s century the Labour and Conservative Parties, another party : The Liberal Democrats
has difficulty because of the safes seats as there are not concentrated in one constituency but
spread over the territory)
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In 2005, new Labour Party won around 55% of the seats in the House of Commons with only
35 % of the votes. Conservative Party won around 37.5 of the seats with 32.3 % of the votes.
The Liberal Democrat won around 9.6% seats with 22% of the votes!
PR (Proportional representation) is used to elect MEPs and the regional legislative bodies
in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The results of the last EU elections, Out of the 84 MEPs returned: Conservative 36, Labour
29 and LD 10 and the rest for minor parties.
For regional administrative bodies; there are two systems :
 One system in Wales and Scotland: a of FTPT and PR
In the Welsh Assembly 40 out of the 60 seats are chosen by FTPT (because the
advantages) and 20 by PR (to compensate the unfairness)
Same system for the Scottish parliament: 73 out of 129 are elected by FTPT (because the
advantages) and 56 by PR (to compensate the unfairness)
 In Northern Ireland a complete proportional system is used so that all parties be

represented in exact proportions => very representative assembly but no majority to
support the government with this system.
III. Electoral reform:
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The 2 major parties are obviously against a reform whereas the LD has vociferously called
for such a reform.
Conservatives are totally opposed to PR even for MEPs.
Labour party has always had mixed feelings.
Tony Blair promised to examine the possibility of a reform during the 1999 campaign
(tactical motive: in case Labour won without majority, it would need an alliance and so the
promise would help).
 As a result of Tony Blair’s promise, the Jenkin’s commission on electoral reform

recommended a mixture of the two systems: 80 % of MPs would be elected locally in
constituencies by FPTP and 20 % from party lists covering regions made up of 4 or 5
constituencies. The voter would have two votes: one for their local candidate and one
for the party at a more regional level. As a result, the parties would have in a region a
number of seats strictly proportional to the number of votes. The reform was
discussed by the Labour members but the cabinet rejected it.
If this system had been applied in 1997, the Labour party would have won with less seats, the
conservative Party would have had the same number of seats, and the Ld would have
obtained 78 seats instead of 46. The third party would have been in a strong position.
For EU elections (regional list system), PR was tried for the first time in June 1999: and the
results were the following :
 Conservative : 36
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 Labour : 29
 LD : 10
 Rest for minor parties
IV. Referendums in GB:
Referendums are part of the democratic process. Yet, they did not used to be traditional in the
UK as parliament was supposed to represent voters. The conservative party very attached to
constitutional tradition is opposed to referendum. They refuse to use it in regions. John Major
refused to use the referendum before the Maastricht treaty was signed at the time. So the only
referendums that have taken place so far have been called by the Labor party governments.
Examples of use of the referendum:
5th of June 1975, national referendum to ask whether British wished to remain members of
the EU community (as GB entered the EU 2 years before because of the conservative without
consulting the citizens and when there were different opinions on that question in the public
and in the parties) and a majority of people voted in favour so that settled the question.
In 1979, James Callaghan called two regional referendums in Wales and Scotland to consult
the inhabitants about their opinion on Devolution. The referendum failed as the threshold
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(seuil) of at least 40 % of the electorate had to vote, despite a slight majority in favour of
Devolution in Scotland.
After 18 years of conservative government, labour came back into office only to propose
these 2 referendums on devolution in Wales and Scotland. This time there was a majority of
yes (in favour of devolution) with a Turnout that was sufficient. Apart from devolution, EU
matters are ideal for referendums so the parties committed to consult the citizens before
adapting the euro but it is not likely to happen in the near future. Tony Blair has also
promised to hold a referendum on electoral reform but it also seems unlikely in the near
future.
Are referendums a way for the government to consult the population directly on issues
that raise controversy or a way for the government in place to ask approval on a policy
that the government intends to put in place? In such last case, the yes has to be obtained
on the referendum is usually called when the government is quite sure of the answer. This
seems to be the way Tony Blair uses the referendum.
Conclusion: Another category of election is the election of mayors in big cities (London,
Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, and Birmingham). Normally, these people were not elected
directly by the people but for the fist time, a mayor was elected in London, ken Livingstone
was chosen. So far, the voting system used for local election is the FPTP, which results in
local governments being rules by counsellors from only one party. The voters who do not
support the party that is likely to win actually usually do not vote as they believe it is
unnecessary so this will also be an area to explore by the politicians.
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1. false : since 1973 only do EU lections take place regularly
2. true
3. false (5 years)
4. false (automatic replacement without election)
5. true
6. false (the majority often changes between the parties)
7. false (FPTP)
8. true
9. false
10. true
1. election when MPs are chosen : a general election
2. local counsellors
3. an opinion poll
4. a palling station
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5. a representative
6. a ballot (paper)
7. a policy
8. term
1. Margaret Thatcher became PM in 1979
2. The last general election was held in 1997 (le CD date de 2000) on May the 1st 1997
3. MSPs were elected for the first time in July 1999
4. The Falklands war took place in 1982
5. GB join the EU community in 1973
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Lecture 4: Political parties in GB
Glossary:
 Significant: important
 A feature: une caractéristique
 Right-wing, lef-wing: de droite, de gauche
 Status: statut
 Satute: loi
 Gap: fosse
 To bridge the gap between: combler le fosse entre
 A manifesto: un manifeste, programme
 To own: posséder => an owner, ownership
 To oust: faire sortit
 A scheme: un plan, projet
 To provide: fournir
 Benefits: somme allouée dans un certain but (social benefit)
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 Compulsory/optional : obligatoire/facultatif
 Pressure : pression
 To put pressure on : faire pression sur
 A pressure group : un groupe de pression
 To advocate : prôner, défendre…
 To appeal to : attirer
 Thirdly : troisièmement
 One third : un tiers
 To defeat : vaincre dans une compétition
 A defeat : u
 To undergo (changes) : subir (des changements)
 Land : propriété terrienne
 Landed interests : intérêts des propriétaires terriens
 Property : propriété
 Trade : commerce
 Trade-unions où trade signifie corporation
 Stress : accent
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 To stress : accentuer
 To put the stress on : mettre l’accent sur
 To raise a controversy : susciter la controverse
 Controversial: controversé
 Close to: proche de
Introduction:
English parties have always been weak on ideologies. They have always existed in order to
govern, to be in office. This is partly due to the fact that:
- the British are more empirical and abstract
- the two-party system increased the competition between the two parties and the aim of the
party out of the office was to come back to the government
Consequences of the two-party system:
- It reduced the ideological gap between the two parties.
- When a party looses a general election, the leader is usually dismissed and a new one
is elected in order to be back on track again.
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- The two-party system also has a consequence which is that the party loosing the
election but becoming second has a particular position and a real status: being the
opposition of her Majesty. The party therefore has a special role to play with more
opportunities to publicize his ideas.
- Minor parties have always found it difficult to exist. This accounts for the absence of
far left-wing or extreme right-wing party in Great Britain. For instance, the
communist party of GB found in 1980, disappeared in 1991 without having ever
having achieved any victory in terms of seats. The British national party, an extreme
right-wing party has never achieved any victory neither. Similarly, the green party has
never had an MP: only 2 MEPs following the 1999 EU elections and because of the
more proportional voting system for EU elections.
I. The Labour party:
One must say “Labour” or “the Labour party”. Labour means the workers as a whole, and
particularly workers who have a job involving physical efforts.
The Labour party came into existence in 1906 and obtained 29 MPs straightway. 1906 was
the year the party took its name but actually some kind of political groups had existed before,
since 1892 when some candidates stood for election in order to represent workers on the basis
of socialist ideology. Those candidates were supported by socialist societies in trade-unions
They exist since the beginning of the 19th century and in 1900, these candidates regrouped
themselves into the Labour Representation Committee whose aim was to defend workers
rights directly in Parliament. The Committee was therefore transformed into the Labour Party
in 1906. Originally then, Labour’s aim was to defend the interests of the workers who had the
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right to vote since the 1867 reform. Then in 1918, at the time of the Bolshevik revolution in
Russia, Labour adopted a socialist program in its manifesto, including the famous clause four,
stating that one of the aims of the party was “the collective ownership by the workers over
the means of production” (basis of Marxists ideology). This clause 4 was removed from the
Labour Party’s manifesto only very recently in 1995.
Key dates and ideas
1922: Labour was recognized as the official opposition party instead of the Liberal Party. By
1922, Labour had replaced (ousted) the Liberal Party as the second major party in British
Politics. The Liberal Party was starting to be an old party at the time, with ideas that were not
so different from the ideas of the conservative party.
In the 1st half of the 20th century, Labour managed to form only minority governments twice
(in 1984 and 1929-1931) and therefore needed the support of the Liberals. It was not until
1945 that Labour achieved majority and was in office under the leadership of Clement Atlee.
That was the period when the Labour implemented the Welfare State: policies in various
sectors (social life, education, employment…) whose aim was to give help and assistance to
provide benefits to different categories of people who were underprivileged and who badly
needed some help from the State.
- For instance, the national insurance scheme was set up. It included a comprehensive
system of social security and pensions based on national insurance contributions. The
National Health Service was also created and it provided healthcare to all regardless
of income.
- The state provided compulsory and free education to all children up to the age of 15.
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- As far as economy was concerned, industries were nationalized and government

became more closely involved in economic matters
In 1951, Labour was defeated at the General election and did not come back into office
until1963. By then the party leader was Harold Wilson. The welfare policies were
maintained. In 1970, again Labour went out of office for 4 years. In 1974, it stayed in office
until 1979 but circumstances had changed and Labour found it difficult to adapt its ideology
to the society. Internal disagreements combined with the pressure put by the trade-unions to
implement unpopular measures led to the defeat of Labour in 1979, labour then went through
18 years of opposition during which all the party leaders tried to restore the success of the
party without success until 1994 when Tony Blair was appointed leader of the party following
the death of the former leader. Under Tony Blair’s leadership, the party underwent many
changes that were prepared by his two predecessors: Neil Kinnock (1983-1992) and John
Smith (1992-1994) but Tony Blair modernized the party so well that they gained electors who
belonged to the middle classes. Tony Blair increased the power of the Leadership so as not to
be subject to pressure from the trade-unions. Clause 4 was given up. Tony Blair removed the
tax and spend image of the party and adopted public spending planned and maintained the
existing tax rates. In economy, new labour advocates the advantages of free market and equal
opportunity instead of redistribution of wealth and public ownership. New labour in fact lost
all of the old socialist ideas and experts now consider it as a moderate conservatism party.
Blair’s aim was to modernize GB and provide ‘new politics for a new century”. Rather
fundamental changes have been carried out so far: Devolution in Wales and Scotland, the
Good Friday Agreement to establish peace in Northern Ireland (The Belfast Agreement (also
known as the Good Friday Agreement and, more rarely, as the Stormont Agreement)
was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process. It was signed
in Belfast on 10 April 1998 (Good Friday) by the British and Irish governments and
endorsed by most Northern Ireland political parties. It was endorsed by the voters of
Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in separate referendums on 23 May 1998.
The Democratic Unionist Party was the only large party that opposed the Agreement),
the formal recognition of British citizens fundamental rights, the introduction of proportional
representation in some elections, the first stage of the reform of the House of Lords (all these
achievements). So far, Blair has led the party leading new Labour to 3 victories at the General
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Elections: in 1997, 2001 and 2005. Yet, over the years has been loosing some of its appeal on
voters. 418 seats in 1997, 407 in 2001 and lost 51 more seats in 2005. New Labour now has
356 seats only. Tony Blair said he would not stand for another term as Prime Minister and
would also leave the party leadership. Gordon Brown the present Chancellor of the
Exchequer is expected to be his successor.
II. The conservative party:
It is a very old party: the oldest existing active party. It is also the most successful party in
terms of years in office. The conservative party has dominated the rival parties since 1884,
year of the 3rd reform act. They have been in office two thirds of the time since then: in the
20th century, 70 years either alone or in coalition. In the second part of the 20 th century, they
remained 18 years in office in a row from 1979. Yet, during all these years, they received only
40% of the votes approximately. They also suffered a very heavy defeat at the last General
Elections and are now undergoing a very severe crisis that only maybe a very charismatic
leader might overcome.
Conservative is both an adjective and a noun
The name conservative was given to the party in the 19th century, roundabout 1830. Before
then they had existed as the old Torry party, dated back to the 17th century when a group of
parliamentarians had emerged in parliament to defend landed interests and land owners, the
gentry class (landed gentry). The name torry can still be used to refer to the conservative
party but it tends to be pejorative and stresses the original ideology.
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In 1834, the first conservative government came into office and its main policies were based
on the importance on law and order (l’ordre public) and orderly coherent system of taxation,
the importance of landed interests and of trade and industry. Later in the 19 th century, they
favoured a strong activist imperial policy. Conservative policies in the 20 th century have put
the stress on private enterprise and private ownership of property as the best way of
developing national wealth. They favour free market economics and privatisation. During the
government under Thatcher in the 1980s, emphasis was put on a greater independence of the
individuals in the state and end to excessive government interference in the economy, which
led to privatizations of industries and marketization of the public sector as well as reduction
of the public expenditure and personal taxes.
They are also very keen on keeping the UK together and have resisted any loss of
sovereigntyµ. So in the 1980s under Thatcher’s government, they refused all discussions
aiming at granting any autonomy to Northern Ireland and British membership of the EU
community was questioned.
Three key concepts can be used to sum up their ideology:
- Nationalism: putting GB first
- Individualism: making the best of individuals and circumstances
- Good central government associated with strong leadership in the party
To achieve such a dominant position, they are a very strong party. When the old Torry party
was transformed into the conservative party in the 19th century, the leader at that time (Dis
Realy) organized the party nationally with as much internal democracy as possible which led
to greater unity and strength. Later in the 20 th century, the party adapted to new social
circumstances and as early as 1965, had its leader elected democratically by all the party
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members thanks to an electoral procedure that ensured that every member of the party had a
say. That strong internal organisation coupled with popular ideology contributed to the
success of the party. For instance, in the years after the 2nd world war, when the conservative
came back into office, they accepted some of the Labour reforms such as the welfare state
and the idea of a managed economy. They also made the decision to join the EU community
thank to a pro-European conservative leader.
But the party was also strong as a result of the rival party weakness. During the 1 st half of the
20th century, the conservative party was all the more dominant while the Liberals and Labour
were struggling to be the second major party. More recently, the 18 year rule of the
conservative party was made possible because the Labour party was divided and did not have
a strong leader.
In 2006,
The conservatives suffered two electoral disasters in 1997 and in 2001 (163 seats). As a result
of the 1997 defeat, a new leader, William Hague, was elected. He was unknown and found it
hard to be popular: he is qualified as a “Euro sceptical”…, which contributed to maintain
controversy in the party. As a result to the 2001 defeat, William Hague had to resign and
Duncan Smith was elected but he also did not succeed in trying to have the voters back. To
avoid a third defeat in 2005, Duncan Smith resigned in 2003, and war replaced by Michael
Howard. Similarly, Michael Howard never managed to reunify the party around strong policy
that may attract more voters and so despite a better result at the last general elections (36
seats more, up to 198 seats all in all), Howard was forced to resign in November due to the
conservative defeat. David Cameron was then appointed leader. He is often compared to Tony
Blair and is expected to modernize the conservative party. He is only 39 and wants to take the
party back to power by returning to the center ground of politics. His message is to take the
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Torries back into the mainstream of politics as a one nation center ground party. At the party’s
annual conference, he stated that he wanted a party that looks to the future, a 21st century
party that is modern, compassionate and that understands the inspirations, hopes and dreams
of the people. Among the policies he supports are: improving public services, sharing the
proceeds (revenues) of economic growth between public services and lower taxes, pulling the
torries out of the EU people’s party, the center right block in the European parliament and last
environment friendly polices (he rides his bicycle to work). It is to soon for the moment to
see the impact of David Cameron leadership on the party.
III. The Liberal-Democrats party
The party is the result of the merging of the Liberals and the Social-Democratic parties.
Liberal-Democrats is the noun (name of the members of the party or the party itself) or you
can say liberal-democratic party. The tendency is to use the noun and the adjective Lib-Dem.
The party’s creation is fairly recent: 1988. The liberals are a very old party which used to be
very strong in the 19th century. Approximately at the same time as the old torry party
transformed itself in the conservative party, the old wig party transformed itself as well, into
the liberal party. The reason for modernisation was the same for both parties. At the time, new
people had the right to vote, the parties had to reorganize themselves in order to attract the
new voters. The Liberal party played a very significant role in the 19 th century. It was a party
of reform led by Gladstone. It alternated in office with the conservative. It remained strong
until the early 20th century, when it had to face competition with the newly created Labour
party. The Liberals lost the fight. Early in 1930s, the Liberals lost a lot of Mps and were
relegated to 3rd party status. They found it hard to regain their strength and only managed to
gain a few seats in parliament after the 2 nd World War, which was their worst period. They
started to revive in the 1960s with 14 MPs in 1974 and only 11 in 1979. On several
occasions, they tried to make coalition governments with the liberals but these governments
52
had always been very short left. On the other hand, at the end of the 1980s, 4 Labour
personalities broke away from labour and founded the social-democratic party whose ideas
were less left-wings than the Labour Party and less right-wing than the conservatives at the
time. In 1987, the Social-Democratic party went into an electoral alliance again with the
Liberals. The results were quite meagre with only 33 MPs in 1983 and only 22 in 1987. In
fact, it took all these years for the electoral supporters to accept the alliance, and later on the
merger between the two parties. The two parties eventually merged in 1988. The new party
was made p of 19 Mps including 17 former liberals. A new leader was appointed: Paddy
Ashdown who remained in that position until summer 1999 when he resigned and was
replaced by Charles Kennedy. The aim of the new party was to break the pattern of the two-
party system and to be a real player as the third party on the political scene. So far, the aim
has not been achieved but this would require a change of the voting system. Despite Blair’s
promise of reform, the old traditional FPTP continues to favour the two major parties.
Ideologies and policies:
They are a non-socialist group in favour of reform, for example constitutional reforms
including electoral reforms. They are also pro-European, environment friendly (they
proposed a pollution added tax for instance). They favour free enterprise and an increase in
income tax to fund investment and education. Originally, they adopted the position of
equidistance from the two major parties. They criticized Labour for being too close to the
trade-unions and the conservative party for being to close to business. Yet, in 1997, they came
closer to Tony Blair new labour and have cooperated on subjects such as the electoral reform
and the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights. Though the Lib-Dems
managed to gain more parliamentary seats (from 20 in 1992 to 46 in 1997), they are still a
third party with a very fragile position. Recently, they have benefited from the conservative
party but there is not much they can do unless the voting system is modified. Another
difficulty of the Liberal-democrats is the latent disagreement between its leaders and grass
53
roots members. Unlike the top Liberal-Democrats were close to Labour, grass roots members
are much less supportive of Labour.
IV. National parties
The Welsh and the Scottish nationalist parties:
They do have much in common. They were created roundabout the same period in the 1920s
with the same aim: more autonomy. They obtained it as a result of the 1997 referendum. Both
parties shared the same electoral fortunes in the 60s and the 70s: first MPs elected in 1963
and only a handful of MPs in the Westminster parliament. They only obtained 4 Welsh MPs
and 6 Scottish nationalist MPs as a result of the 1997 election. Both parties play a double
role: a minor role in the Westminster parliament and a more major role in the regional Wales
and Scotland regional parliaments.
Plaid Cymru is the Welsh Nationalist Party created in 1925 with two main requests: self-
government for Wales and the preservation of the Welsh language and culture. As soon as
1967, it obtained that Welsh be the official language in Wales along with English. A certain
degree of legislative autonomy was also granted as a result of the 1997 referendum. Plaid
Cymru’s aim is now to play the part of the main opposition to the Labour Party in the new
Welsh Assembly. It has 17 members vs. 28 for the Labour out of a total of 60 members.
54
The Scottish nationalist party is called the Scottish national party (“SNP”). Like Plaid Cymru,
they play a minor role in the Westminster parliament, with only 6 Mps but they have an
official opposition status in the Scottish parliament with 35 MPs vs. 56 for Labour. Now that
the Scottish National Party has its own legislative Assembly, they want to go one step further
and ask for a complete independence of Scotland.
National parties in Northern Ireland:
Northern Ireland returns 18 MPs in the British parliament. Since the partition of Ireland in the
1920s, the difference between Northern Ireland parties has been dominated by the issue of
union or separation with GB, coupled with religious beliefs.
The National parties in Northern Ireland can be divided into 2 groups:
- the pro-United Kingdom parties, supported mainly by the protestants
- the pro-united Ireland parties, supported mainly by the Catholics and who aim at
breaking away from GB and reuniting with the Republic of Ireland.
The Northern Ireland parties have at least one MP at the Westminster party but now that
they have their own legislative assembly, the role of the parties is much more significant
in this assembly than in the Westminster parliament.
Three pro-UK parties are represented in the Westminster parliament:
55
a. The Ulster Unionists (UUP), whose leader is David Trimble (the party has
10 MPs in Westminster and 28 in the Northern Irish Assembly). Since
1999, it has also had one member of the EU parliament.
b. The Ulster Democratic Unionist party, whose leader is Ian Paisley (the
party has 2 MPs in the British parliament and 20 MPs in the Northern
Ireland Assembly). It also has one MEP.
c. The UK unionists, whose leader is Bob Mc Cartney (the party has 1 MP in

the British parliament and 5 MPs in the Northern Ireland Assembly).
These parties are supported essentially by the protestant portion of the population of
Nothern Ireland. All three parties bear the adjective of unionist in their official name,
which refers to the union of Northern Ireland and GB in the UK.
On the other hand, there are the pro-united Ireland parties supported by the catholic
portion of the Northern Ireland population:
a. The Social democratic and Labour Party, whose leader is John Hume
(the party has 3 MPs in the British parliament and 24 MPs in the
Northern Ireland Assembly). The party also has one MEP.
b. Sinn Fein (we ourselves in Irish) Party, whose leader is Jerry Addams
(the party has 3 MPs in the British parliament and 18 MPs in the
Northern Ireland Assembly). The name of the party clearly illustrates
its goal: it was created in the 1980s at the time when Ireland was
divided into 2 parts by the Anglo-Irish treaty. The party wanted
Northern Ireland to be reunited again with Northern Ireland instead of
joining GB. It has also always defended the Marxist ideology: it is a
socialist anti-capitalist party. Though it has always had few MPs in the
British parliament, the party has played a major role in Irish political
56
life. Whereas the IRA is an illegal paramilitary organization, Sinn Fein

is a totally legal party. Though, its leader Jerry Adams was in the 1980s
prevented from taking his seat in Westminster, as he was afraid he
might be arrested for his presumed link to the IRA.
Conclusion:
It is quite clear that the traditional voting system has contributed to reducing the number of
parties in GB and to blow the ideological differences.
V. Exercises:
1. her majesty’s opposition with more opportunities to publicize its ideas
2. yes there is an ecologist party but it has never has an MP in Westminster so far
3. Labour name is currently “New labour”
4. the main workers who had been given the right to vote in 1867
5. welfare state: a set of social policies whose aim was to support the under privileged
6. William Hague : he has been at the head of the conservative party since 1997
7. Law and order means that if citizens respect the law, then order will exist.
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8. The Liberal-Democrats came into existence in 1988, when the Liberal Party and the
Social-Democrats merged.
9. Both Welsh and Scottish National parties play the role of the opposition parties in the
Welsh and the Scottish regional assemblies
10. The pro-UK parties stand for the union of Northern Ireland and Great Britain within
the United Kingdom
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Lecture 5: The British Government
Functions of the Prime Minister and Cabinet + Civil Service
II. Glossary:
 staff: le personnel
 to outline: donner les grandes lignes de
 the outlines of a reform, policy: les grandes
 by: au plus tard (by the end of the week)
 to shift from… to: se déplacer de … vers
 a shift; un déplacement
 to make decisions: prendre des décisions
 decision-making (process): adjective relative à la prise de decision – de prise de

décision
 a component: une composante
 roughly: en gros = approximately
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 policy: une mesure politique, une politique
 to ensure that : s’assurer que
 to take into account : prendre en compte
 mistrust: méfiance
 to function: fonctionner
 the functioning: le fonctionnement
 legitimate: légitime => legitimacy: légitimité
 to arise from: découler de
 to be responsible for sthg to sbody: être responsible de qqch envers qqun
 senior/junior: de grande importance/ de faible importance (responsabilités dans des

functions)
 to appoint: nommer
 an appointment: une nomination
 to dismiss: renvoyer
 dismissal: licenciement
 to resign: prendre sa retraite, s’en aller
 resignation : départ à la retraite
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 behaviour : comportement, conduite
 to chair a meeting : présider une réunion => a chairman, a chairwoman, a chairperson
 to meet: se réunir => a meeting: une réunion
 to prevail: prévaloir
 to require: nécessiter => requirement: condition
 a spokesman: un porte-parole
 abroad: à l’étranger
Introduction
“Government” in the British context refers to the fairly large group of roughly 100 ministers
including the Pm whose job is to formulate policies and to make decisions in the name of the
citizens in all the domains in which the government intervenes, to ensure safety, equality and
justice for all. The British have always made sure that the government acts on behalf of the
people and take their wishes into account. It comes from certain mistrust towards the King
(Magna Carta). This mistrust is still visible today in the rules: all the members of the
government are members of one of the two Houses of parliament unlike the strict separation
in France. Parliamentary government implies that ministers have a double responsibility as
members of the legislative and executive on one hand and the other hand. This is especially
true for the ministers for the ministers who seat at the House of Commons (nearly 80 out of
the 100 ministers) as they are elected by citizens to represent the voters of their
constituencies. They became ministers as a result of the party they belonged to having
obtained the majority of seat in the Commons. As a result, they are responsible for the
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policies they conduct and the decisions they make in the government. One of their duties is to
be present at the House of Commons in order to answer the questions by opposition MPs
about their policies and decisions.
Within the government, there are approximately 20 ministers who have a superior ministerial
status as they are also members of the Cabinet. They are often referred to as “Cabinet
Ministers” or “Senior Ministers” as opposed to the 80 or so junior ministers.
At the top of the executive, stands the Pm. He is a key figure in the British government. His
position emerged as a result of constitutional conventions. By the middle of the 19 th century,
political power had definitely shifted from the monarch to the PM who became the real Head
of the Executive and the one who make the decisions. The democratisation of the House of
Commons made following constitutional rules extending the right to vote led to the fact that
the Prime Minister became the leader of the party having the majority of seats at the House of
Commons.
I. The British Prime Minister
His position and functions are a good example of the specificity of the British constitutional
rules. They have never been formally laid down in a written document, but emerged over the
years as an essential component of the group of ministers forming the government. Among
various factors that resulted in one minister become the PM, they certainly was the coming on
to the throne of a king of German Origin, King George the 1 st of Hanover in 1714, who did
not speak English and who did not much care about British politics. He was very content to
leave these matters in the hand of his ministers and one minister, the Pm came to serve as a
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link between the king and the rest of the ministers. Under George the 1st, Robert Walpole
became knows as Britain’s first PM. George the 2 nd who succeeded his father was also very
“German-minded” and therefore the position of Pm was confirmed and strengthened during
his reign. After a period of personal rule which ended in 1776 when the American colonies
declared their independence from the despotic British King, George the 3rd who became King
in 1760 for 59 years also eventually let a minister of his government govern in his place and
thereby reinforced the position of PM. Another factor favoured this shift of power from the
monarch to the PM: over the 18th century and later in the 19th century, governments became
more and more involved in various aspects of the nation’s business and had to formulate
more and more policies and male more and more decisions over more and more issues. So the
number of ministers increased and it became clear that for efficiency purposes, one minister
would be required to play the role of a coordinator and arbiter. That is how the position of
PM emerged after a succession of very practical necessities and since then, it proved to be a
satisfactory way to work. At the time, there was no need to formalize this (the first official
mention to the PM was in the Chequers Estate Act, 1917 – la loi sur le domaine de Chequers
– which allocated this country house called Chequers Court to the Minister popularly known
as the PM, in order for him and all the following PM in order to use it as a weekend
residence) and so the practice was maintained and possibly adapted as necessary. Another Act
of Parliament in 1937, the Ministers of the Crown Act, whose main purpose was to laid down
the salaries and pensions of the ministers, established that the higher salary must be paid to
the Pm to compensate him for his extra work as a PM). So never has an Act of Parliament
formally expressed the duties of the PM but his duties are know as a formidable
concentration of power.
II. The various functions of the PM (all are as important as the others)
a. The formation of the government: he chooses and appoints the ministers and
the monarch officializes the list. He selects the members of his party who seat
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at the House of Commons or the House of Lords. There is no possibility for

the PM to choose a member of the general public.
b. The dismissals of a minister: for bad behaviour (politically incorrect whether

private or public), for personal reasons. These dismissals are called
“government reshuffles” (remaniements ministériels). For instance, in 2006,
Tony Blair had to proceed to dismissals: two ministers were severely criticized
by the press for misbehaviour: the former Home Secretary have to quit the
government over allegation that about 1000 criminals who should have been
deported to their native countries after serving their sentences in GB jails,
were freed and allowed to stay in the UK as a result of administrative, the
Deputy PM John Prescott also had to quit the government following an affair
that he had with his secretary. Tony Blair had already had to proceed to
government reshuffles earlier in November 2005 when his home secretary
David Blunkett resigned over allegation over his behaviour both in his public
function and personal life.
c. The appointment of personalities in leading positions: ambassadors, top

members of the army, judges, directors and managers of public companies/
institutions and nationalized industries. This power gives the PM an enormous
influence in various areas where the appointed people somehow have to
support his policy. This is called “the Prime ministerial patronage”.
d. Coordination of the work of the government (the 100 ministers). He chairs

Cabinet meeting (at least once a week) and in case of conflicts his decision
may prevail.
e. He directs and coordinates all major government policies, as Head of the

government.
f. He is supposed to rule on the best interest of the British nation, the British
citizens.
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g. He remains the leader of his own party. As such, he must keep his part united
listening to the top personalities of the party and also to the grass roots
members and the backbenchers (the members of the majority in the House of
Commons who have no ministerial responsibilities). They are ordinary MPs
who are there to represent the citizens so they remind the top politicians of the
every day preoccupation of average British citizens. It is very important for
the PM to take into account all the categories of people who expect from him
that he will fulfil his electoral promises. It requires a lot of compromise and
diplomacy.
h. Help the party win the next General election since in case of failure to such
elections, the leader of the party either is dismissed or has to resign with no
chance to become the leader of the party anymore.
i. He chooses the date of the GE within the 5 years limit. Such choice is crucial
for the party and the PM.
j. He acts as an intermediary between the nation and the members of the

government and the monarch (weekly meeting with the monarch on one hand
but on the other hand he plays the role of the spokesman of the monarch at the
House of Commons: when Charles and Diana separated for instance, the
announcement was made by John Major in the Commons. As a spokesman of
the nation, he announces national and international events)
III. The current British PM: Tony Blair
He became PM on May 1st, 1997. He has been the leader of his party since July 1994. He is a
different sort of PM: only 40 years old when he became PM. He is very modern. In spring
2000, he became the father of a baby boy, which reinforced his image of a modern young
65
father much closer to the British people’s everyday preoccupations. Yet, as soon as he became
PM, he took control of all the government. He is often nick-named a “control freak” (un
obsédé du contrôle). He completely reorganized the functioning of central government in
order to limit the decision-making process to a very limited group of ministers. Even the
Cabinet seems a too large group to consult. Since 1997, Tony Blair has relied on the kitchen
cabinet composed of the 4 most important members of the Cabinet: himself, the Deputy PM,
the Foreign Secretary, the Home Secretary, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He also set up a
political policy unit with independent advisers to advise him on the best policies to adopt. He
also continuously supervises ministers’ speeches and interviews with journalists. Everyone
(Cabinet ministers, officials, politicians, party members) has been given a very precise role to
play. Government is no more collegiate but is rather a tool in the hands of the PM. Tony
Blair’s style of premiership is therefore often referred to as “presidential”.
IV. The Cabinet
Currently, the Cabinet is made of 22 ministers including the PM: the major personalities in
the government: the PM, the Deputy PM, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary of
State for Foreign and Commonwealth affairs (Foreign Secretary), the Lord Chancellor (or
Lord High Chancellor of GB), the Secretary of State for the Home Department (Home
Secretary), the Education and Employment, the President of the Council (also Leader of the
House of Commons, of the majority actually), the Secretary of State for Scotland, the
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (whose role is to supervise party discipline in the
House of Commons), the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sports, The Chancellors
of the Duchy of Lancaster (a minister without portfolio and who is given a special task
depending on the context).
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Other members of the Cabinet include the Secretary of State for International Development,
the Secretary of State for Social Security, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the
Lord Privy Seal (le Lord du St Privé) who leads the peers of the majority party at the House
of Lords, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, the Secretary of State for Health, the
Secretary of State for Wales, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Secretary of
State for Defence, and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
As senior ministers, they need legitimacy => only two members of the Cabinet are taken
from the House of Lords (the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Privy Seal). The fact that the Lord
Chancellor is not part of the House of Commons raises some controversy: MPs can not ask
him questions directly and the department of Justice is the only department that his controlled
by parliamentary committees. He is very limited.
The main rules concerning the functioning of the Cabinet like are the result of constitutional
conventions. The institution of the Cabinet evolved progressively and the rules existing today
to regulate the functioning of the Cabinet are actually the result of the necessity to adapt to
circumstances:
 The composition of the Cabinet is decided by the PM from the Majority in the
Commons. A government that has faced a vote of no-confidence (motions de censure)
must resign or/and ask for dissolution. This vote is rare.
 A government defeated at the general Elections must resign immediately.
 All ministers are collectively responsible for Cabinet decisions. If a minister can not
support a decision made by one of his colleagues, he must resign.
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 Functions of the Cabinet: policy formation and policy coordination. Policy formation:
The members of the Cabinet together with the PM are supposed to draw up the
policies that were promised to be led on the party manifesto and decide the legislative
program that the government intends to propose to parliament. Every year, the
program is presented during the Queen’s speech which is followed by several days of
debate at both houses of Parliament to discuss the general ideas and the priorities of
the program.
 Policy coordination: It is essential to avoid contradiction and reach agreement
How does the cabinet work?
Most of the decisions of the Cabinet are made during the Cabinet meetings. But such
decisions require a certain preparation and that is part of the Cabinet ministers’ duties with
the help of the staff of their department and the Cabinet committees when special issues
require two or more ministers to be involved. Cabinet meeting are usually held once a week
on Tuesday but there is often a second meeting on Thursday. The meeting takes place at 10,
Downing Street. The PM is the one who makes the decision of the agenda and Secrecy is
very important during these meeting notably due to the ministers’ collective responsibility.
Yet, communication of the general themes discusses is released to the press at the end of the
meeting. To reinforce the principle of solidarity, no vote is taken. The PM sums up (summing
up is a tricky word as in case of difference of opinion, the PM is responsible for making the
decisions. In any case, the discussions are quite harmonious as the ministers have usually
discussed the matters beforehand at the level of Cabinet Committees. So, the main function of
the Cabinet Committees is to draw up the details of any given policy envisaged by the
government and to clear up any contradiction or difficulties that may arise between different
departments of the government), the PM sums up the views expressed and the decisions
reached. Cabinet meetings usually last about two hours.
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V. Government Departments
 The Cabinet ministers (name as Secretaries of State or specific names) are senior
minister. But 80 or so other ministers belong to the government.
 The junior ministers are referred to as “Ministers of State”.
All government departments are composed of a senior minister + 1 to 4 Ministers of State

depending on the size of the department.
 Besides the secretaries of State and Ministers of State, there are two other lower ranks
of ministers: parliamentary secretaries and parliamentary under-secretaries of state,
who are in charge of special subjects and policies within the department concerned.
 Composition of the Departments of State : T
o The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is composed of 1 senior

minister, 2 junior ministers and 1 parliamentary secretary.
o The office of the Duchy of Lancaster is headed by a Cabinet Minister only.

The Northern Ireland office is headed by a secretary of state, a Minister of
state and 3 parliamentary undersecretaries.
 Departments of State may be called “Ministry” (Agriculture, defence), “Office”

(Foreign and Common wealth Affairs, Home Office), “Department” (Culture, Media
and Sports or Health).
o The treasury remains apart as far as its name but also its organization are
concerned: The Treasury is the traditional name of the department in charge of
69
economic and financial affairs. It is headed both by the Prime Minister (who is
the first Lord of the Treasury) and by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Amon
the other minsters in charge of special policies, “the Chief Secretary, the
Paymaster General, the Financial Secretary, the Economic Secretary, the
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and finally the Lord Commissioners
and the Assistant Whips”.
 Besides the people mentioned before, the Departments are also headed by
Administrative personalities known as “Permanent Secretaries” assisted by “Senior
Civil Servants” (senior members of the Civil service). They are the administrative
heads of departments and they old office whichever political party is in government.
VI. Preparing Legislation (the civil servants’ mission)
The civil servants’ main function is to take part in the formation of policy by advising the
Ministers by providing them with expertise and experience.
 For instance, they prepare green papers and whiter papers which are preparatory
documents before bills are drafted in order to be introduced to Parliament.
o Green papers regroup all the data necessary as the background for a decision and offer
the outlines (the various possibilities) of reforms. They are usually discussed by
ministers and by MPs. If the reform is given priority in the legislative program of the
government, then a second document is drafted: the white paper.
o The white paper contains the plan envisaged by the government. This white paper
may be discussed again by ministers and Mps and some ideas may be changed or
dropped out. The final project is drafted in a bill which Mps must discuss.
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Green and White Papers refer to the colour of the documents on which they are printed.
Several months, sometimes years may elapse between the drafting of the green paper and the
tabling of a bill in parliament. It is important to be careful with the word “green”. For
instance, the journalists refer to the Green Budget. It has nothing to do with an environment-
friendly project; it simply refers to the first draft of the Budget that will be discussed.
 Civil servants are also in charge of preparing answers to the questions raised by the
MPs of the opposition. These answers are to be given by Ministers at the question time
in the House of Commons.
 A third category of mission that civil servants are responsible for is watching over bills
during their passage through Parliament.
 They are also responsible for giving the necessary directions to implement legislation
voted by Parliament.
Whitehall is the collective name used to refer to the non-political staff of government
departments: the anonymous civil servants working in the shadow of well-know ministers. As
a matter of fact, Whitehall is the name of the street where most of the Departments buildings
are located.
Conclusion
Civil servants (à peu près La haute Fonction Publique) are almost 600 000 in Britain and their
recruitment is quite different from the recruitment of their French counterparts: no
competitive exam. They are in fact recruited by tests and interviews. The French word
“fonctionnaire” has no exact equivalent in GB as well as the “function public so you might
use the words “public official or public officer”.
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72
Cabinet
Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service
 Rt Hon Tony Blair MP
Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State

 Rt Hon John Prescott MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer

 Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP
Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal

 Rt Hon Jack Straw MP
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

 Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry

 Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP
Secretary of State for the Home Department

 Rt Hon John Reid MP
Secretary of State for Health

 Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt MP
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

 Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP
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Minister for the Cabinet Office and for Social Exclusion (and Chancellor of the Duchy of
Lancaster)
 Rt Hon Hilary Armstrong MP
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and Secretary of State for Wales
 Rt Hon Peter Hain MP
Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council

 Rt Hon Baroness Amos
Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor

 Rt Hon Lord Falconer of Thoroton QC
Secretary of State for International Development

 Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP
Secretary of State for Education and Skills

 Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and Minister for Women
 Rt Hon Ruth Kelly MP
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

 Rt Hon John Hutton MP
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

 Rt Hon David Miliband MP
Secretary of State for Defence

 Rt Hon Des Browne MP
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Secretary of State for Transport and Secretary of State for Scotland

 Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP
Minister without Portfolio

 Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP
Chief Whip (Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury)

 Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP
Chief Secretary to the Treasury

 The Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP
Also attending Cabinet
Lords Chief Whip and Captain of the Gentlemen at Arms

 The Rt Hon Lord Grocott
Other Ministers
Law Officers
Attorney General - Rt Hon Lord Goldsmith QC *
Solicitor General - Mike O'Brien MP
Advocate General for Scotland - Lord Davidson of Glen Clova QC
Treasury
Paymaster General - Rt Hon Dawn Primarolo MP
Financial Secretary - John Healey MP
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Economic Secretary - Ed Balls MP
Leader of the Commons
Deputy Leader of the House of Commons (Parliamentary Secretary) - Nigel Griffiths MP
Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Minister of State (Europe) - Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP*
Minister of State (Trade) (also DTI) - Rt Hon Ian McCartney MP*
Minister of State - Dr Kim Howells MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Lord Triesman
Trade and Industry
Minister of State (Trade) (also FCO) - Rt Hon Ian McCartney MP
Minister of State - Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MBE MP
Minister of State - Malcolm Wicks MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Lord Truscott
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Jim Fitzpatrick MP
Home Office
Minister of State - Liam Byrne MP
Minister of State - Rt Hon Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC
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Minister of State - Tony McNulty MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Joan Ryan MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Vernon Coaker MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Gerry Sutcliffe MP
Health
Minister of State - Rt Hon Rosie Winterton MP
Minister of State - Andy Burnham MP
Minister of State - Rt Hon Lord Warner
Minister of State - Caroline Flint MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Ivan Lewis MP
Culture, Media and Sport
Minister of State - Rt Hon Richard Caborn MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Shaun Woodward MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - David Lammy MP
Cabinet Office
Parliamentary Secretary - Pat McFadden MP
Parliamentary Secretary - Ed Miliband MP
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Northern Ireland
Minister of State - David Hanson MP
Speaking for the Lords - Rt Hon Lord Rooker
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (also Scotland Office) - David Cairns MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Maria Eagle MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Paul Goggins MP
Constitutional Affairs
Minister of State - Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Rt Hon Baroness Ashton of Upholland
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Bridget Prentice MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Vera Baird QC MP
International Development
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Gareth Thomas MP
Education and Skills
Minister of State - Jim Knight MP
Minister of State - Bill Rammell MP
Minister of State - Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP
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Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Lord Adonis
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Phil Hope MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Parmjit Dhanda MP
Communities and Local Government
Minister of State - Phil Woolas MP
Minister of State - Yvette Cooper MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State of State - Angela E Smith MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Women and Equality) - Meg Munn MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Baroness Andrews OBE
Work and Pensions
Minister of State - Jim Murphy MP
Minister of State - James Purnell MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Anne McGuire MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - James Plaskitt MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Lord Hunt of Kings Heath OBE
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Minister of State - Rt Hon Lord Rooker
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Minister of State - Ian Pearson MP
Minister of State - Ben Bradshaw MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Barry Gardiner MP
Defence
Minister of State - Rt Hon Adam Ingram MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Derek Twigg MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Lord Drayson
Transport
Minister of State - Dr Stephen Ladyman MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Tom Harris MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Gillian Merron MP
Scotland
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (also Northern Ireland) - David Cairns MP
Wales
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Nick Ainger MP
Whips - House of Commons
Deputy Chief Whip (Treasurer of HM Household) - Rt Hon Robert Ainsworth MP
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Government Whip (Comptroller of HM Household) - Rt Hon Thomas McAvoy MP
Government Whip (Vice Chamberlain of HM Household) - John Heppell MP
Junior Lords of the Treasury
Government Whip (Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury) - David Watts MP
Government Whip (Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury) - Alan Campbell MP
Government Whip (Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury) - Kevin Brennan MP
Government Whip (Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury) - Frank Roy MP
Government Whip (Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury) - Claire Ward MP
Assistant Whips
Assistant Government Whip - Ian Cawsey MP
Assistant Government Whip - Steve McCabe MP
Assistant Government Whip - Liz Blackman MP
Assistant Government Whip - Tony Cunningham MP
Assistant Government Whip - Huw Irranca-Davies MP
Assistant Government Whip - Jonathan Shaw MP
Assistant Government Whip - Michael Foster MP (Worcester)
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Whips - House of Lords
Deputy Chief Whip (Captain of The Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard) - Lord
Davies of Oldham
Baronesses and Lords in Waiting
Baroness in Waiting - Baroness Crawley
Baroness in Waiting - Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
Baroness in Waiting - Baroness Royall of Blaisdon
Lord in Waiting - Lord Bassam of Brighton
Lord in Waiting - Lord Evans of Temple Guiting CBE
Lord in Waiting - Lord McKenzie of Luton
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister
Rt Hon Keith Hill MP
* Also attending Cabinet
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Lecture 6: The British Parliament
III. Glossary:
 To summon parliament: convoquer le Parlement
 Occasional: occasionnel
 A chamber: une chambre
 To embody: incarner
 Close: étroit
 Accountability: responsabilité
 To be accountable for a decision to a person : être susceptible de rendre des comptes,

être responsable
 A law, laws: une loi, des lois
 Law : le droit
 To make a law, to make law, law-making : faire une loi, faire les lois, législatif
 To balance: équilibrer
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 To propose: proposer
 A proponent: la personne qui propose ou qui soutient une proposition
 To table a Bill : déposer un texte législatif sur le bureau de la chambre des Lords ou des
Communes
 Bill: texte législatif proposé à la discussion au parlement et qui deviendra une loi s’il est
voté
 To disapprove, disapproval : désapprouver, désapprobation
 To descent: s’opposer à
 A descent : une opposition
 A whip : un fouet du rabatteur qui fait sortir le gibier dans une chasse – dans le contexte
du parlement britannique, député chargé d’assurer la discipline de vote au sein de la
chambre des communes
 To discuss a bill : discuter d’un projet de loi
 Tough: rude, radical
 A (close) Scrutiny: contrôle (très) approfondi
 to scrutanize: contrôler de manière précise
 to sit: siéger
 a sitting : une séance
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Introduction
The British Parliament is a very old institution. GB is referred to as the “Mother of

Parliament”. The Parliament was born back in 1215 after the King John recognized the rights
of the barons to meet, to be consulted regarding taxation by the king. The first Parliament was
summoned in 1215.
After several conflicts which became more important with the Stuart Kings, who refused to
summon Parliament, the Parliament role was formally established by the Bill of Rights in
1689.
The Parliament is made of two chambers from the beginning:
- One with the barons and top members of the Church that would become the
House of Lords
- One with elected representatives of common ordinary people, which would

become the House of Lords.
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The two houses still exist today. The only difference is that the members of the Commons are
now elected by all British adult people and that the voting power of the House of Lords was
restricted (in 1999).
Originally, both chambers had the same power. Since 1911, only the Commons is involved in
financial matters (notably discussing and voting the budget). The Lords have the same power
as the Commons as far as the rest is concerned.
A member of parliament refers to either house. However, in certain contexts, MP exclusively

means member of the Commons, which stresses their higher legitimacy.
The relationship between the Commons and the Government is very close and is governed by
two main principles:
- The representative government: the government is supposed to act as a

representative of the population and the members of the government are
chosen from the Parliament (with almost 80 % from the Commons)
- The ministerial accountability: The ministers are accountable for their action
to the parliament, who may control that their action corresponds to what they
have been elected for.
VII. The relationship between Parliament and government
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The British Parliament essential role is to be a law-making body, since 1215. Only Parliament
can make law and only their laws (Acts –act refers to the actual law- of Parliament) can be
applied in Great Britain. Legislative proposals are called Bills:
- Public bills: initiative of the government, announced at the Queen speech

(90% of the bills)
- Private members bills: bills tabled at parliament by members of parliament

(majority backbencher or even a member of the opposition parties): only 10 %
and need the support of the government in any case.
Party discipline: government capacity of the government to control the votes of its majority
during public bills voting. Any descent would mean that government must resign so party
discipline is essential and whips are therefore whips are appointed. Majority whips ensure
that the public bills are voted and the contrary for the opposition whips. Each party has a
chief whip assisted by a junior whip. A whip is responsible for controlling 40-50 MPs.
The government can also influence the time for a bill’s discussion:
it can be reduced when it sees that the discussion will be too long (close the discussion with a
closure motion: a vote must take place at a certain time decided by the government).
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When many amendments are presented by opposition Mps, government can decide that the
vote must be made on blocks (of highly supported amendments or the contrary) of
amendments: accept them all or reject them all, “the kangaroo motion”.
The guillotine: the time of discussion of the bill is reduced in advance. It is very unpopular
among MPs as their role is reduced.
i. strict control of the government
ii. Does the Parliament only exist to legitimize the government action?
Parliament is sometimes referred to as a mere rubber stamp (tampon
caoutchouc qu’on appose sur un document pour signifier son accord)
and MPs are sometimes described as lobby fodder (chair à couloir de
vote à emprunter pour voter, expression calquée sur gun fodder –
chair à canons)
VIII. The Majesty’s opposition
Parliament must control the government action. This role is played mainly by the Shadow
Cabinet: opposition spokesmen for every cabinet minister. They must scrutinize the
government action and propose alternatives to their reforms. The existence of the Shadow
Cabinet results directly from the 2-party system. The two parties used to alternate in office
and it was crucial for the party out of office to propose alternative policies and by the way
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prepare the time it would be back in office. This proceeding is called “constructive criticism”
as the role of the Shadow Cabinet is to criticize constructively.
Today there is more than one opposition party and the structure of the Parliament remains the
same (a status for only the 2 main parties) which leads the third party (the Liberal Democrats)
to be in a very weak position.
The leader of the opposition party: the shadow prime minister receives a salary that is almost
the same of that of the actual prime minister. His role is to unite his party and scrutinize the
government and propose an alternative to the electors.
One of the procedures it can use is the question time in the House of Commons: 1 hour every
day from Mon to Thurs. It is the time when questions are asked to all the government
members: Tuesday for the Prime Minister (it was twice a week before Tony Blair). Not all the
members of the Cabinet come every day but all questions are made in a set. Opposition MPs
can use this time to embarrass the government. This procedure is mainly political but the
opposition can also control the government from an administrative and financial point of
view. This is the role of the Select Committees.
IX. Select Committees in the House of Commons
Between 10 and 15 MPs volunteer for (can also be chosen by the speaker -chairman- of the
house) the Select Committees. These MPs are backbenchers and the composition of the
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Select Committees reflects the composition of the parties at the chamber. They meet once or
twice a week in the morning. Each committee is chaired either by the majority or the
opposition. The number of chairmanships obtained roughly reflects the relative importance of
the parties in the Commons. The role of the Committees is generally to check and control,
oversea and investigates certain domain of activities.
Departmental Select Committees are 16 and control (or shadow) the various government
departments. Their present structure is the same since 1979. They can call for persons and
papers and their findings are discussed in the Commons. They can also make
recommendations but they are not that efficient (unlike the US) probably due to a lack of
press coverage.
One among these 16 committees stands apart: the Public Accounts Select Committee. It is a
long standing institution (back in 1861) composed of 15 members chosen in proportion to
parties strengths in the Commons (as the other committees) and it is always chaired by the
senior opposition MP. The role of this Committee is to control public expenditure (the way
government uses the public funds). They are assisted by the controller and auditor general, a
senior public official appointed by the crown. It is the British equivalent of the “Cour des
Comptes”.
The House of Lords also has 2 very well-know Select Committees: Science and Technology
(recently published a report for air passengers) & European Community Committees whose
role is to examine all EU documents coming from the EU Parliament and Commission and
check whether they raise major questions.
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Ad Hoc Select Committees for special investigation:
- One to investigate the mad-cow disease with a report in November 2000

where it criticized the government for not having noticed that the disease
could be transmitted from the beef to the human being and for not accepting to
compensate the victims’ families.
- one to enquire on British rail disasters
IV. The legislative role of the House of Lords
Two contradictory trends:
- Members of the House of Lords discuss and vote all the bills (except financial ones)
- They find it difficult to oppose to legislation voted by the Commons.
As they are not elected, they have more time and intellectual freedom. There are no whips in
this chamber as most of them do not belong to parties.
When they find that the text is not precise enough. Lords have more time to examine
legislation in-depth (they do not lose time in political arguments). Revision is the possibility
for the House of Lords to ensure the words of Bill reflects the intention of Parliament and
includes all the changing and reforms required. This revising power is important and obliges
the government to be more vigilant.
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In some cases, the Lords can refuse to approve full bills (which is very rare) or parts of bills
or amend bills if unsatisfactory.
Between 1987 and 1990 (government defeated 72 times between 1987 and 1992 over bills or
parts of bills), the Lords made 7863 amendments to Public Bills compared with only 2854
amendments from 1970 to 1973 (government defeated – some clauses rejected with
obligation to redraft the Bills in a better way - only 25 times between 1970 and 1974).
The Lords more and more show disapproval of Bills. This power is called the Power to Delay
of the House of Lords.
V. How representative is the Parliament (In terms of women and minorities):
In the 1997 general election, the results for the time ever were: 120 women MPs were elected
(20 % of all MPs) with 101 that are labour, 13 conservatives, 3 Lib-Dems and 2 SMP MPs.
This result is very high compared to the elections in 1994 when only 62 women MPs sat in
the Commons. The increase resulted from a decision of the Labour Party to increase the
number of women seating at the Commons. The next general elections results will be
interesting as the men claimed of having been victims of the new system and Labour had to
go to court because of having made these quotas. The Labour party was found guilty since it
is illegal in the EU to establish quotas.
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In the House of Lords, since 1963, peeresses are allowed to sit in the House of Lords. They
are 100 currently out of 1200 members. Only 17 peeresses are hereditary and the rest are life
peeresses.
=> Women are quite underrepresented at the Parliament.
The results of the 1997 general elections were the following: 10 ethnic minority MPs were
elected with 4 Blacks (west-Indian and afro-Caribbean mostly) and 6 (Indian and Pakistanis
mostly) Asians. Among these 10 Mps, 6 are male and 4 are women (2 Blacks and 2 Asians).
Members of the House of Lords are unelected so to that extent the House of Lords is
unrepresentative: they do just represent themselves. That is the reason why they are not
allowed to vote at the general elections and choose their representatives at the House of
Commons as they are themselves members of the Parliament.
Peers fall into two categories:
- Hereditary peers are members of the British aristocracy and who can transmit
their title to their eldest son or possibly their eldest daughter (since the 1963
peerage act).
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- Life peers are granted the peerage to reward them for the work they have done
or to reward them for having contributed to the British fame in the world.
They can not transmit the title to their children. Life peers can be former
Prime Ministers (like Baroness Margaret Thatcher), scientists, writers…
There are currently 500 life peers and 800 hereditary peers at the House of Lords.
It is currently being modernized following a reform by the Labour government.
VI. Conclusion (MPs changing role)
MPs role has recently undergone some changes. Only 20 years ago, MPs saw themselves as
politicians and occasionally as representatives of their voters. Now, they see themselves
essentially as representatives of their constituency. Only few of them have political ambition
to become ministers. The attachment to the FPTP voting system and the reluctance to a more
proportional system are quite telling. Most MPs spend their time nursing their constituencies.
The Parliamentary weekly time table is established to facilitate such close contact. On
Friday, Parliament sits in the morning and until 02:30 pm and allows MPs to go back to their
constituencies and spend the weekend there (for a lot of handshaking but also listening to the
people’s claims). They have a surgery (un local) where voters can see them to talk about their
difficulties.
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And at the end of each daily sitting in the Commons, there is an early adjournment debate,
when Mps have the opportunity of raising issues that concerns some particular topics and
interests of their constituencies. This debate takes place everyday between 10:00 pm and
10:30 pm. Adjournment refers to the fact that 10:30 pm is the time when the house is
adjourned (the end of the day).
2 general trends exist now:
- Government has various possibilities to control the role of Parliament: by choosing the
legislation it examines, by limiting freedom to accept or reject legislation and by limiting the
time spent by Parliament to discuss legislation
- MPs want to play their role as fully as possible: they want to be able to check the
government and they claim a more significant role as representatives of the voters
VII. Exercises
1. A bill
2. The lords’ power of revision
3. to embarass the government
4. legislative role of parliament: a law making role
5. short name for members of parliament: MPs
6. party discipline
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7. Ad hoc select Committees
Exercice 2 : mettre les phrases au passif
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Lecture 7: Specific aspects of the House of Commons and the House of Lords
IV. Glossary:
 Straightforward : directement
 Layout : disposition des lieux
 Unlike : à la différence de
 Left/right hand side : le côté gauche, droit
 The floor of the house : l’auditoire de la chambre (l’ensemble des membres)
 A bench : un banc
 To face each other, to face one another : se faire face
 The 2 party-system: le bipartisme
 Party allegence: l’allégence politique (l’appartenance à un groupe politique)
 To behave, to misbehave : se comporter de manière correcte, incorrecte
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 Weight : le poids
 A mock election : une élection factice, un simulacre d’élection
 Pattern : modèle, grille, schéma, scénario
 To record : enregistrer
 To divide : voter
 Pressure : pression
 A pressure groupe : un groupe de pression
 To press for an idea: faire pression pour imposer une idée
 To infringe a rule : enfreindre une règle => infringement
 To last : durer
 To state : déclarer => a statement : une déclaration
 To adjourn : ajourner => adjournment
 Openness : la trasnparence
 The deputy speaker : le vice-président des séances de la chambre
 Fame: la réputation
 To enact a bill: voter un projet de loi
 To be on the agenda: être à l’ordre du jour
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 Money Bills : Projets de lois de finances
 To account for : expliquer
 Haridly : rapidement, de façon baclée
 To implement legislation : mettre en œuvre une loi
 Evidence : preuve
Part 1 : The House of Commons
X. The House of Commons
Unlike the French Assemblée Nationale which is an amphitheatre in which people sit side
by side according to their party from the left hand side to the right hand side, the House of
Commons has a rectangular shape. The floor of the house is a rectangular with two series of
benches facing each other and in the middle there is a long table at the head of which the
speaker and the deputy speaker sit. The benches on the speakers’ right belong to the party in
office and the benches on his left belong to the opposition. A few benches are placed
opposite of the speaker at the other end of the table: the “cross benches” (they form a sort
of cross with the other series of benches, they are actually perpendicular to them)
traditionally reserved for the other parties. The layout reflects the traditional two-party
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system. The two parties face each other like adversaries and the speaker is a sort of arbiter.
There is nor room for a third party to sit at the chamber. Of course there are the cross
benches, but only a few and they were originally reserved to those MPs who did not belong
to any political party. Today, the Lib-Dems are too numerous to sit on the cross benches.
They sit on the government side but since there is no room enough, some of them have to
sit on the other side which is quite confusing. In any case, the House of Commons is not big
enough for all the MPs. When it was bombed in 1945, Winston Churchill had requested that
it be rebuilt in exactly the same pattern as in the 14th century. The fact that the MPs would
be sitting all crashed would anyway give them the sense of “importance and urgency”.
From the fact that they sit on benches, MPs had been called a certain way depending on the
party they belong to:
- front benchers: those who sit at the front, majority (those who are also
members of the government) front bencher sand opposition frontbenchers
(those who are also members of the Shadow Cabinet)
- back benchers are also either from the majority or the opposition sitting at the
back, behind the front benches. They are ordinary MPs.
- cross benchers in today’s terminology refer to MPs who belong to the third
party: the Lib-Dems.
XI. The speaker in the House of Commons
He is the chairman in the House of Commons: check that the rules are laid down by the house
for its functioning. He allows members to speaker after the MP has catched the speaker’s eye.
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He must also punish any MP who misbehaves (those who infringe the rules can be put out for
a few hours or day). He is also the representative of the House in front of outside bodies. He
is the spokesman of the House in formal occasion. The way he is appointed reflects the
traditions. In 2000, the speaker resigned and a new one was elected among 12 candidates
(several Labour and several Conservative which is unusual as it is a mock election where the
choice used to be made between two candidates and the one from the opposition used to be
chosen) but Michael Martin was sure to be elected. In 1992, the first woman speaker was a
Labour backbencher when the party in office was conservative. So the fact that Michael
Martin belongs to the majority is exceptional compared to before. M Martin was dragged by
(traîné) two MPs to the speaker’s chair to assume the post: this is meant to show that the
chosen person is reluctant to take the post since before nobody wanted to take this position in
the past as the speakers were killed at the King’s request in case of trouble (when parliament
did not approve his policy).
The speakers and his 6 deputy speakers do not vote. They remain impartial in all public
matters and stand above parties political controversies. They only vote when the voting is
equal between the two main parties (tied vote).
Before a new parliamentary session opens, the vaults (sous-sols) are searched in case some
gunpower (poudre à canon) is hidden and want to disturb the parliament. This commemorates
this gunpowder plot in 1605 when a man called Mr Fox tried to destroy parliament by placing
gun powder in the building.
At the beginning of every day sitting, the speaker comes to the Parliament led by the
sergeants at arms (gardiens armés) who are dressed like the guards of the tower of London,
the famous beef eaters. One of the sergeants carries the mace on a velvet caution (symbol of
the house) placed on the table of the House.
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Mace of the House of Commons
In the House of Commons the Mace is a symbol of Royal Authority. It represents the power
and authority that the monarchy has delegated to the House of Commons in the past. The
Mace lies on the Table in front of the Speaker when Members are debating. The Mace is
carried in and out of the chamber by the Serjeant at Arms in a procession at the beginning
and end of each day. Without the Mace in position, the House cannot sit and debate.
Another strange custom: MPs are not called by their names but “the (right in case he is in the
Cabinet) honourable member for + name of their constituency”. If an MP is a member of the
army, he will be called ”the galloned honourable member for such and such constituency”. If
an MP is a lawyer, he will be called ”the learned honourable member for such and such a
constituency”. These customs date back to the time when MPs could be taken to court on the
ground of defamation when they said something that did not please a personality. At the time,
there was no freedom of speech.
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XII. Parliamentary sessions
A parliament (the period of time between two general elections) is divided into one-year (175
days from November to October or November the year after except the year of elections
when the pattern is upset: it may be shorter or longer) sessions. Each session starts very
formally with the sate opening of parliament when the queen delivers the queen speech which
outlines the government policy for the coming session. Each session ends with a speech made
by the queen where she sums up the legislative work of the session and prorodes parliament.
Sessions are interrupted by recesses: holidays like summer, Christmas, Easter. Bills can not
be carried over from one session to another. They are killed.
Voting in the House of Commons is still completely archaic: in order to vote MPs must go in
two different corridors: the yes lobby and the no lobby. At the end of each lobby, the tellers
count the votes of Mps as they go. Votes in the House of Commons are called division.
The word to lobby or lobbying comes from a custom which does not exist anymore when
people from the public used to come in the lobby and try to influence the vote of the MPs,
dragging them into other corridors.
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Due to this archaic voting system, MPs can only vote if they are present so some MPs are in
charge of ensuring that other Mps of their party are present and that the back benchers
support their party’s position. These MPs are called whips. Every party has its senior whip
and a certain number of junior whips. Whips are also responsible for circulating information
about the agenda and the conduct of business each week in the House. Apart from enforcing
party discipline, government whips act as a link between the majority backbenchers and the
members of the government to avoid conflicts and disagreements.
Radio has broadcasted extracts of the debates since 1978. And only since 1989 has television
been allowed report proceedings in the House of Commons. There is still no continuous
broadcasting.
The House normally seats from 2:30 pm to 10:30 pm from Monday to Thursday and from
09:30 am to 2:30 pm on Fridays. Occasionally, the sitting may be prolonged into the night,
which is much criticized by most MPs. Each day sitting starts with prayers, and then comes
the one hour question time except on Friday, and then certain statements can be made by
ministers on topics or issues and by the speaker as when he gives the first formal reading of a
bill. The main business of the day is then discussed: the legislative process. The last half hour
is dedicated to the adjournment debate and this is the time when MPs and especially
backbenchers can raise particular issues relating to their constituencies or personal matters.
On Fridays, debates are mostly concerning private members bills or issues raised by
backbenchers.
The agenda of business is fixed on a weekly basis. It is established by the Leader of the
House, the prime minister’s representatives in the House of Commons and the government
whips in collaboration with the opposition whips.
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XIII. The Select Committees in the House of Commons
As seen in lecture 6, there are three types of committees
- Departmental Select Committees whose role is to shadow every government department as

to both their organisation and the way they execute/implement legislation voted in parliament
- Standing Committees: examine, discuss and possibly amend bills in detail. Their role is to
scrutinize bills. They intervene once the general principles of the bills have been accepted by
the whole House. Once they have finished, the new amended texts are presented back to the
House of Commons and must be voted by all MPs before it is passed on to the House of
Lords.
- ad hoc Committees: they are set up to investigate special issues that have created public
scandals. Investigation takes a few months, sometimes years and after that a report is made
with recommendations for legislation changes. The government may or not propose such
changes to parliaments. At the moment, there is a gulf war syndrome (investigating on this
disease from which British soldiers are affected and some of them have died) committee and
there is a railway safety committee to investigate into the reasons why several the crashes of
trains occurred in the recent months causing dozens of victims. In February 2001, will come
into effect changes recommended by the Nolan committee on standards in public life. Such
changes include more openness on the financing of political parties. All these committees are
composed of backbenchers. At the beginning of a parliamentary session, Mps apply for
appointment in one of these committees and the speaker and his deputies make up the list of
members of each committee. Members are chosen in proportion to the strength of their party
in the House of Commons.
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Whereas standing committees are always chaired by an MP from the majority party, the
chairmanship of ad hoc select committees are distributed between the different parties. Yet,
the number of chairman of a part is proportional to the numbers of MP of this party in the
House of Commons.
Part 2 : The House of Lords
I. The House of Lords
The House of Lords’ composition, as a result of a reform carried out by the current
government (the House of Lords Act, October 1999) has been greatly modified. Before 1999,
2/3 of the members used to be hereditary peers and life peers were a minority. Now figures
are quite the opposite: 575 life peers vs. 92 hereditary peers. The house of Lords is
composed of peers and peeresses. Most of them used to be the sons or daughters of aristocrats
who were granted the peerage by the monarchs: they were approximately 800 up to 1999.
Now they are only 75 who were elected by all the members + 17 who have special functions
like the speaker or the deputy speaker.
Since 1958, there have been life peers and peeresses in the House of well, allowed to sit only
during their lifetime. They are granted the peerage by the monarch in order to reward them
for their professional activity or for great achievement which contributed to the fame of GB
in the world: former politicians, industrialists, singers, actors… Life peers were 525 in
November 1999 and by November 2000; they became 575 as a result of many peerages
granted by the Labour government in the first six months of the year 2000.
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There are still few religious peers: 26 leading personalities of the Church of England. They
are either bishops (évêques) or archbishops. They are ex officio (membres de droit) members
of the House of Lords.
II. Reforming the House of Lords
Various reforms of the House of Lords have been voted over the 20 th century. The fact that its
members are unelected has been a matter for debate since the beginning of the 20th century.
All the reforms about the House of Lords composition and function have been aimed at
remedying the unelected character of the House of Lords. The parliament Act of 1911,
reduced the Lords’ power by preventing them from voting money bills and limiting their right
to veto a legislation to 2 years. The Parliament Act of 1949 went even further and reduced the
Lords’ power to veto legislation to one year only. The government now just has to wait one
year before resubmitting a bill which once voted by the Commons will not be able to be
vetoed by the House of Lords.
The 1958 introduction of Life peers was an attempt to modernize the House of Lords by
giving new blood to an institution being more and more anachronistic. The abolition of the
House of Lords was even on the agenda of the Labour government in the late 60s but was
finally never voted.
Finally, new Labour (Tony Blair) promised a reform to modernize the country with updated
institutions. The reform of the House of Lords is to be made in two stages:
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- October 1999 House of Lords’ Act abolished most of the hereditary peers
except for 75 of them who were elected by their colleagues.
- Nobody knows when the second stage happens. There does not seem to be a
project around that. What is almost sure is that GB should keep its two
chambers but no one has a clue how the second chamber should be recruited.
In any case, the current second chamber is just an interim, transitional
chamber.
III. The legislative role of the House of Lords
One of the major roles of the House of Lords is to vote bills. For a bill to become an Act of
Parliament, it will require to be voted in the same term by the two Houses. The House of
Lords plays a specific role when discussing and voting laws. It has a revising power of
legislation. It generally improves the form and the content of bills already voted in the
Commons. The main reasons why they can revise bills is that they have more time to spend
over bills (see if they are complete and reword them if necessary so they become more
understandable) and make amendments which are generally accepted by the Commons since:
- they have no power to discuss the budget (which takes 1/3 of the
parliamentary sessions time)
- they spend less time quarrelling about political ideas as they are less attached
to that and since they are not elected they do not need to do the necessary to
attract voters. Indeed, party allegiance is less strong in the House of Lords as
most of them do not belong to parties and even when they do, they do not
respect the party discipline. Out of a total of 667 Lords in 2000, 235 declared
themselves conservative, 201 Labour, 63 Lib-Dems and 164 cross benchers.
These figures exclude 6 peers who have marginal opinions and the 26
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members of the Church of England who do not vote during legislative debates.
Though there are whips, their role is more to inform the MPs about the agenda
and to act as intermediaries between the Lords and the government and to
control the way Lords vote.
- there is no question time in the House of Lords
The personal background of the Lords (now that most of them are life peers) also explains
their revising power. Most of them have various interests and therefore different ideas
resulting in a very rich debate and a great expertise. Lords had and some of them still have a
professional activity which keeps them close to the people. So they tend to vote after
weighing the pros and cons of legislation and therefore have a practical approach to
legislation examining bill carefully, reasonably and with more moderation than their
politically minded colleagues in the House of Commons.
The House of Lords can veto full bills (rare) or parts of bills and in any case, the government
can overcome such veto by asking the House of Commons to vote this bill again the year
after. On the other hand, it is very frequent for the House of Lords to veto parts of bills when
they are extreme or do not protect citizens enough. For example, in the 1999-2000
parliamentary session, the Lords refused to vote a bill limiting the right to choose jury trial: a
trial where the final decision is taken by a jury of 12 ordinary people, chosen at random.
Juries are very old institutions in GB. Magna Carta in 1215 established the right for every
citizen to be tried by jury. In such case, the Lords play the role of guaranteeing traditional
fundamental rights and the rights of minority groups in society (the old, the retired, the
children).
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Besides its legislative power, the House of Lords is also a debating chamber. Such debates
traditionally take place on Wednesday. The quality of the debates is very high due to the
Lords’ educational background and political freedom.
IV. Select Committees in the House of Lords
There are select committees in the House of Lords like in the House of Commons but they
play a different role:
- one that scrutinizes delegated legislations (décrets, ordonnances): decisions

made and texts drafted by members of the executive to complement and
implement legislation voted by parliament.
- ensure that decisions and texts made by the executives do not violate existing
law and are within the competence of the person who drafted them
- 2 other select committees:
 the EU Committee whose role is to scrutinize and report on

proposed EU legislation. Its competence is to consider EU
documents and all the maters relating to the EU. The Committee is
composed of about 20 members chosen at the beginning of a session,
for the whole session. The Committee operates by asking and
obtaining written and oral evidence from government departments,
community institutions and other interested bodies and individuals.
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They take as many opinions as possible into account before reaching

a conclusion. Reports are drafted which contain conclusions and
recommendations. Such reports are published and debated in the
House of Lords.
 the Committee on Science and Technology was created in 1967 but

assumed a greater role in 1980 when the government department
entitled department of Science and Technology was abolished. This
committee was given a fresh impetus to feel the gap. Membership to
this committee is usually restricted to 15. Most of the members are
personalities (prominent scientists and engineers) who have great
experience in their field of expertise. The committee makes reports
and consistently have warned the government against the absence of
long term Research and Development policies and against failure to
develop adequate mechanisms for funding strategic research. They
have encouraged the application of science and technology by British
industries. The reports are of great quality and many
recommendations have forced the government to reformulate their
legislation.
V. Conclusion (on the House of Lords’ role in British politics)
The House of Lords really has a role to play in British Politics. Very often, it serves as a
check of any excess of the House of Commons which is dominated by the majority party. The
specificity of its membership, its non partisan approach makes it a very valuable second
chamber. That is probably why in 1999, the government envisaged to modernize the chamber
but never to abolish it. The only difficulty is that the government is not sure of what type of
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second chamber Britain should have so this interim transitional chamber may have a long life
to leave yet.
British House of Commons
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The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Parliament also includes the Sovereign and the upper house, the House of Lords; the House
of Commons is the dominant branch. The House of Commons is a democratically elected
body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members of Parliament" or MPs.
Members are elected by the first-past-the-post system of election, holding office until
Parliament is dissolved (a maximum of five years). Each member is elected by, and
represents, an electoral district known as a constituency. The House of Commons is the
source of the vast majority of government ministers and every Prime Minister since 1902,
with the very brief exception of Sir Alec Douglas-Home in 1963, has been drawn from it
(Home did actually rule from the House of Commons, however, taking a seat in the House
shortly after being chosen as Prime Minister).
The House of Commons evolved at some point during the 14th century and has been in
continuous existence since. The House of Commons (the "lower house") was once far less
powerful than the House of Lords (the "upper house"), but is now by far the dominant branch
of Parliament. The House of Commons' legislative powers exceed those of the House of
Lords; under the Parliament Act 1911, the Lords' power to reject most bills was reduced to a
mere delaying power. Moreover, the Government of the United Kingdom is answerable to the
House of Commons; the Prime Minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the
support of the lower house.
The full, formal style and title of the House of Commons is The Honourable the Commons of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The
term "Commons" derives from the Norman French word communes, referring to the
geographic and collective communities of their representatives. It is often misunderstood that
"Commons" comes from the word "commoners", referring to those sitting in the House,
similar to the way in which the name "House of Lords" indicates that those sitting in the
"Other Place" are elevated to the Peerage. This explanation, however, is ahistorical. Both
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Houses, the Commons and Lords, meet in the Palace of Westminster. Both Houses have in
the past met elsewhere, and retain the right to do so, provided the Mace is present.
The information resource of the House is the House of Commons Library.
Contents
[hide]
 1 History
 2 Members and elections
 3 Qualifications
 4 Officers
 5 Procedure
 6 Committees
 7 Legislative functions
 8 Relationship with the Government
 9 Latest election
 10 Current composition
 11 The chamber in film and television
 12 See also
 13 References
 14 External links
[edit] History
Parliament developed from the council that advised the monarch during mediæval times. This
royal council, meeting for short-term periods, included ecclesiastics, noblemen, as well as
representatives of the counties (known as "knights of the shire"). The chief duty of the
council was to approve taxes proposed by the Crown. In many cases, however, the council
demanded the redress of the people's grievances before proceeding to vote on taxation. Thus,
it developed legislative powers.
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In the "Model Parliament" of 1295, representatives of the boroughs (including towns and
cities) were also admitted. Thus, it became settled practice that each county send two knights
of the shire, and that each borough send two burgesses. At first, the burgesses were almost
entirely powerless; whilst county representation was fixed, the monarch could enfranchise or
disfranchise boroughs at pleasure. Any show of independence by burgesses would have led to
the exclusion of their towns from Parliament. The knights of the shire were in a better
position, though less powerful than their aristocratic counterparts in the still unicameral
Parliament. The division of Parliament into two houses occurred during the reign of Edward
III: the knights and burgesses formed the House of Commons, whilst the clergy and nobility
became the House of Lords.
Though they remained subordinate to both the Crown and the Lords, the Commons did act
with increasing boldness. During the Good Parliament (1376), the Speaker of the House of
Commons, Sir Peter de la Mare, complained of heavy taxes, demanded an accounting of the
royal expenditures, and criticised the King's management of the military. The Commons even
proceeded to impeach some of the King's ministers. The bold Speaker was imprisoned, but
was soon released after the death of King Edward III. During the reign of the next monarch,
Richard II, the Commons once again began to impeach errant ministers of the Crown. They
insisted that they could not only control taxation, but also public expenditures. Despite such
gains in authority, however, the Commons still remained much less powerful than the House
of Lords and the Crown.
The influence of the Crown was further increased by the civil wars of the late fifteenth
century, which destroyed the power of the great nobles. Both houses of Parliament held little
power during the ensuing years, and the absolute supremacy of the Sovereign was restored.
The domination of the monarch grew even further under the Tudor dynasty in the sixteenth
century. This trend, however, was somewhat reversed when the House of Stuart came to the
English Throne in 1603. The first two Stuart monarchs, James I and Charles I, provoked
conflicts with the Commons over issues such as taxation, religion, and royal powers.
The bitter differences between Charles I and Parliament were great, and were settled only by
the English Civil War. The King was beheaded, and the monarchy and Upper House
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abolished, in 1649. Although the Commons were in theory supreme, the nation was truly
under the control of a military dictator, Oliver Cromwell, who eventually abolished
Parliament in 1653. However, the monarchy and the House of Lords were both restored along
with the Commons in 1660, soon after Cromwell's death. The influence of the Crown had
been lessened, and was further diminished when James II was deposed in the course of the
Glorious Revolution (1688).
The House of Commons in the early 19th century.
The eighteenth century was notable in that it was marked by the development of the office of
Prime Minister. The modern notion that the Government may remain in power only as long as
it retains the support of Parliament soon became established, leading to history's first-ever
motion of no confidence, as a result of the failure of Lord North's government to end the
American Revolution. The modern notion that only the support of the House of Commons is
necessary, however, was of much later development. Similarly, the custom that the Prime
Minister is always a Member of the Lower House, rather than the Upper one, did not evolve
immediately.
The House of Commons experienced an important period of reform during the nineteenth
century. The Crown had made use of its prerogative of enfranchising and disenfranchising
boroughs very irregularly, and several anomalies had developed in borough representation.
Many towns that were once important but had become inconsiderable by the nineteenth
century retained their ancient right of electing two Members each. The most notorious of
these "rotten boroughs" was Old Sarum, which had only eleven voters; at the same time, large
cities such as Manchester received no separate representation, although their eligible
residents were able to vote in the corresponding county seat—in the case of Manchester,
Lancashire. Also notable were the pocket boroughs, small constituencies controlled by
wealthy landowners and aristocrats, whose "nominees" were invariably elected by the voters.
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The Commons attempted to address these anomalies by passing a Reform Bill in 1831. At
first, the House of Lords proved unwilling to pass the bill, but were forced to relent when the
Prime Minister, Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, advised King William IV to flood the House of
Lords with several pro-Reform peers. Before the King could take such an action, the Lords
passed the bill in 1832. The Reform Act 1832, also known as the "Great Reform Act,"
abolished the rotten boroughs, established uniform voting requirements for the boroughs, and
granted representation to populous cities, but also retained many pocket boroughs. In the
ensuing years, the Commons grew more assertive, the influence of the House of Lords having
been damaged by the Reform Bill Crisis, and the power of the patrons of pocket boroughs
having been diminished. The Lords became more reluctant to reject bills that the Commons
passed with large majorities, and it became an accepted political principle that the support of
the House of Commons alone was necessary for a Prime Minister to remain in office.
Many further reforms were introduced during the latter half of the nineteenth century. The
Reform Act 1867 lowered property requirements for voting in the boroughs, reduced the
representation of the less populous boroughs, and granted parliamentary seats to several
growing industrial towns. The electorate was further expanded by the Representation of the
People Act 1884, under which property qualifications in the counties were lowered. The
Redistribution of Seats Act of the following year replaced almost all multi-member
constituencies with single-member constituencies.
The old Chamber of the House of Commons built by Sir Charles Barry was destroyed by
German bombs during the Second World War. The essential features of Barry's design were
preserved when the Chamber was rebuilt.
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The next important phase in the history of the House of Commons came during the early
twentieth century. In 1908, the Liberal Government under Herbert Henry Asquith introduced
a number of social welfare programmes, which, together with an expensive arms race with
Germany, had forced the Government to seek more funding in the form of tax increases. In
1909, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, introduced the "People's
Budget", which proposed a new tax targeting wealthy landowners. The unpopular measure,
however, failed in the heavily Conservative House of Lords. Having made the powers of the
House of Lords a primary campaign issue, the Liberals were re-elected in January 1910.
Asquith then proposed that the powers of the House of Lords be severely curtailed.
Proceedings on the bill were briefly interrupted by the death of King Edward VII, but were
soon recommenced under the new monarch, George V. After the election in December 1910
the Asquith Government secured the passage of a bill to curtail the powers of the House of
Lords. The Prime Minister proposed, and the King agreed, that the House of Lords could be
flooded by the creation of 500 new Liberal peers if it failed to pass the bill. (This was the
same device used earlier to force the Upper House to consent to the passage of the Reform
Act 1832.) The Parliament Act 1911 came into effect, destroying the legislative equality of
the two Houses of Parliament. The House of Lords was permitted only to delay most
legislation, for a maximum of three parliamentary sessions or two calendar years (reduced to
two sessions or one year by the Parliament Act 1949). Since the passage of these Acts, the
House of Commons has remained the dominant branch of Parliament, both in theory and in
practice.
Since the 17th century, MPs had been unpaid. Most of the men elected to the Commons had
private incomes, while a few relied on financial support from a wealthy patron. Early Labour
MPs were often provided with a salary by a trade union, but this was declared illegal by a
House of Lords judgement of 1910. Consequently a clause was included in the Parliament
Act 1911 introducing salaries for MPs. It should be noted, however, that government
ministers had always been paid.
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[edit] Members and elections
Each Member of Parliament represents a single constituency. Prior to the reforms of the 19th
century, the constituencies had little basis in population: the counties and the boroughs
(whose boundaries were fixed) were, for the most part, represented by two Members each.
Reforms enacted during the 19th century, starting with the Reform Act 1832, led to a more
even distribution of seats. Moreover, the reforms of 1885 abolished most two-member
constituencies; the few that remained were all abolished in 1948. University constituencies
(the constituencies that allowed important universities such as Oxford, Cambridge and the
ancient universities of Scotland to be represented in Parliament) were abolished in the same
year. Thus, each constituency now elects only one Member of Parliament. There is still a
technical distinction between county constituencies and borough constituencies, but the only
effect of this difference involves the amount of money candidates are allowed to spend during
campaigns.
The boundaries of the constituencies are determined by four permanent and independent
Boundary Commissions, one each for England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The
number of constituencies assigned to the four parts of the United Kingdom is based roughly
on population, but subject to certain statutory regulations. England, Wales, and Scotland must
have a total of approximately 613 constituencies, and Northern Ireland between 16 and 18
constituencies, and Wales at least 35 constituencies. The Commissions conduct general
reviews of electoral boundaries once every 8 to 12 years, as well as a number of interim
reviews. In drawing boundaries, they are required to take into account local government
boundaries, but may deviate from this requirement in order to prevent great disparities in the
populations of the various constituencies. The proposals of the Boundary Commissions are
subject to parliamentary approval, but may not be amended by Parliament. After the next
general review of constituencies, the Boundary Commissions will be absorbed into the
Electoral Commission, which was established in 2000. Currently the United Kingdom is
divided into 646 constituencies, with 529 in England, 40 in Wales, 59 in Scotland, and 18 in
Northern Ireland.
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General elections occur whenever Parliament is dissolved by the Sovereign. The timing of the
dissolution is normally chosen by the Prime Minister (see relationship with the Government
below); however, a parliamentary term may not last for more than five years, unless a Bill
extending the life of Parliament passes both Houses and receives Royal Assent. The House of
Lords, exceptionally, retains its power of veto over such a Bill.
The date of a General Election is the choice of the Prime Minister, but traditionally, it tends
to be a Thursday. Each candidate must submit nomination papers signed by ten registered
voters from the constituency, and pay a deposit of £500, which is refunded only if the
candidate wins at least five per cent of the vote. The deposit seeks to discourage frivolous
candidates. Each constituency returns one Member, using the first-past-the-post electoral
system, under which the candidate with a plurality of votes wins. Minors, Members of the
House of Lords, prisoners, and insane persons are not qualified to become Members of the
House of Commons. In order to vote, one must be a resident of the United Kingdom as well
as a citizen of the United Kingdom, of a British overseas territory, of the Republic of Ireland,
or of a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Also, British citizens living abroad are
allowed to vote for 15 years after moving from the United Kingdom. No person may vote in
more than one constituency.
Once elected, the Member of Parliament normally continues to serve until the next
dissolution of Parliament or until death. If a Member, however, ceases to be qualified (see
qualifications below), his or her seat falls vacant. It is possible for the House of Commons to
expel a Member, but this power is exercised only when the Member has engaged in serious
misconduct or criminal activity. In each case, a vacancy may be filled by a by-election in the
appropriate constituency. The same electoral system is used as in general elections.
The term "Member of Parliament" is normally used only to refer to Members of the House of
Commons, even though the House of Lords is also a part of Parliament. Members of the
House of Commons may use the post-nominal letters "MP". The annual salary of each
Member is £59,095; Members may receive additional salaries in right of other offices they
hold (for instance, the Speakership). Most Members also claim between £100,000 and
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£150,000 for various office expenses (staff costs, postage, travelling, etc.) and also in the case
of non-London Members for the costs of maintaining a home in London.
[edit] Qualifications
There are numerous qualifications that apply to Members of Parliament. Most importantly,
one must be aged at least 21 (although this is due to change to 18), and must be a citizen of
the United Kingdom, of a British overseas territory, of the Republic of Ireland, or of a
member of the Commonwealth of Nations, in order to be eligible. These restrictions were
introduced by the British Nationality Act 1981, but were previously far more stringent: under
the Act of Settlement 1701, only natural-born subjects were qualified. Members of the House
of Lords may not serve in the House of Commons, or even vote in parliamentary elections;
however, they are permitted to sit in the chamber during debates.
A person may not sit in the House of Commons if he or she is the subject of a Bankruptcy
Restrictions Order (applicable in England and Wales only), or if he or she is adjudged
bankrupt (in Northern Ireland), or if his or her estate is sequestered (in Scotland). Also,
lunatics are ineligible to sit in the House of Commons. Under the Mental Health Act 1983,
two specialists must report to the Speaker that a Member is suffering from mental illness
before a seat can be declared vacant. There also exists a common law precedent from the 18th
century that the "deaf and dumb" are ineligible to sit in the Lower House; this precedent,
however, has not been tested in recent years, and is highly unlikely to be upheld by the
courts. Jack Ashley continued to serve as an MP for 25 years after becoming profoundly deaf.
Anyone found guilty of high treason may not sit in Parliament until he or she has either
completed the term of imprisonment, or received a full pardon from the Crown. Moreover,
anyone serving a prison sentence of one year or more is ineligible. Finally, the Representation
of the People Act 1983 disqualifies for ten years those found guilty of certain election-related
offences. Several other disqualifications are established by the House of Commons
Disqualification Act 1975. Holders of high judicial offices, civil servants, members of the
regular armed forces, members of foreign legislatures (excluding members of the legislatures
of the Republic of Ireland and Commonwealth countries), and holders of several Crown
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offices listed in the Act are all disqualified. The provisions of the House of Commons
Disqualification Act 1975 largely consolidate the clauses of several previous enactments; in
particular, several Crown officers had already been disqualified since the passage of the Act
of Settlement 1701. Ministers, even though they are paid officers of the Crown, are not
disqualified.
The rule that precludes certain Crown officers from serving in the House of Commons is used
to circumvent a resolution adopted by the House of Commons in 1623, under which
Members are not permitted to resign their seats (in theory). In practice, however, they always
can. Should a Member wish to resign from the House of Commons, he may request
appointment to one of two ceremonial Crown offices: that of Crown Steward and Bailiff of
the Chiltern Hundreds, or that of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead.
These offices are sinecures (that is, they involve no actual duties); they exist solely in order to
permit the "resignation" of Members of the House of Commons. The Chancellor of the
Exchequer is responsible for making the appointment, and, by convention, never refuses to do
so when asked by a Member who desires to leave the House of Commons.
[edit] Officers
The Speaker presides over debates in the House of Commons, as depicted in the above print
commemorating the destruction of the Commons Chamber by fire in 1834.
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The House of Commons elects a presiding officer, known as the Speaker, at the beginning of
each new parliamentary term, and also whenever a vacancy arises. If the incumbent Speaker
seeks a new term, then the House may re-elect him or her merely by passing a motion;
otherwise, a secret ballot is held. A Speaker-elect cannot take office until he or she has been
approved by the Sovereign; the granting of the royal approbation, however, is a formality.
The Speaker is assisted by three Deputy Speakers, the most senior of which holds the title of
Chairman of Ways and Means. The two other Deputy Speakers are known as the First and
Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means. These titles derive from the Committee of
Ways and Means, a body over which the Chairman once used to preside; even though the
Committee was abolished in 1967, the traditional titles of the Deputy Speakers are still
retained. The Speaker and the Deputy Speakers are always Members of the House of
Commons.
Whilst presiding, the Speaker or Deputy Speaker wears a ceremonial black robe. The
presiding officer may also wear a wig, but this tradition has been abandoned by the present
Speaker, Michael Martin, and by his predecessor, Betty Boothroyd. The Speaker or Deputy
Speaker presides from a chair at the front of the House. The Speaker is Chairman of the
House of Commons Commission, which oversees the running of the House, and controls
debates by calling on Members to speak. If a Member believes that a rule (or Standing Order)
has been breached, he or she may raise a "point of order," on which the Speaker makes a
ruling that is not subject to any appeal. The Speaker may discipline Members who fail to
observe the rules of the House. Thus, the Speaker is far more powerful than his Lords
counterpart, the Lord Speaker, who has no disciplinary powers at all. Customarily, the
Speaker and the Deputy Speakers are non-partisan; they do not vote, or participate in the
affairs of any political party. By convention, a Speaker seeking re-election is not opposed in
his or her constituency by any of the major parties. The lack of partisanship continues even
after the Speaker leaves the House of Commons.
The Clerk of the House is both the House's chief adviser on matters of procedure and Chief
Executive of the House of Commons. He is a permanent official, not a Member of the House
itself. The Clerk advises the Speaker on the rules and procedure of the House, signs orders
and official communications, and signs and endorses bills. He chairs the Board of
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Management, which consists of the heads of the six departments of the House. The Clerk's
deputy is known as the Clerk Assistant. Another officer of the House is the Serjeant-at-Arms,
whose duties include the maintenance of law, order, and security on the House's premises.
The Serjeant-at-Arms carries the ceremonial Mace, a symbol of the authority of the Crown
and of the House of Commons, into the House each day in front of the Speaker. The Mace is
laid upon the Table of the House of Commons during sittings. The Librarian is head of the
House of Commons Library, the House's research and information arm.
[edit] Procedure
Benches in the House of Commons Chamber are coloured green. In contrast, the House of
Lords is decorated in red.
Like the House of Lords, the House of Commons meets in the Palace of Westminster in
London. The Commons Chamber is small and modestly decorated in green, in contrast with
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the large, lavishly furnished red Lords Chamber. There are benches on two sides of the
Chamber, divided by a centre aisle. This arrangement reflects the design of St Stephen's
Chapel, which served as the home of the House of Commons until destroyed by fire in 1834.
The Speaker's chair is at one end of the Chamber; in front of it is the Table of the House, on
which the Mace rests. The Clerks sit at one end of the Table, close to the Speaker so that they
may advise him or her on procedure when necessary. Members of the Government sit on the
benches on the Speaker's right, whilst members of the Opposition occupy the benches on the
Speaker's left.
In front of each set of benches, a red line is drawn on the carpet. The red lines in front of the
two sets of benches are two sword-lengths apart; a Member is traditionally not allowed to
cross the line during debates, for he or she is then supposed to be able to attack an individual
on the opposite side. Government ministers and important Opposition leaders sit on the front
rows, and are known as "frontbenchers." Other Members of Parliament, in contrast, are
known as "backbenchers." Oddly, all Members of Parliament cannot fit in the Chamber,
which can seat only 427 of the 646 Members. Members who arrive late must stand near the
entrance of the House if they wish to listen to debates. Sittings in the Chamber are held each
day from Monday to Thursday, and also on some Fridays. During times of national
emergency, the House may also sit at weekends.
Due to recent reforms, the House of Commons sometimes meets in another chamber in the
Palace of Westminster, Westminster Hall. Debates in Westminster Hall are generally
uncontroversial or non-partisan; business which leads to actual votes must still be conducted
in the main Chamber. Westminster Hall sittings take place each Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday. On Wednesdays the sitting is suspended for a lunch break. Sittings are also
suspended whenever there is a division taking place in the House itself.
Sittings of the House are open to the public, but the House may at any time vote to sit in
private, by the vote of a simple majority. (However, this has been done only twice since
1950.) Traditionally, a Member who desired that the House sit privately could shout "I spy
strangers", and a vote would automatically follow. In the past, when relations between the
Commons and the Crown were less than cordial, this procedure was used whenever the
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House wanted to keep its debate private. More often, however, this device was used to delay
and disrupt proceedings; as a result, it was abolished in 1998. Now, Members seeking that the
House sit in private must make a formal motion to that effect. Public debates are broadcast on
the radio, and on television by BBC Parliament, and are recorded in Hansard.
Sessions of the House of Commons have sometimes been disrupted by angry protesters who
hurl objects into the Chamber from the Strangers Gallery and other galleries. Items which
have been thrown into the House include leaflets, manure, flour (see Fathers 4 Justice House
of Commons protest), and a canister of chlorobenzylidene malonitrile (tear gas). Even
members have been known to disturb proceedings of the House; for instance, in 1976,
Conservative MP Michael Heseltine seized and brandished the Mace of the House during a
heated debate. Perhaps the most famous disruption of the House of Commons was caused by
King Charles I, who entered the Commons Chamber in 1642 with an armed force in order to
arrest five Members of Parliament—who belonged to an anti-royalist faction—for high
treason. This action, however, was deemed a grave breach of the privilege of the House, and
has given rise to the tradition that the monarch may not set foot in the House of Commons.
Each year, the parliamentary session begins with the State Opening of Parliament, a
ceremony in the Lords Chamber during which the Sovereign, in the presence of Members of
both Houses, delivers an address on the Government's legislative agenda. The Gentleman
Usher of the Black Rod (a Lords official) is responsible for summoning the Commons to the
Lords Chamber; when he arrives to deliver his summons, the doors of the Commons
Chamber are slammed shut in his face, symbolising the right of the Lower House to debate
without interference. The Gentleman Usher knocks on the door thrice with his Black Rod,
and only then is he granted admittance. He then informs the MPs that the Monarch awaits
them. Then they all go to the House of Lords for the Queen's Speech.
During debates, Members may speak only if called upon by the Speaker (or a Deputy
Speaker, if the Speaker is not presiding). Traditionally, the presiding officer alternates
between calling Members from the Government and Opposition. The Prime Minister, the
Leader of the Opposition, and other leaders from both sides are normally given priority when
more than one Member rises to speak at the same time. Formerly, all Privy Counsellors were
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granted priority; however, the modernisation of Commons procedure led to the abolition of
this tradition in 1998.
Speeches are addressed to the presiding officer, using the words "Mr Speaker," "Madam
Speaker," "Mr Deputy Speaker," or "Madam Deputy Speaker." Only the presiding officer
may be directly addressed in debate; other Members must be referred to in the third person.
Traditionally, Members do not refer to each other by name, but by constituency, using forms
such as "the Honourable Member for [constituency]," or, in the case of Privy Counsellors,
"the Right Honourable Member for [constituency]." The Speaker enforces the rules of the
House, and may warn and punish Members who deviate from them. Disregarding the
Speaker's instructions is considered a severe breach of the rules of the House, and may result
in the suspension of the offender from the House. In the case of grave disorder, the Speaker
may adjourn the House without taking a vote.
The Standing Orders of the House of Commons do not establish any formal time limits for
debates. The Speaker may, however, order a Member who persists in making a tediously
repetitive or irrelevant speech to stop speaking. The time set aside for debate on a particular
motion is, however, often limited by informal agreements between the parties. Debate may,
however, be restricted by the passage of "Allocation of Time Motions", which are more
commonly known as "Guillotine Motions". Alternatively, the House may put an immediate
end to debate by passing a motion to invoke the Closure. The Speaker is allowed to deny the
motion if he or she believes that it infringes upon the rights of the minority. Nowadays, Bills
are scheduled according to a Timetable Motion, which the whole House agrees in advance,
obviating use of the guillotine.
When the debate concludes, or when the Closure is invoked, the motion in question is put to a
vote. The House first votes by voice vote; the Speaker or Deputy Speaker puts the question,
and Members respond either "Aye" (in favour of the motion) or "No" (against the motion).
The presiding officer then announces the result of the voice vote, but if his or her assessment
is challenged by any Member, a recorded vote known as a division follows. (The presiding
officer, if he or she believes that the result of the voice vote is so clear that a division is not
necessary, may reject the challenge.)When a division occurs, Members enter one of two
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lobbies (the "Aye" lobby or the "No" lobby) on either side of the Chamber, where their names
are recorded by clerks. At each lobby are two Tellers (themselves Members of the House)
who count the votes of the Members.
Once the division concludes, the Tellers provide the results to the presiding officer, who then
announces them to the House. If there is an equality of votes, the Speaker or Deputy Speaker
has a casting vote. Traditionally, this casting vote is exercised to allow further debate, if this
is possible, or otherwise to avoid a decision being taken without a majority (e.g. voting No to
a motion or the third reading of a bill). Ties rarely occur—the last one was in July 1993. The
quorum of the House of Commons is 40 members for any vote; if fewer than 40 members
have participated, the division is invalid. Formerly, if a Member sought to raise a point of
order during a division, he was required to wear a hat, thereby signalling that he was not
engaging in debate. Collapsible top hats were kept in the Chamber just for this purpose. This
custom was discontinued in 1998.
The outcome of most votes is largely known beforehand, since political parties normally
instruct members on how to vote. A party normally entrusts some Members of Parliament,
known as whips, with the task of ensuring that all party Members vote as desired. Members
of Parliament do not tend to vote against such instructions, since those who do so are unlikely
to reach higher political ranks in their parties. Errant Members may be deselected as official
party candidates during future elections, and, in serious cases, may be expelled from their
parties outright. Ministers, junior ministers and PPSes who vote against the whips'
instructions are likely to lose their positions. Thus, the independence of Members of
Parliament tends to be low, although "backbench rebellions" by Members discontent with
their party's policies are not that rare. A member is also traditionally allowed some leeway if
the interests of her/his constituency are adversely affected. In some circumstances, however,
parties announce "free votes", allowing Members to vote as they please. Votes relating to
issues of conscience such as abortion and capital punishment are typically free votes.
[edit] Committees
Main article: List of Committees of the United Kingdom Parliament
130
The Parliament of the United Kingdom uses committees for a variety of purposes; one
common use is for the review of bills. Committees consider bills in detail, and may make
amendments. Bills of great constitutional importance, as well as some important financial
measures, are usually sent to the Committee of the Whole House, a body that, as its name
suggests, includes all members of the House of Commons. Instead of the Speaker, the
Chairman or a Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means presides. The Committee meets in the
House of Commons Chamber.
Most bills were until 2006 considered by Standing Committees, which consist of between 16
and 50 members each. The membership of each Standing Committee roughly reflected the
standing of the parties in the whole House. Though "standing" may imply permanence, the
membership of Standing Committees changed constantly; new Members were assigned each
time the Committee considered a new bill. There was no formal limit on the number of
Standing Committees, but usually only ten. Rarely, a bill was committed to a Special
Standing Committee, which operated much like a Standing Committee, but also investigated
and held hearings on the issues raised by the bill.
In November 2006, Standing Committees were replaced by Public Bill Committees.
The House of Commons also has several Departmental Select Committees. The membership
of these bodies, like that of the Standing Committees, reflects the strength of the parties in the
House of Commons. Each committee elects its own Chairman. The primary function of a
Departmental Select Committee is to scrutinise and investigate the activities of a particular
Government Department; to fulfil these aims, it is permitted to hold hearings and collect
evidence. Bills may be referred to Departmental Select Committees, but such a procedure is
very seldom used.
A separate type of Select Committee is the Domestic Committee. Domestic Committees

oversee the administration of the House and the services provided to Members. Other
committees of the House of Commons include Joint Committees (which also include
members of the House of Lords), the Committee on Standards and Privileges (which
considers questions of parliamentary privilege, as well as matters relating to the conduct of
131
the Members), and the Committee of Selection (which determines the membership of other
committees).
[edit] Legislative functions
Bills may be introduced in either House, though controversial bills normally originate in the
House of Commons. Some always start in the other House, so as to equalise the
parliamentary timetable.
The supremacy of the Commons in legislative matters is assured by the Parliament Acts,
under which certain types of bills may be presented for the Royal Assent without the consent
of the House of Lords. The Lords may not delay a money bill (a bill that, in the view of the
Speaker of the House of Commons, solely concerns national taxation or public funds) for
more than one month. Moreover, the Lords may not delay most other public bills for more
than two parliamentary sessions, or one calendar year. These provisions, however, only apply
to public bills that originate in the House of Commons. Moreover, a bill that seeks to extend a
parliamentary term beyond five years requires the consent of the House of Lords.
By a custom that prevailed even before the Parliament Acts, the superiority of the House of
Commons is ensured insofar as financial matters are concerned. Only the House of Commons
may originate bills concerning taxation or Supply; furthermore, Supply bills passed by the
House of Commons are immune to amendments in the House of Lords. In addition, the
House of Lords is barred from amending a bill so as to insert a taxation or Supply-related
provision, but the House of Commons often waives its privileges and allows the Lords to
make amendments with financial implications. Under a separate convention, known as the
Salisbury Convention, the House of Lords does not seek to oppose legislation promised in the
Government's election manifesto.
Hence, as the power of the House of Lords has been severely curtailed by statute and by
practice, the House of Commons is clearly and by far the more powerful branch of
Parliament.
Further information: Act of Parliament
132
[edit] Relationship with the Government
British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the House of Commons during Prime Minister's
Questions.
Although it does not elect the Prime Minister, the position of the parties in the House of
Commons is of overriding importance. By convention the Prime Minister is answerable to,
and must maintain the support of, the House of Commons. Thus, whenever the office of
Prime Minister falls vacant, the Sovereign appoints the person most likely to command the
support of the House—normally, the leader of the largest party in the Lower House. (The
leader of the second-largest party becomes the Leader of the Opposition.) In modern times,
by convention, the Prime Minister is always a member of the House of Commons, rather than
the House of Lords.
The Prime Minister may only stay in office as long as he or she retains the confidence of the
House of Commons. The Lower House may indicate its lack of support for the Government
by rejecting a Motion of Confidence, or by passing a Motion of No Confidence. Confidence
and No Confidence Motions are sometimes phrased explicitly, for instance: "That this House
has no confidence in Her Majesty's Government." Many other motions are considered
confidence issues, even though not explicitly phrased as such. In particular, important bills
that form a part of the Government's agenda are generally considered matters of confidence,
as is the annual Budget. When a Government has lost the confidence of the House of
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Commons, the Prime Minister is obliged to either resign, or request the monarch to dissolve
Parliament, thereby precipitating a general election.
Except when compelled to do so by an adverse vote on a confidence issue, the Prime Minister
is allowed to choose the timing of dissolutions with the permission of the Monarch, and
consequently the timing of general elections. The timing reflects political considerations, and
is generally most opportune for the Prime Minister's party. However, no parliamentary term
can last for more than five years; a dissolution is automatic upon the expiry of this period
unless an act of Parliament is passed extending the maximum term as happened during both
World Wars. Parliament is almost never permitted to sit for the maximum possible term, with
dissolutions customarily being requested earlier.
Whatever the reason—the expiry of Parliament's five year term, the choice of the Prime
Minister, or a Government defeat in the House of Commons—a dissolution is followed by
general elections. If the Prime Minister's party retains its majority in the House of Commons,
then the Prime Minister may remain in power. On the other hand, if his or her party has lost
its majority, the Prime Minister is compelled to resign, allowing the Sovereign to appoint a
new premier. A Prime Minister may resign even if he or she is not defeated at the polls (for
example, for personal health reasons); in such a case, the premiership goes to the new leader
of the outgoing Prime Minister's party. Extraordinarily, the Conservative Party had no
mechanism for electing a leader until 1965 and when Anthony Eden resigned in 1957 without
recommending a successor, the party was unable to nominate one. It fell to the Queen to
appoint Harold Macmillan as the new Prime Minister, after taking the advice of ministers,
and thus simultaneously appoint the leader of a political party.
By convention, all ministers must be members of the House of Commons or House of Lords.
A handful have been appointed who are outside Parliament but in most cases they
subsequently entered Parliament either by means of a by-election or receiving a peerage.
Since 1902, all Prime Ministers have been members of the Commons (the sole exception, the
Earl of Home disclaimed his peerage days after becoming Prime Minister, and was elected to
the House of Commons as Sir Alec Douglas-Home).
134
In modern times, a vast majority of ministers belong to the Commons rather than the Lords.
No major cabinet position (except Lord Chancellor and Leader of the House of Lords) has
been filled by a Lord since Lord Carrington resigned as Foreign Secretary in 1982, though
some of the middle rank Cabinet posts such as Defence Secretary and International
Development Secretary have been filled by peers. The elected status of members of the
Commons, as opposed to the unelected nature of members of the Lords, is seen to lend more
legitimacy to ministers from the Commons. The Prime Minister chooses the Ministers, and
may decide to remove them at any time; the formal appointment or dismissal, however, is
made by the Sovereign.
The House of Commons scrutinises the Government through "Question Time," a period
during which Members have the opportunity to ask questions of the Prime Minister and of
other Cabinet Ministers. Prime Minister's Question Time occurs once each week, normally
for a half-hour each Wednesday. Questions must relate to the responding Minister's official
Government activities, not to his or her activities as a party leader or as a private Member of
Parliament. Customarily, members of the Government party and members of the Opposition
alternate when asking questions. In addition to questions asked orally during Question Time,
Members of Parliament may also make inquiries in writing.
In practice, the House of Commons' scrutiny of the Government is fairly weak. Since the
first-past-the-post electoral system is employed in elections, the governing party tends to
enjoy a large majority in the Commons; there is often limited need to compromise with other
parties. Modern British political parties are so tightly organised that they leave relatively little
room for free action by their MPs. Thus, during the 20th century the Government has lost
confidence issues only thrice—twice in 1924, and once in 1979. However, the threat of
rebellions by backbench MPs often forces Governments to make concessions to their cause
(see top-up fees, foundation hospitals). Occasionally the Government is defeated by
backbench rebellions (Terrorism Act 2006). However, the scrutiny provided by the Select
Committees is more serious.
The House of Commons technically retains the power to impeach Ministers of the Crown (or
any other subject, even if not a public officer) for their crimes. Impeachments are tried by the
135
House of Lords, where a simple majority is necessary to convict. The power of impeachment,
however, has fallen into disuse; the House of Commons exercises its checks on the
Government through other means such as No Confidence Motions. The last impeachment
was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806.
RULES OF CONDUCT AND DEBATE
Conduct in the House
4.01 The House is self-regulating: the Lord Speaker has no power to rule on matters of order.
In practice this means that the preservation of order and the maintenance of the rules of
debate are the responsibility of the House itself, that is, of all the Members who are present,
and any Member may draw attention to breaches of order or failures to observe customs. The
word "undesirable" is used in the House of Lords as the equivalent of the expression "out of
order" in the House of Commons. If any Member is in doubt about a point of procedure, the
Clerk of the Parliaments and other clerks are available to give advice, and Members of the
House are recommended to consult them.[137]
4.02 When the House is sitting, all Members should on entering the Chamber bow to the
Cloth of Estate behind the Throne.[138] It is not the practice to do so on leaving. Members
also bow to the Mace in procession, as a symbol of the authority of the Sovereign. All bows
are made with the head and not the body.
4.03 SO 20(1) declares that Members of the House "are to keep dignity and order, and not to
remove out of their places without just cause, to the hindrance of others that sit near them,
and the disorder of the House". In practice, this means that Members:
 must not move about the Chamber while a Question is being put from the Woolsack
or the Chair;
 must not pass between the Woolsack (or the Chair) and any Member who is speaking;
 must not pass between the Woolsack and the Table;[139]
136
 must leave the Chamber quietly at the end of question time.
4.04 If Members wish to speak to other Members while the House is sitting, they should go
to the Prince's Chamber. Members should not hold conversations in the space behind the
Woolsack.[140]
4.05 Mobile telephones must be turned off in all public areas of the House, including the
Chamber.[141] In the Chamber and in committee rooms, pagers must not be used to transmit
messages to Members of the House for use in proceedings.
4.06 Members should not bring into the Chamber:
 books and newspapers (except for papers specifically related to the debate);
 unopened correspondence;
 briefcases and ministerial boxes.[142]
4.07 Exhibits should not be taken into the Chamber or produced in debate, whether to
illustrate a speech or for any other purpose.
4.08 Unless they are disabled, Members of the House must speak standing, except by
permission of the House.[143]
4.09 Members of the House must speak "uncovered" (without a hat), except by permission of
the House, but women Members may wear hats without seeking permission.[144]
4.10 Bishops wear robes of rochet and chimere in the Chamber. They are expected to wear
robes whenever possible in the division lobby.[145]
4.11 Lords Spiritual must speak from the Bishops' benches, and no Lord Temporal may
speak from there.
4.12 No-one may speak from the gangways in the House.
137
4.13 Members address their speech to the House in general and not to any individual.[146]
Thus the expressions used are: "Your Lordships", "Your Lordships' House" and "the noble
Lord", and not "you".
Relevance
4.14 Debate must be relevant to the Question before the House; and where more than one
Question has been put, for example on an amendment, the debate must be relevant to the last
Question proposed until it has been disposed of.[147]
4.15 A Member may speak on any motion before the House, or upon a question of order
arising out of the debate.
Order of speaking
4.16 When two or more Members rise to speak, the House determines who is to speak. This
may, if necessary, be decided upon a motion that one of the Members "be now heard". It is
customary for speakers from different parties or parts of the House to take turns.
SPEAKERS' LISTS
4.17 For most debates a list of speakers is issued by the Government Whips' Office[148] and
is available at 2 p.m.[149] from that Office, and also from the Printed Paper Office, the
Prince's Chamber and Peers' Lobby. This list is drawn up after consultation through the usual
channels. Members wishing to speak should put their names on the Speakers' List at any time
before 12 noon on the day of the debate, or 6 p.m. on the previous day if the House is sitting
in the morning. Any Member whose name is not on the published list may still take part, by
speaking "in the gap", that is, before the winding-up speeches. They should inform the Table
of their wish to do so, and have their name added in manuscript to the list. Any such speaker
is expected to be brief (not longer than 4 minutes).[150] Members are expected to remove
their names from the list if they become aware in advance that they are unlikely to be able to
stay until the end of a debate (see paragraph 4.23, page 58).
138
4.18 It is not in order for a Member to speak after the mover of a motion or an amendment
has exercised their right of reply, except when the House is in committee.[151] It is not in
order for Members to continue the debate on a motion or an unstarred question after the
government's reply has been given, save for questions to the minister "before the minister sits
down".[152]
4.19 When at the end of a debate the Question has been put, no Member may speak save on a
point of order.[153]
Interruption of speeches
4.20 A Member of the House who is speaking may be interrupted with a brief question for
clarification. Giving way accords with the traditions and customary courtesy of the House. It
is, however, recognised that a Member may justifiably refuse to give way, for instance, in the
middle of an argument, or to repeated interruption, or in time-limited proceedings when time
is short. Lengthy or frequent interventions should not be made, even with the consent of the
Member speaking.
Speaking more than once
4.21 In the case of motions, no Member may speak more than once, except the mover in
reply, or a Member who has obtained the leave of the House. Such leave may be granted only
to:
 a Member to explain a material point of their speech, without introducing any new
subject matter;
 the Chairman of Committees, or in his absence a Deputy Chairman, and the chairman
of a select committee on the report of such a committee;
 a minister of the Crown.
4.22 When the House is in committee there is no restriction on the number of times on which
a Member may speak.
139
Attendance at debate
4.23 A Member of the House who is taking part in a debate is expected to attend the greater
part of that debate.[154] It is considered discourteous for a Member not to be present for the
opening speeches, for at least the speech before and that following their own, and for the
winding-up speeches. Members who become aware in advance that they are unlikely to be
able to stay until the end of a debate should remove their names from the list of speakers.
Ministers may decide not to answer, orally or in writing, points made by a speaker who does
not stay to hear the minister's closing speech.
4.24 There are reasons for these customs. Members who have missed the speeches before
their own will not know what has already been said and so points may be repeated or missed.
Members who leave soon after speaking are lacking in courtesy to others, who may wish to
question, or reply to, points they have raised. Debate may degenerate into a series of set
speeches if speakers do not attend throughout.
4.25 It is, however, recognised that some Members may have commitments related to the
judicial or committee work of the House which may prevent them from being able to attend
as much of the debate as might otherwise be expected.
Length of speeches
4.26 The House has resolved "That speeches in this House should be shorter".[155] Long
speeches can create boredom and tend to kill debate.
4.27 In debates where there are no formal time limits, Members opening or winding up, from
either side, are expected to keep within 20 minutes. Other speakers are expected to keep
within 15 minutes. These are only guidelines and, on occasion, a speech of outstanding
importance, or a ministerial speech winding up an exceptionally long debate, may exceed
these limits.[156]
4.28 Clocks are installed under the galleries to time the length of speeches. The clocks are
used principally to record:
140
 the length of speeches in all debates except debates on amendments and in Committee
of the whole House;
 the time taken on amendments at all stages and, in Committee of the whole House, on
debates on the Question that a clause or Schedule stand part of the bill;
 the total time taken for starred questions and for discussion of ministerial statements.
[157]
Reading of speeches
4.29 The House has resolved that the reading of speeches is "alien to the custom of the
House and injurious to the traditional conduct of its debates".[158] It is acknowledged,
however, that on some occasions, for example ministerial statements, it is necessary to read
from a prepared text. In practice, some speakers may wish to have "extended notes" from
which to speak, but it is not in the interests of good debate that they should follow them
closely.[159]
Languages other than English
4.30 Languages other than English should not be used in debate, except where necessary.
Reference to strangers
4.31 Strangers should not be referred to, whether in the public gallery or in any other part of
the Chamber, except for the purpose of a motion for the withdrawal of all strangers.[160]
Speaking on behalf of outside interests
4.32 When speaking in the House, Members speak for themselves and not on behalf of
outside interests. They may indicate that an outside body agrees with the substance of their
views but they should not read out extended briefing material from such bodies.[161]
References in debate to the House of Commons
141
(A) REFERENCE TO MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
4.33 Members of the House of Commons are referred to by their names, and not by reference
to their constituencies.[162] Ministers may be referred to by their ministerial titles. Additional
descriptions such as "Right Honourable", "Honourable" and "Learned" are not used, except
when referring to ministerial or party colleagues in the House of Commons as "Right
Honourable" or "Honourable" friends.
(B) PERSONAL CRITICISM OF MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
4.34 No Member of the House of Commons should be mentioned by name, or otherwise

identified, for the purpose of criticism of a personal, rather than a political, nature. Public
activities by Members of the House of Commons outside their parliamentary duties may be
referred to.
(C) CRITICISM OF COMMONS PROCEEDINGS
4.35 Criticism of proceedings in the House of Commons or of Speaker's rulings is out of

order, but criticism may be made of the institutional structure of Parliament or the role and
function of the House of Commons.
Maiden speeches[163]
4.36 It is usual for a Member making a maiden speech not to be interrupted and to be
congratulated by the next speaker only, on behalf of the whole House. It is therefore expected
that a Member making a maiden speech will do so in a debate with a Speakers' List, so that
the House and in particular the next speaker may know that the conventional courtesies apply.
In return the maiden speaker is expected to be short (less than 10 minutes) and
uncontroversial. The maiden speaker should not take advantage of the indulgence of the
House to express views in terms that would ordinarily provoke interruption.
4.37 Members of the House who have not yet made their maiden speeches may not table
starred or unstarred questions, but may table questions for written answer.
142
CONDUCT IN THE HOUSE DURING MAIDEN SPEECHES
4.38 When a maiden speech is being made, and during the following speaker's
congratulations, Members of the House are expected to remain in their seats and not leave the
Chamber. Those entering the Chamber are expected to remain by the steps of the Throne or
below the Bar.
Appellations
4.39 The proper ways of referring to other Members of the House in debate are:
Archbishop of the Church of England "the most reverend Primate, the

Archbishop of …"
Bishop of the Church of England[164] "the right reverend Prelate, the

Bishop of …"
Duke "the noble Duke, the Duke of

…"
Marquess "the noble Marquess, Lord …"
Earl "the noble Earl, Lord …"
Countess "the noble Countess, Lady …"
Viscount "the noble Viscount, Lord …"
Baron "the noble Lord, Lord …"
143
Baroness or Lady "the noble Baroness, Lady …"

or "the noble Lady, Lady …"
Members with rank of Admiral of the Fleet, Field Marshal or "the noble and gallant …"
Marshal of the Royal Air Force, members who have held the (service rank is not referred to)
office of Chief of the Defence Staff, and holders of the [165]
Victoria or George Cross
Lord Chancellor, Lords of Appeal, Law Officers of the "the noble and learned …"
Crown, Judges of superior courts in the United Kingdom or
former holder of these offices
Archbishops of other Churches who are Members of the "the noble and most reverend
House Lord…"
Bishops of other Churches who are Members of the House "the noble and right reverend
Lord …"
Former Archbishops or Bishops subsequently made Members "the noble and right reverend
of the House Lord …"[166]
Fellow member of a political party "my noble friend" (instead of

one of the above descriptions)
Relatives "my noble kinsman …" or "my

noble relative …" (precise
relationship is not mentioned)
144
4.40 When any Lord who has a higher title than that by virtue of which they sit in Parliament
is named in any record of proceedings of the House or of a committee, the higher title alone
is used. When such a Lord takes the oath of allegiance, the title or dignity by which they sit in
Parliament is added in brackets.[167]
Asperity of speech (SO 33)
4.41 When debate becomes heated, it is open to any Member of the House to move "that the
Standing Order on Asperity of Speech be read by the Clerk". Standing Order 33 can be read
only on a motion agreed to by the House, and this motion is debatable.
"That the noble Lord be no longer heard"
4.42 If in a speech a Member is thought to be seriously transgressing the practice of the

House, it is open to another Member to move "that the noble Lord be no longer heard". This
motion however is very rare; it is debatable and seldom needs to be decided on Question
since Members generally conform to the sense of the House as soon as this sense becomes
clear.
4.43 The effect of agreeing to this motion is to prohibit the Member in question from
speaking further on the substantive motion, but not on any subsequent motion.
The Next Business motion
4.44 A Member who does not wish the House to record an opinion on a motion that has been
moved may, at any time during the course of the debate, move "That the House do proceed to
the next business".[168] It is helpful if a Member who intends to move this motion gives
notice of his intention.
4.45 A Next Business motion supersedes the original motion before the House and, if it is
agreed to, the Question on the original motion is not put, and the debate ends. If it is
disagreed to, the debate on the original motion is resumed and the Question is put in the usual
way.
145
4.46 The Next Business motion is debatable and, since it cannot be debated without
reference to the original motion, the subject matter of both motions may be debated together.
The Next Business motion should be distinguished from the Closure, namely "That the
Question be now put". The Closure motion is not debatable and so requires an immediate
conclusion, which, if carried, compels the House at once to come to a decision on the original
motion.
4.47 The Next Business motion is not allowed on an amendment; although, after an
amendment has been agreed to, it may be moved on the original motion as amended. It may
not be moved in any committee of the House.
Closure[169]
4.48 The Closure, that is, the motion "that the Question be now put", is a most exceptional
procedure. So when a Member seeks to move the Closure, the Lord on the Woolsack or in the
Chair draws attention to its exceptional nature, and gives the Member concerned the
opportunity to reconsider, by reading the following paragraph to the House before the
Question is put:
[To be read slowly] "I am instructed by order of the House to say that the motion
"That the Question be now put" is considered to be a most exceptional procedure and
the House will not accept it save in circumstances where it is felt to be the only means
of ensuring the proper conduct of the business of the House; further, if a Member who
seeks to move it persists in his intention, the practice of the House is that the Question
on the motion is put without debate."
4.49 If the Member of the House who is seeking to move the Closure persists, the Lord on
the Woolsack or in the Chair must put and complete the Question forthwith without debate, in
the following terms: "The Question is that the Question be now put."
4.50 If the Closure is carried:
146
(a) the Lord on the Woolsack or in the Chair remains on his feet after announcing the
result and immediately puts and completes the original Question without further
debate;
(b) the original Question cannot be withdrawn because the House has decided that the
Question be now put; and
(c) the Lord on the Woolsack or in the Chair may not put any other Question until the
original Question has been disposed of.
House of Lords
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This article is about the British House of Lords. For the historical Irish body, see
Irish House of Lords or for the rock group see House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also
commonly referred to as "the Lords". The Sovereign, the House of Commons (which is the
lower house of Parliament and referred to as "the Commons"), and the Lords together
comprise the Parliament.
Members of the House of Lords are known as "Lords of Parliament". The House of Lords
does not have a fixed number of members: currently there are 751 members, consisting of 26
"Lords Spiritual" and 725 "Lords Temporal". The Lords Spiritual are the two archbishops and
24 most senior bishops of the Church of England, while the Lords Temporal are 633 current
Life Peers, the 90 Hereditary Peers and the two Great Officers of State.
Lords Spiritual are "Lords of Parliament" (and not peers) so long as they continue to occupy
their ecclesiastical positions, whereas Lords Temporal serve for life. By convention, the
Archbishops of Canterbury and York are offered life peerages on retirement from those
ecclesiastical positions.
The House of Lords originated in the 14th century and has been in almost continuous
existence since. The name "House of Lords" was not used as a name for the Upper House
until 1544. It was abolished in 1649 by the revolutionary government that came to power
during the English Civil War, but was restored in 1660. The House of Lords was once more
powerful than the elected House of Commons. Since the 19th century, however, the powers
of the House of Lords have been steadily declining; now, the Upper House is far weaker than
its elected counterpart. Under the Parliament Acts (passed in 1911 and 1949), all government
legislation excluding "money bills" (which include the annual Finance Bill implementing the
Budget) passed by the House of Commons can be delayed for twelve months, but cannot be
rejected. This power is called a suspensive veto in political science.
Further reforms were enacted under the House of Lords Act 1999, which removed the
automatic hereditary right of peers to sit in the Upper House. Two hereditary peers, the Duke
150
of Norfolk [The hereditary Earl Marshal, who organises openings of Parliament, coronations
and state funerals] and the Marquess of Cholmondley [hereditary Lord High Chamberlain,
who has a role in the openings of Parliament] retain seats because of their offices of state
Great Officers of State, and an additional 90 are elected to represent the other hereditary
peers. Further reforms have been contemplated but have not been passed into law; among the
proposals are removing hereditary peers and directly electing at least half of the members of
the House of Lords.
In addition to performing legislative functions, the House of Lords also holds judicial powers:
it constitutes the highest court of appeal for most cases in the United Kingdom. The judicial
functions of the House of Lords are not performed by the whole Chamber, but rather by an
Appellate Committee of members with experience of high judicial office, who are known as
"Law Lords". The House of Lords is not the only court of last resort in the United Kingdom;
in some cases, that role is fulfilled by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The
Constitutional Reform Act 2005 will transfer the judicial functions of the Lords to a new
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, but the provisions enacting the transfer have not yet
been brought into force. It is understood that the Law Lords are "resistant" and have yet to
formally decide on a new location, away from the Houses of Parliament : their present offices
are "most agreeable", it seems, while possible new offices nearby in a re-modelled listed neo-
Gothic Middlesex Guildhall are being considered.
151
Contents
[hide]
 1 History
 2 Lords Spiritual
 3 Lords Temporal
 4 Qualifications
 5 Officers
 6 Procedure
 7 Committees
 8 Legislative functions
 9 Judicial functions
 10 Relationship with the Government
 11 Current composition
o 11.1 Current political leaders in the Lords
 12 See also
 13 References
 14 Sources
 15 Further reading
 16 External links
[edit] History
Parliament developed from the council that advised the King during mediæval times. This
royal council came to be composed of ecclesiastics, noblemen, and representatives of the
counties (afterwards, representatives of the boroughs as well). The first Parliament is often
considered to be the "Model Parliament" (held in 1295), which included archbishops,
bishops, abbots, earls, barons, and representatives of the shires and boroughs. The power of
Parliament grew slowly, fluctuating as the strength of the monarchy grew or declined. For
example, during much of the reign of Edward II (1307–1327), the nobility was supreme, the
152
Crown weak, and the shire and borough representatives entirely powerless. In 1322, the
authority of Parliament was for the first time recognised not simply by custom or royal
charter, but by an authoritative statute, passed by Parliament itself. Further developments
occurred during the reign of Edward II's successor, Edward III. Most importantly, it was
during this King's reign that Parliament clearly separated into two distinct chambers: the
House of Commons (consisting of the shire and borough representatives) and the House of
Lords (consisting of the senior clergy and the nobility). The authority of Parliament continued
to grow, and, during the early fifteenth century, both Houses exercised powers to an extent
not seen before. The Lords were far more powerful than the Commons because of the great
influence of the aristocrats and prelates of the realm.
The power of the nobility suffered a decline during the civil wars of the late fifteenth century,
known as the Wars of the Roses. Much of the nobility was killed on the battlefield or
executed for participation in the war, and many aristocratic estates were lost to the Crown.
Moreover, feudalism was dying, and the feudal armies controlled by the barons became
obsolete. Hence, the Crown easily re-established its absolute supremacy in the realm. The
domination of the Sovereign continued to grow during the reigns of the Tudor monarchs in
the 16th century. The Crown was at the height of its power during the reign of Henry VIII
(1509-1547).
The House of Lords remained more powerful than the House of Commons, but the Lower
House did continue to grow in influence, reaching a zenith in relation to the House of Lords
during the middle 17th century. Conflicts between the King and the Parliament (for the most
part, the House of Commons) ultimately led to the English Civil War during the 1640s. In
1649, after the defeat and execution of King Charles I, a republic (the Commonwealth of
England) was declared, but the nation was effectively under the overall control of Oliver
Cromwell. The House of Lords was reduced to a largely powerless body, with Cromwell and
his supporters in the Commons dominating the Government. On 19 March 1649, the House
of Lords was abolished by an Act of Parliament, which declared that "The Commons of
England [find] by too long experience that the House of Lords is useless and dangerous to the
people of England." The House of Lords did not assemble again until the Convention
153
Parliament met in 1660 and the monarchy was restored. It returned to its former position as
the more powerful chamber of Parliament—a position it would occupy until the 19th century.
The 19th century was marked by several changes to the House of Lords. The House, once a
body of only about 50 members, had been greatly enlarged by the liberality of George III and
his successors in creating peerages. The individual influence of a Lord of Parliament was thus
diminished. Moreover, the power of the House as a whole experienced a decrease, whilst that
of the House of Commons grew. Particularly notable in the development of the Lower
House's superiority was the Reform Bill of 1832. The electoral system of the House of
Commons was not, at the time, democratic: property qualifications greatly restricted the size
of the electorate, and the boundaries of many constituencies had not been changed for
centuries. Entire cities such as Manchester were not represented by a single individual in the
House of Commons, but the 11 voters of Old Sarum retained their ancient right to elect two
Members of Parliament. A small borough was susceptible to bribery, and was often under the
control of a patron, whose nominee was guaranteed to win an election. Some aristocrats were
patrons of numerous "pocket boroughs", and therefore controlled a considerable part of the
membership of the House of Commons.
When, in 1831, the House of Commons passed a Reform Bill to correct some of these
anomalies, the House of Lords rejected the proposal. The popular cause of reform, however,
was not abandoned by the ministry, despite a second rejection of the bill in the Lords in 1832.
The Prime Minister, Earl Grey, then advised the King to overwhelm the opposition to the bill
in the House of Lords by creating about 80 new pro-Reform peers. William IV originally
baulked at the proposal, which effectively threatened the opposition of the House of Lords,
but at length relented. Before the new peers were created, however, the Lords who opposed
the bill admitted defeat, and abstained from the vote, allowing the passage of the bill. The
crisis damaged the political influence of the House of Lords, but did not altogether end it.
Over the course of the century, however, the power of the Upper House experienced further
erosion, and the Commons gradually became the stronger House of Parliament.
154
The rejection of the People's Budget, proposed by David Lloyd George (above), precipitated
a political crisis in 1909.
The status of the House of Lords returned to the forefront of debate after the election of a
Liberal Government in 1906. In 1909, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George,
introduced into the House of Commons the "People's Budget", which proposed a land tax
targeting wealthy landowners. The popular measure, however, was defeated in the heavily
Conservative House of Lords. Having made the powers of the House of Lords a primary
campaign issue, the Liberals were narrowly re-elected in January 1910. Asquith then
proposed that the powers of the House of Lords be severely curtailed. After a general election
in December 1910, the Asquith Government secured the passage of a bill to curtail the
powers of the House of Lords. The Parliament Act 1911 effectively abolished the power of
the House of Lords to reject legislation, or to amend in a way unacceptable to the House of
Commons: most bills could be delayed for no more than three parliamentary sessions or two
calendar years. It was not meant to be a permanent solution; more comprehensive reforms
were planned. Neither party, however, pursued the matter with much enthusiasm, and the
House of Lords remained primarily hereditary. In 1949, the Parliament Act reduced the
delaying power of the House of Lords further to two sessions or one year.
In 1958, the predominantly hereditary nature of the House of Lords was changed by the Life
Peerages Act 1958, which authorised the creation of life baronies, with no numerical limits.
The number of Life Peers then gradually increased, though not at a constant rate. In 1968, the
Labour Government of Harold Wilson attempted to reform the House of Lords by introducing
a system under which hereditary peers would be allowed to remain in the House and take part
155
in debate, but would be unable to vote. This plan, however, was defeated in the House of
Commons by a coalition of traditionalist Conservatives (such as Enoch Powell) and Labour
members who advocated the outright abolition of the Upper House (such as Michael Foot).
When Michael Foot attained the leadership of the Labour Party, abolition of the House of
Lords became a part of the party's agenda; under Neil Kinnock, however, a reformed Upper
House was proposed instead. In the meantime, the creation of hereditary peerages (except for
members of the Royal Family) has been arrested, with the exception of three creations during
the administration of the Conservative Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
The Labour Party's return to power in 1997 under Tony Blair finally heralded the reform of
the House of Lords. The Labour Government introduced legislation to remove all hereditary
peers from the Upper House as the first step in Lords reform. As a part of a compromise,
however, it agreed to permit 92 hereditary peers to remain until the reforms were complete.
The remainder of the hereditary peers were removed under the House of Lords Act 1999 (see
below for its provisions), making the House of Lords predominantly an appointed House.
Since then however, reform has stalled (see Lords Reform). The Wakeham Commission
proposed introducing a 20% elected element to the Lords, but this plan was widely criticised.
A Joint Committee was established in 2001 to resolve the issue, but it reached no conclusion
and instead gave Parliament seven options to choose from (fully appointed, 20% elected,
40% elected, 50% elected, 60% elected, 80%, and fully elected). In a confusing series of
votes in February 2003, all of these options were defeated although the 80% elected option
fell by just three votes in the Commons. MPs favouring outright abolition voted against all
the options. New peers, therefore, are only created by appointment to the house.
A cross-party group of senior MPs (Ken Clarke, Robin Cook (deceased August 2005), Paul
Tyler, Tony Wright and George Young) published a report in 2005 proposing that 70% of
members of the House of Lords should be elected - each member for a single long term - by
the single transferable vote system. Most of the remainder were to be appointed by a
Commission to ensure a mix of "skills, knowledge and experience". This proposal was also
not implemented.
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The Labour Government now intends to introduce reform in the near future, although they
are yet to state exactly what system they will be proposing. It is understood, however, that
they may be inclined to support Billy Bragg's Secondary Mandate system. The Conservative
Party favour an eighty-percent-elected Second Chamber, while the Liberal Democrats are
calling for a fully elected Senate. Elect the Lords is a cross-party campaign initiative that was
set up to make the case for a predominantly elected Second Chamber in the run up to the
2005 general election. The Queen's Speeches of 2005 and 2006 both referred to Lords reform.
The Times reported on July 19, 2005 that the Labour Party would propose that the House of
Lords be 80% elected and renamed the "Second Chamber". During 2006, a cross-party
committee discussed Lords reform, with the aim of reaching a consensus on the issue.
[edit] Lords Spiritual
Members of the House of Lords who sit by virtue of their ecclesiastical offices are known as
Lords Spiritual. Formerly, the Lords Spiritual comprised a majority in the House of Lords,
including the Church of England's archbishops, diocesan bishops, abbots, and priors. After
1539, however, only the archbishops and bishops continued to attend, for the Dissolution of
the Monasteries suppressed the positions of abbot and prior. In 1642, during the English Civil
War, the Lords Spiritual were excluded altogether, but they returned under the Clergy Act
1661. The number of Lords Spiritual was further restricted by the Bishopric of Manchester
Act 1847, and by later acts. Now, there can be no more than 26 Lords Spiritual, always
including the five most important prelates of the Church: the Archbishop of Canterbury, the
Archbishop of York, the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Durham, and the Bishop of
Winchester. Membership of the House of Lords also extends to the 21 longest-serving other
diocesan bishops of the Church of England.
The Church of Scotland is not represented by any Lords Spiritual; being a Presbyterian
institution, it has no archbishops or bishops. The Church of Ireland did obtain representation
in the House of Lords after the union of Ireland and Great Britain in 1801. Of the Church of
Ireland's ecclesiastics, four (one archbishop and three bishops) were to sit at any one time,
with the members rotating at the end of every parliamentary session (which normally lasted
157
approximately one year). The Church of Ireland, however, was disestablished in 1871, and
ceased to be represented by Lords Spiritual. The same is true for the Church in Wales which
was disestablished in 1920. The current Lords Spiritual, therefore, represent only the Church
of England.
Other ecclesiastics have sat in the House of Lords in recent times: Immanuel Jakobovits, was
appointed to the House of Lords by Margaret Thatcher while he was Chief Rabbi. In
recognition of his work at reconciliation and in the Peace Process, the Archbishop of Armagh
(the senior Anglican bishop in Northern Ireland), Lord Eames was appointed to the Lords by
Tony Blair. Other clergymen appointed include Reverend Donald Soper, Reverend Timothy
Beaumont, and some Scottish clerics. There have been no Roman Catholic clergymen
appointed, though it was rumoured that Cardinal Basil Hume was offered a peerage, but
refused, and accepted instead the Order of Merit, a personal appointment of the Queen,
shortly before his death.
In practice, however, although the Free Churches have never been represented as of right in
the Lords, some Methodist and other ministers sit as Lords Temporal. Other clerics such as
the Chief Rabbi are also often elevated as Lords Temporal; and indeed the heads of various
professions and learned societies, and notably the military, academic and legal professions,
are customarily considered.
[edit] Lords Temporal
Since the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Lords Temporal have been the most numerous
group in the House of Lords. Unlike the Lords Spiritual, they may be publicly partisan.
Publicly non-partisan Lords are called cross-benchers. Originally, the Lords Temporal
included several hereditary peers (that is, those whose peerages may be inherited), who
ranked variously as dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons. Such hereditary dignities
can be created by the Crown, in modern times on the advice of the Prime Minister of the day.
Reforms enacted in 1999 (see above) caused several hundred hereditary peers to lose their
seats in the House of Lords. The House of Lords Act 1999 provides that only 92 individuals
may continue to sit in the Upper House by virtue of hereditary peerages. Two hereditary peers
158
remain in the House of Lords because they hold hereditary offices connected with Parliament:
the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain. Of the remaining 90 hereditary peers in
the House of Lords, 15 are elected by the whole House. Seventy-five hereditary peers are
chosen by fellow hereditaries in the House of Lords, grouped by party. The number of peers
to be chosen by a party reflects the proportion of hereditary peers that belongs to that party
(see current composition below). When an elected hereditary peer dies, a by-election is held,
with a variant of the Alternative Vote system being used. If the recently deceased hereditary
peer was elected by the whole House, then so is his or her replacement; a hereditary peer
elected by a specific party is replaced by a vote of elected hereditary peers belonging to that
party (whether elected as part of that party group or by the whole house).
The Lords Temporal also include the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, a group of individuals
appointed to the House of Lords so that they may exercise its judicial functions. Lords of
Appeal in Ordinary, more commonly known as Law Lords, were first appointed under the
Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876. They are selected by the Prime Minister, but are formally
appointed by the Sovereign. A Lord of Appeal in Ordinary must retire at the age of 70, or, if
his or her term is extended by the government, at the age of 75; after reaching such an age,
the Law Lord cannot hear any further legal cases. The number of Lords of Appeal in Ordinary
(excluding those who are no longer able to hear cases because of age restrictions) is limited to
twelve, but may be changed by statutory instrument. Lords of Appeal in Ordinary
traditionally do not participate in political debates, so as to maintain judicial independence.
Lords of Appeal in Ordinary hold seats the House of Lords for life, remaining members even
after reaching the retirement age of 70 or 75. Former Lord Chancellors and holders of other
high judicial office may also sit as Law Lords under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, although
in practice this right is infrequently exercised. After the coming into force of the
Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary will become judges of the
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and will be barred from sitting or voting until they
retire as judges.
The largest group of Lords Temporal, and indeed of the whole House, are life peers. Life
peers with seats in the House of Lords rank only as barons or baronesses, and are created
under the Life Peerages Act 1958. Like all other peers, life peers are created by the
159
Sovereign, who acts on the advice of the Prime Minister. By convention, however, the Prime
Minister allows leaders of other parties to select some life peers so as to maintain a political
balance in the House of Lords. Moreover, some non-party life peers (the number being
determined by the Prime Minister) are nominated by an independent House of Lords
Appointments Commission. If an hereditary peer also holds a life peerage, he or she remains
a member of the House of Lords without a need for an election. In 2000, the government
announced it would set up an Independent Appointments Commission, under Lord Stevenson
of Coddenham, to select fifteen so-called "People's Peers" for life peerages. However, when
the choices were announced in April 2001, from a list of 3,000 applicants, the choices were
treated with criticism in the media, as all were distinguished in their field, and none were
"ordinary people" as some had originally hoped.
In many historical instances, some peers were not permitted to sit in the Upper House. When
Scotland united with England to form Great Britain in 1707, it was provided that the Scottish
hereditary peers would only be able to elect 16 representative peers to sit in the House of
Lords; the term of a representative was to extend until the next general election. A similar
provision was enacted in respect of Ireland when that kingdom merged with Great Britain in
1801; the Irish peers were allowed to elect 28 representatives, who were to retain office for
life. Elections for Irish representatives ended in 1922, when most of Ireland became an
independent state; elections for Scottish representatives ended with the passage of the
Peerage Act 1963, under which all Scottish peers obtained seats in the Upper House.
[edit] Qualifications
Several different qualifications apply for membership of the House of Lords. No person may
sit in the House of Lords if under the age of 21. Furthermore, only Commonwealth citizens
and citizens of the Republic of Ireland may sit in the House of Lords. The nationality
restrictions were previously more stringent: under the Act of Settlement 1701, and prior to
the British Nationality Act 1948, only natural-born subjects were qualified.
Additionally, some bankruptcy-related restrictions apply to members of the Upper House. A

person may not sit in the House of Lords if he or she is the subject of a Bankruptcy
160
Restrictions Order (applicable in England and Wales only), or if he or she is adjudged

bankrupt (in Northern Ireland), or if his or her estate is sequestered (in Scotland). A final
restriction bars an individual convicted of high treason from sitting in the House of Lords
until completing his or her full term of imprisonment. An exception applies, however, if the
individual convicted of high treason receives a full pardon. Note that an individual serving a
prison sentence for an offence other than high treason is not automatically disqualified.
Finally, some qualifications apply only in the case of the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary. No
person may be created a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary unless he or she has either held "high
judicial office" for two years, or has been a practising barrister for fifteen years. The term
"high judicial office" encompasses membership of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales,
of the Inner House of the Court of Session (Scotland), or of the Court of Appeal in Northern
Ireland.
Women were excluded from the House of Lords until the Life Peerages Act, passed in 1958
to address the declining number of active members, facilitated the creation of peerages for
life. Women were immediately eligible and four were among the first life peers appointed.
However, hereditary peeresses, whose existence had long been a constitutional anomaly,
continued to be excluded until the passage of the Peerage Act 1963. Since the passage of the
House of Lords Act 1999, hereditary peeresses remain eligible for election to the Upper
House; there are three among the 92 hereditaries who continue to sit. All women in the House
of Lords are amongst the Lords Temporal; the Church of England does not presently permit
the consecration of female bishops, though this issue is currently under consideration, with
many observers expecting female bishops in the near future.[citation needed]
[edit] Officers
Traditionally the House of Lords did not elect its own speaker, unlike the House of
Commons; rather, the ex officio presiding officer was the Lord Chancellor. With the passage
of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the post of Lord Speaker was created, a position to
which a peer is elected by the House and subsequently appointed by The Crown. The first
Lord Speaker to be elected, on May 4, 2006, is Baroness Hayman, a former Labour peer. As
161
the Speaker is expected to be an impartial presiding officer, Baroness Hayman has resigned
from the Labour whip.
This reform of the post of Lord Chancellor was made due to the constitutional anomalies
inherent in the role. The Lord Chancellor was not only the Speaker of the House of Lords, but
also a member of the Cabinet; his or her department, formerly the Lord Chancellor's
Department, is now called the Department for Constitutional Affairs. In addition, the Lord
Chancellor is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales, serving as the president of the
Supreme Court of England and Wales. Thus, the Lord Chancellor was part of all three
branches of government: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. The overlap of the
legislative and executive roles is a characteristic of the Westminster system, as the entire
cabinet consists of members of the House of Commons or the House of Lords, however in
June 2003, the Blair Government announced its intention to abolish the post of Lord
Chancellor because of the office's mixed executive and judicial responsibilities. The abolition
of the office was rejected by the House of Lords, and the Constitutional Reform Act 2005
was thus amended to preserve the office of Lord Chancellor. The Act no longer guarantees
that the office holder of Lord Chancellor is the presiding officer of the House of Lords, and
therefore allows for the House of Lords to elect a speaker of their own.
The Lord Chancellor wore black and gold robes whilst presiding over the House of Lords.
162
The Lord Speaker may be replaced as presiding officer by one of his or her deputies. The
Chairman of Committees, the Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees, and several Deputy
Chairmen of Committees are all deputies to the Lord Speaker, and are all appointed by the
House of Lords itself. By custom, the Crown appoints each Chairman, Principal Deputy
Chairman, or Deputy Chairman to the additional office of Deputy Speaker of the House of
Lords. There was previously no legal requirement that the Lord Chancellor or a Deputy
Speaker be a member of the House of Lords, though the same has long been customary; thus
the Woolsack upon which the Lord Chancellor sat was notionally not in the House of Lords,
although situated in the middle of it.
Whilst presiding over the House of Lords, the Lord Chancellor traditionally wore ceremonial
black and gold robes. This is no longer a requirement for the Speaker except for State
occasions outside of the chamber. The Speaker or or Deputy Speaker sits on the Woolsack, a
large red seat stuffed with wool, at the front of the Lords Chamber. When the House of Lords
resolves itself into committee (see below), the Chairman or a Deputy Chairman presides, not
from the Woolsack, but from a chair at the Table of the House. The presiding officer has little
power compared to the Speaker of the House of Commons. He or she only acts as the
mouthpiece of the House, performing duties such as announcing the results of votes. The
Lord Speaker or Deputy Speaker cannot determine which members may speak, or discipline
members for violating the rules of the House; these measures may be taken only by the House
itself. Unlike the politically neutral Speaker of the House of Commons, the Lord Chancellor
and Deputy Speakers originally remained members of their respective parties, and may
participate in debate, however this is no longer true of the new role of Lord Speaker.
Another officer of the body is the Leader of the House of Lords, a peer selected by the Prime
Minister. The Leader of the House is responsible for steering Government bills through the
House of Lords, and is a member of the Cabinet. The Leader also advises the House on
proper procedure when necessary, but such advice is merely informal, rather than official and
binding. A Deputy Leader is also appointed by the Prime Minister, and takes the place of an
absent or unavailable Leader.
163
The Clerk of the Parliaments is the chief clerk and officer of the House of Lords (but is not a
member of the House itself). The Clerk, who is appointed by the Crown, advises the
presiding officer on the rules of the House, signs orders and official communications,
endorses bills, and is the keeper of the official records of both Houses of Parliament.
Moreover, the Clerk of the Parliaments is responsible for arranging by-elections of hereditary
peers when necessary. The deputies of the Clerk of the Parliaments (the Clerk Assistant and
the Reading Clerk) are appointed by the Lord Speaker, subject to the House's approval.
The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod is also an officer of the House; he takes his title from
the symbol of his office, a black rod. Black Rod (as the Gentleman Usher is normally known)
is responsible for ceremonial arrangements, is in charge of the House's doorkeepers, and may
(upon the order of the House) take action to end disorder or disturbance in the Chamber.
Black Rod also holds the office of Serjeant-at-Arms of the House of Lords, and in this
capacity attends upon the Lord Speaker. The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod's duties may
be delegated to the Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod or to the Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms.
Benches in the House of Lords Chamber are coloured red. In contrast, the House of
Commons is decorated in green.
The House of Lords and the House of Commons assemble in the Palace of Westminster. The
Lords Chamber is lavishly decorated, in contrast with the more modestly furnished Commons
Chamber. Benches in the Lords Chamber are coloured red; thus, the House of Lords is
sometimes referred to as the "Red Chamber". The Woolsack is at the front of the Chamber;
supporters of the Government sit on benches on the right of the Woolsack, whilst members of
164
the Opposition sit on the left. Neutral members, known as Cross-benchers, sit on the benches
immediately opposite the Woolsack.
The Lords Chamber is the site of many formal ceremonies, the most famous of which is the
State Opening of Parliament, held at the beginning of each new parliamentary session.
During the State Opening, the Sovereign, seated on the Throne in the Lords Chamber and in
the presence of both Houses of Parliament, delivers a speech outlining the Government's
agenda for the upcoming parliamentary session.
In the House of Lords, members need not seek the recognition of the presiding officer before
speaking, as is done in the House of Commons. If two or more Lords simultaneously rise to
speak, the House decides which one is to be heard by acclamation, or, if necessary, by voting
on a motion. Often, however, the Leader of the House will suggest an order, which is
thereafter generally followed. Speeches in the House of Lords are addressed to the House as a
whole ("My Lords") rather than to the presiding officer alone (as is the custom in the Lower
House). Members may not refer to each other in the second person (as "you"), but rather use
third person forms such as "the noble Duke", "the noble Earl", "the noble Lord", "my noble
friend", etc.
Each member may make no more than one speech on a motion, except that the mover of the
motion may make one speech at the beginning of the debate and another at the end. Speeches
are not subject to any time limits in the House; however, the House may put an end to a
speech by approving a motion "that the noble Lord be no longer heard". It is also possible for
the House to end the debate entirely, by approving a motion "that the Question be now put".
This procedure is known as Closure, and is extremely rare.
Once all speeches on a motion have concluded, or Closure invoked, the motion may be put to
a vote. The House first votes by voice vote; the Lord Speaker or Deputy Speaker puts the
question, and the Lords respond either "Content" (in favour of the motion) or "Not-Content"
(against the motion). The presiding officer then announces the result of the voice vote, but if
his assessment is challenged by any Lord, a recorded vote known as a division follows.
Members of the House enter one of two lobbies (the "Content" lobby or the "Not-Content"
165
lobby) on either side of the Chamber, where their names are recorded by clerks. At each
lobby are two Tellers (themselves members of the House) who count the votes of the Lords.
The Lord Speaker may not take part in the vote. Once the division concludes, the Tellers
provide the results thereof to the presiding officer, who then announces them to the House. If
there is an equality of votes, the motion is decided according to the following principles:
legislation may proceed in its present form, unless there is a majority in favour of amending
or rejecting it; any other motions are rejected, unless there is a majority in favour of
approving it. The quorum of the House of Lords is just three members for a general or
procedural vote, and 30 members for a vote on legislation. If fewer than three or 30 members
(as appropriate) are present, the division is invalid.
The full, formal style of the House is The Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament
assembled. The formal style of individual members of the House of Lords is The Right
Honourable the Lord X of Y. Lords who are Privy Counsellors place "PC" after their title : all
Privy Counsellors are in any case entitled to the epithet "The Right Honourable".
[edit] Committees
The Parliament of the United Kingdom uses committees for a variety of purposes; one
common use is for the review of bills. Committees of both Houses consider bills in detail, and
may make amendments. In the House of Lords, the committee most commonly used for the
consideration of bills is the Committee of the Whole House, which, as its name suggests,
includes all members of the House. The Committee meets in the Lords Chamber, and is
presided over not by the Lord Speaker, but by the Chairman of Committees or a Deputy
Chairman. Different procedural rules apply in the Committee of the Whole House than in
normal sessions of the Lords; in particular, members are allowed to make more than one
speech each on a motion. Similar to the Committee of the Whole House are the Grand
Committees, bodies in which any member of the House may participate. A Grand Committee
does not meet in the Lords Chamber, but in a separate committee room. No divisions are held
in Grand Committees, and any amendments to the bill require the unanimous consent of the
body. Hence, the Grand Committee procedure is used only for uncontroversial bills.
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Bills may also be committed to Public Bill Committees, which consist of between twelve and
sixteen members each. A Public Bill Committee is specifically constituted for a particular
bill. A bill may also be referred to a Special Public Bill Committee, which, unlike the Public
Bill Committee, has the power to hold hearings and collect evidence. These committees are
used much less frequently than the Committee of the Whole House and Grand Committees.
The House of Lords also has several Select Committees. The members of these committees
are appointed by the House at the beginning of each session, and continue to serve until the
next parliamentary session begins. The House of Lords may appoint a chairman for a
committee; if it does not do so, the Chairman of Committees or a Deputy Chairman of
Committees may preside instead. Most Select Committees are permanent, but the House may
also establish ad hoc committees, which cease to exist upon the completion of a particular
task (for instance, investigating the reform of the House of Lords). The primary function of
Select Committees is to scrutinise and investigate Government activities; to fulfil these aims,
they are permitted to hold hearings and collect evidence. Bills may be referred to Select
Committees, but are more often sent to the Committee of the Whole House and Grand
Committees.
The committee system of the House of Lords also includes several Domestic Committees,
which supervise or consider the House's procedures and administration. One of the Domestic
Committees is the Committee of Selection, which is responsible for assigning members to
many of the House's other committees.
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[edit] Legislative functions
The House of Lords meets in a lavishly decorated chamber in the Palace of Westminster
(above).
Most legislation may be introduced in either House, but, most commonly, is introduced in the
House of Commons.
Further information: Act of Parliament
The power of the Lords to reject a bill passed by the House of Commons is severely restricted
by the Parliament Acts. Under those Acts, certain types of bills may be presented for the
Royal Assent without the consent of the House of Lords. The House of Lords cannot delay a
money bill (a bill that, in the view of the Speaker of the House of Commons, solely concerns
national taxation or public funds) for more than one month. Other public bills cannot be
delayed by the House of Lords for more than two parliamentary sessions, or one calendar
year. These provisions, however, only apply to public bills that originate in the House of
Commons, and cannot have the effect of extending a parliamentary term beyond five years. A
further restriction is a constitutional convention known as the Salisbury Convention, which
means that the House of Lords does not oppose legislation promised in the Government's
election manifesto.
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By a custom that prevailed even before the Parliament Acts, the House of Lords is further
restrained insofar as financial bills are concerned. The House of Lords may neither originate a
bill concerning taxation or Supply, nor amend a bill so as to insert a taxation or Supply-
related provision. (The House of Commons, however, often waives its privileges and allows
the Upper House to make amendments with financial implications.) Moreover, the Upper
House may not amend any Supply Bill. The House of Lords formerly maintained the absolute
power to reject a bill relating to revenue or Supply, but this power was curtailed by the
Parliament Acts, as aforementioned.
Hence, as the power of the House of Lords has been severely curtailed by statute and by
practice, the House of Commons is clearly the more powerful chamber of Parliament.
In March 2006, it was reported that, among other reforms, the Government are considering
removing the ability of the Lords to delay legislation that arises as a result of manifesto
commitments, and reducing their ability to delay other legislation to a period of 60 days [1].
[edit] Judicial functions
Main article: Judicial functions of the House of Lords
The judicial functions of the House of Lords originate from the ancient role of the Curia
Regis as a body that addressed the petitions of the King's subjects.
The judicial functions of the House of Lords are exercised not by the whole House, but by a
committee of "Law Lords". The bulk of the House's judicial business is conducted by the
twelve Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, who are specifically appointed for this purpose under the
Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876. The judicial functions may also be exercised by Lords of
Appeal (other members of the House who happen to have held high judicial office). No Lord
of Appeal in Ordinary or Lord of Appeal may sit judicially beyond the age of seventy-five.
The judicial business of the Lords is supervised by the Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and
his or her deputy, the Second Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.
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The jurisdiction of the House of Lords extends, in civil and in criminal cases, to appeals from
the courts of England and Wales, and of Northern Ireland. From Scotland, appeals are
possible only in civil cases; Scotland's High Court of Justiciary is the highest court in
criminal matters. The House of Lords is not the United Kingdom's only court of last resort; in
some cases, the Privy Council performs such a function. The jurisdiction of the Privy Council
in the United Kingdom, however, is narrower than that of the House of Lords; it encompasses
appeals from ecclesiastical courts, issues related to devolution, disputes under the House of
Commons Disqualification Act 1975, and a few other minor matters.
Not all Law Lords sit to hear cases; rather, since World War II cases have been heard by
panels known as Appellate Committees, each of which normally consists of five members
(selected by the Senior Lord). An Appellate Committee hearing an important case may
consist of even more members. Though Appellate Committees meet in separate committee
rooms, judgement is given in the Lords Chamber itself. No further appeal lies from the House
of Lords, although the House of Lords may refer a "preliminary question" to the European
Court of Justice in cases involving an element of European Union law, and a case can be
brought at the European Court of Human Rights if the House of Lords does not provide a
satisfactory remedy in cases where the European Convention on Human Rights is relevant.
A distinct judicial function—one in which the whole House, rather than just the Law Lords,
may participate—is that of trying impeachments. Impeachments were brought by the House
of Commons, and tried in the House of Lords; a conviction required only a majority of the
Lords voting. Impeachments, however, are to all intents and purposes obsolete; the last
impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806.
Similarly, the House of Lords was once the court that tried peers charged with high treason or
felony. The House would be presided over not by the Lord Chancellor, but by the Lord High
Steward, an official especially appointed for the occasion of the trial. If Parliament was not in
session, then peers could be tried in a separate court, known as the Lord High Steward's
Court. Only peers, their wives, and their widows (unless remarried) were entitled to trials in
the House of Lords or the Lord High Steward's Court; the Lords Spiritual were tried in
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Ecclesiastical Courts. In 1948, the right of peers and peeresses to be tried in such special
courts was abolished; now, they are tried in the regular courts.
The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 will lead to the creation of a separate Supreme Court of
the United Kingdom, to which the judicial function of the House of Lords, and some of the
judicial functions of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, will be transferred. In
addition, the office of Lord Chancellor has been reformed by the act, to remove his ability to
act as both a government minister and a judge. This is motivated in part by concerns that the
historical admixture of legislative, judicial, and executive power, may not be in conformance
with the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights (a judicial officer
having legislative or executive power not being likely to be considered sufficiently impartial
to provide a fair trial), and in any case are considered undesirable according to modern
constitutional theory concerning the separation of powers. The new Supreme Court will be
located in Middlesex Guildhall.
[edit] Relationship with the Government
Unlike the House of Commons, the House of Lords does not control the term of the Prime
Minister or of the Government. Only the Lower House may force the Prime Minister to
resign or call elections by passing a motion of no-confidence or by withdrawing supply.
Thus, the House of Lords' oversight of the government is limited.
Most Cabinet ministers are from the House of Commons, rather than the House of Lords. In
particular, all Prime Ministers since 1902 have been members of the Lower House. (Alec
Douglas-Home, who became Prime Minister in 1963 whilst still an Earl, disclaimed his
peerage and was elected to the Commons soon after his term began.) No major cabinet
position (except Lord Chancellor and Leader of the House of Lords) has been filled by a peer
since 1982. However, the House of Lords does remain a source for junior ministers.
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Lecture 8:
Devolution in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Glossary:
 To devolve: to grant power
 To devolve responsibility downwards : déléguer des responsabilités à ses subalternes
 In the context of politics, devolution means giving power to the peripherals centers of
decision
 Be on the verge of: être sur le point de ; verge=bord
 To take over: prendre le contrôle de
 Beneficial: bénéfique
 Significant, significance: important, importance
 Oil : pétrole
 Membership : fait d’être membre d’une organisation
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 Attempt : tentative
 Threshol : seuil
 An upsurge: une explosion au sens imagé
 A provision : une disposition, dans un texte => to provide
 Unheard of: jamais vu, exceptionnel
 A rate : un taux
 Basic rate : taux de base
 Beyond : au-delà de
XIV. Devolution
Devolution means that the London Centre gave up power to the benefits of the regions such
as Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Devolution grants (legislative, executive and
judiciary) autonomy to these regions. The question is to know whether devolution is just that
or if it is a step towards full independence and sovereignty of the regions. The answer to that
question is different according to Wales, Scotland of Northern Ireland as well as the reason
for granting more autonomy. Next stage is therefore likely to be different depending on the
region considered. The point all three regions share is that devolution was obtained
approximately the same day though Scotland in September 1997 had already started to have
more autonomy and Northern Ireland’s devolution process resulted from the application of
the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998. Devolution was granted by the Labour
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government almost as soon as it went into office. Conservative would never have granted
such autonomy since they believe in a very centralized structure of the country.
XV. Devolution in Wales and Scotland
Devolution was finally granted to both regions as a result of a referendum in 1997 (under a
Labour government) but the idea of the legislative and executive autonomy of these two
regions was nothing new (2 referendums in 1979 had already been made about the same
question). Yet, the result was negative in Wales and they did not reach the quorum in
Scotland. Those results were expectable: at the end of the 1970s, Great Britain autonomy was
uncertain; the Labour government that organized the vote no longer had the majority in
parliament to support the vote. Nationalists’ claims therefore did not collect much support.
Support for devolution was much weaker in Wales and Scotland as historically Wales was the
first country to be assimilated by England (through several acts of parliament). The Creation
of Plaid Cymru in a certain way contributed a bit in the 19 th century (1920s) to more
nationalism in Wales. Yet, Plaid Cymru had to wait 1997 before having its first MP in the
British Parliament. Welsh nationalism was to preserve their cultural, religion and linguistic
specificities (Welsh Language Act of 1967 under Labour led by Harold Wilson – establishing
Welsh as the official language in Wales along with English).
Scotland was unlike Wales never conquered by England and continues to exist as a separate
kingdom. The two crowns joined in 1603 when James the 6 th of Scotland took the position of
reigning on Scotland since they had no monarch. Scotland then joined England and Wales to
form UK and it brought them stability and economic progress. From the beginning, they
always had a certain autonomy in religion, education, local government and legal systems.
But they did not have their own legislative bodies until Devolution. Nationalist feelings have
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been more and more important from the 1970s. Two development increased support to the
Scottish National party:
- the discovery of oil in the North Sea (economic advantage enabling them to claim to be rich
enough to be independent) and all prices increased since then with a real economic
advantage,
- The British membership of the EU communities: Scotland realized the advantages to be a

full member as an independent country of the EU.
The first devolution attempt was in 1979 (bad time for the government and Wales and
Scotland whose local governments had just reorganized). That is why the two referendums
led to bad results so though the results in Scotland were a bit better, the vote was invalidated
due to an unreached threshold.
Under Margaret Thatcher’s leadership, it was a period of high conservatism and it contributed
to an increase in nationalism. In 1997, in the Devolution referendums the yes eventually won.
The turnout was fairly low in Wales compared to Scotland.
XVI. The Welsh Assembly
Wales and Scotland were not given the same degree of legislative autonomy: the Welsh
have an Assembly whereas the Scots have a Parliament. The Assembly is a fixed four year
term legislative body, without any possibility to choose the date of the election. The first
election took place on May 6th, 1999. The Assembly is composed of 60 members: 40
elected by FPTP and 20 from party lists.
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After the 1999 election:
Labour: 28 seats, Plaid Cymru: 17 seats (including 8 from PR), Conservative: 9 seats
(including 8 from PR), Lib-Dems: 6 seats.
FPTP gave a clear advantage to the first party Labour and the PR rectified a bit for the other
parties particularly Plaid Cymru.
No party has an absolute majority and Labour can not therefore decide the legislation alone.
This is a new unheard of situation in the UK.
The powers of the Welsh are quite restricted (compared to Scotland): no tax raising power,
no competence to pass primary legislation (only secondary legislation to implement
legislation voted in Westminster) and there responsibilities are limited (fairly restricted
competence) over Welsh Home Affairs: economic development, planning, transport, health
and education fields.
Devolution not only means a separate legislative body but also a separate executive: 10
members with a Leader elected by the Assembly.
XVII. The Scottish Parliament
It shares some characteristics with the Welsh Assembly: The Parliament is a fixed four year
term legislative body, without any possibility to choose the date of the election and with a
mixture of FPTP and PR voting systems. The Scottish MPs are however more numerous: 129
all in all with 73 MSPs elected by FPTP and 56 by party lists. The first election also took
place on May 6th, 1999.
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The Parliament is set to be a powerful legislative body and therefore has the right to legislate
on home affairs, legal systems, local government, housing, agriculture, health, social
educational and environmental affairs. However, it has no legislative power over Foreign
affairs, defence, national security, fiscal economic and monetary policy, most of energy
policy and social security policy and employment and industrial regulation. The Parliament
has a tax varying power: they can very the basic rates of income tax by up to 3 % compared
to the rest of the UK. They are also responsible for local finance and the financing of local
authorities. Unlike Wales, primary legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament will enter
into effect without need of any further approval from Westminster Parliament.
There is also a separate executive led by a first minister. This executive is composed of 12
members, all appointed by the Scottish first minister.
At the 1999 election:
Labour: 50 MSPs, SMP came second: 35 MSPs and it could directly declare itself the
opposition party with a right of composing its own shadow cabinet, Conservative 3 rd with 18
and Lib-Dems with 17 MSPs. 3 MSPs represent other parties. Both Wales and Scotland are to
keep MPs in Westminster as the Westminster Parliament continues to discuss certain issues.
Currently, Wales: 36 MPs and Scotland: 72 MPs.
 Next steps as a result of Devolution in Wales and Scotland
Devolution undoubtedly places more power in the regions. Next, further changes are to
happen resulting from the pressure put by the national parties. Again, Wales and Scotland are
quite different. The next step that is likely to take place in Wales will be to obtain more power
for the Welsh Assembly. So far, the Plaid Cymru new leader is in favour of some kind of
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higher independence for Wales. As far as Scotland is concerned, full independence is again on
the agenda. The National Party has always envisaged devolution as a step toward complete
independence. The time it will take is unknown but the SMP will need to obtain the majority
in their local parliament in order to pass a law to reach full independence. For the present
time, it is the official opposition party with 35 seats out of a total of 129 seats: approximately
28 % of the seats. A further condition would probably be to have the support of the local
population to organize a referendum in Scotland on whether to press independence or not.
XVIII. Devolution in Northern Ireland
 Background: arrière-plan, passé
 To rule: gouverner
 Bitter: amer => bitterness: amertume
 To resent: éprouver de la rancœur, de l’aversion => resentment : rancune, rancoeur
 To surge : apparaître de façon soudaine
 A threat : une menace, to threaten : menacer
 To empower an institution to do something : habiliter
 To ensure: assurer, garantir
 Discontent: mécontentement
 Bombing: attentat
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 A riot: une émeute
 A cease-fire: un cessez le feu
 An outburst: une explosion
 Talks (toujour au pluriel): pourparlers
 To decommission: deposer les armes
 Far reaching: de grande envergure
Devolution in Northern Ireland has special characteristics linked to the history and conflicts
between England and Ireland. Ever since Henry II invaded Ireland in 1169 and even more so
since Henry the 8 started ruling the country as King of Ireland in 1541, Irish nationalism has
fed on bitterness and resentment at English domination that caused famine and massive
immigration for the Irish. Nationalism has surged again in the 19 th century after Ireland joined
GB in 1801 to form the UK. Part of the conflict came to an end in 1921 when as a result of
the Anglo-Irish Treaty; Ireland was partitioned into two parts. That was when the Irish Free
State was founded later to become the Republic of Ireland. Yet, this partition did not solve all
the problems since Northern Ireland Ulster remained part of the UK. The problem is that In
Ulster, a catholic minority (40% of the whole population) leaves alongside the protestant
majority which wants to remain in Northern Ireland despite the strong feeling among the
Catholics that they should go home to Britain and leaver Northern Ireland to the Irish.
Two minorities leave side by side in Northern Ireland: the Catholics who feel dominated by
the Protestants, but the Protestants also feel threatened by the Catholics if one day Northern
Ireland becomes united with the rest of Ireland.
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Not only has devolution in Northern Ireland a distinctive flavour but it is no new thing. As a
matter of fact, the Anglo-Irish treaty envisage the same degree of self-government for
Northern Ireland as it had already existed in Ireland between 1801 and 1921 by maintaining
what is called Home Rule in Ulster. Such home rule meant that Northern Ireland has its own
parliament located in Stormont House with a wide legislative competence since it was
empowered to make laws for the “peace, order and good government” of Northern Ireland.
This meant that the legislative power of the Stormont Parliament included most domains
except legislation related to the crown: the navy, army and air force, relations with foreign
countries and external trade. The Home Rule gave Northern Ireland more autonomy, but the
voting system was highly to the advantage of the Protestant majority: FPTP combined with a
sectarian composition of the constituency ensured a greater number of seats for the Unionists
Party supported by the Protestants. This voting system was also a cause of discontent for the
catholic community.
After the partition of Ireland and the granting of Home Rule in 1921, conflicts continuously
occurred between the pro-British protestants majority and the pro-united Ireland minority
with bouts of violence (accès de violence) by the IRA (the Irish Republican Army). Bombing
and riots increased in such a manner that British troupes were sent to maintain order: the
beginning of what was called “the troubles”. And in 1972, the worst year as far as the number
of deaths was concerned, Northern Ireland Stormont Parliament was replaced by direct rule
from London. Despite several attempts to restore some kind of Home Rule in Northern
Ireland, the escalade of violence continued until the IRA accepted a cease-fire in 1994, which
was followed by the same announcement by the loyalist Protestants paramilitaries. This came
after John Major, the Conservative Prime Minister at the time publicly accepted to resume
negotiations with the Northern Ireland Catholics and Protestants parties in order to find a
political way out of the troubles. It took four years of talks and several outbursts of terrorist
actions before an agreement was reached: the Good Friday Agreement signed in April 1998.
Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA accepted that Northern Ireland remained part of the
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UK as long as the majority of the population was in favour. The agreement restored Home
Rule by devolving power from the Westminster Parliament to a new Assembly and to an
executive, whose composition ensure cross-community representation: Catholics and
Protestants were therefore represented proportionally to their numbers. In fact, the Good
Friday Agreement created three interconnecting bodies of government within Northern
Ireland between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and between Northern Ireland,
the Irish republic and the UK as a whole.
XIX. The Good Friday Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement was approved by referendum in June 1998 with a very high
turnout of 81 % of voters among whom 71 % voted yes. The Northern Irish Assembly was
elected for the first time in July 1998. It is made up of 108 members elected a system of PR
called the “single transferable vote”.
The Assembly has extensive legislative power. Moreover, its first duty was to set up the
North South ministerial council composed of ministers from Belfast and Dublin to promote
joint policies relating to the whole of Ireland. It was agreed that decisions in the Assembly
would be made by a weight majority system to ensure that Unionist did not dominate
Nationalists. Internal arrangements for Northern Ireland also include an executive committee
composed of 12 ministers. This Executive Committee includes a first minister, a deputy
minister and a heads of several departments such as Health, Agriculture, Economic
Development, and Finance. It took over a year for political parties represented in the
Assembly to agree on the personalities that would become members of the Executive.
Northern Ireland fist all inclusive government was formed on the first of December 1999.
David Trimble became Northern Ireland’s first Prime Minister at the head of a group of
ministers composed of ministers from both Unionists and Nationalist parties including Sinn
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Fein. Yet, in the year 2000, the executive came to a deadlock as a result of the IRA too slow
decommissioning process. Decommissioning which implies for the IRA and the loyalist
paramilitary groups the giving up of all their military weapons and the release of paramilitary
prisoners were the two controversial issues that were not settled by the Good Friday
Agreement. These two issues have consistently been a subject for further negotiations since
April 1998.
The Good Friday Agreement is a far reaching agreement that envisaged home rule in
Northern Ireland and further councils that included Northern Ireland in consultation and
decision making involving the Republic of Ireland and the other regions of the UK. So, the
Agreement set up the North Sea ministerial council composed of ministers from Belfast and
Dublin to promote joint all Ireland policies in the domains of agriculture, transports, policing
and relations with the European Union. The Council can implement joint policies provided
those are approved by the Belfast Assembly and the Dublin Parliament. Thirdly, a council of
the Isles (the British-Irish council) has been set up with representatives from the Belfast
Administration, members of the Dublin government, Westminster, the Welsh Assembly and
the Scottish Parliament.
This council has no executive or legislative power. It simply meets twice a year to discuss
specific topics of common interests. It is quite clear from the different provisions of the Good
Friday Agreement that it proposes institutions that go much further than mere devolution. The
agreement proposes settlements that contain the seats for further more in-depth negotiations
with principally the authorities of the Republic of Ireland. To calm down any disquiets that
Protestants might feel about the Good Friday Agreement, the agreement also contained two
main principles: no further change could be voted in Northern Ireland without the consent of
the majority of the population and second the Irish republic committed itself to modify the
article in its constitution that entitled the Dublin authorities to claim Northern Irish territory
back from the British. So, the Irish Republic had to give up any territorial claim over
Northern Ireland. These two principals were safeguard in order to reassure the Protestants
community and make the Good Friday Agreement more palatable (agréable) for them. Still,
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there seem little doubt that the next steps beyond Home Rule on will be reunion of Ireland as
a complete independence state as before 1801.
XX. Postscriptum about Northern Ireland
The majority of the Protestants Community support loyalist or unionist political parties.
Loyalist or Unionists mean that these people feel loyal to the union between Northern Ireland
and the British Monarch, who is at the Head of the Protestant Church. Most Protestants of
Northern Ireland being reunited and be governed from Dublin under a Catholic influenced
institution.
There are and have been numerous groups and organizations which reinforced General
Unionist attitude among Protestants. Some of these groups are permanent or not and some are
made to fight groups that are either too moderate or too extreme. Examples include the
Orange Order and the Ulster Volunteer Force whose motto (mot d’ordre, slogan) was “for
God and Ulster“and which was absorbed in the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association. This
Orange order is a very influential group.
Although there are political division into the Protestants Community, it is assumed that
Protestant Leader could overcome their difference by playing the Orange Crowd which
would involve organizing mass civil unrests.
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The reverend Ian Paisley emerged as the Protestants Leader in the second half of the 20 th
century. He was originally associated with the Ulster Volunteer Force. He is a remarkable
figure in the politics on Northern Ireland and he founded both his own free Presbyterian
Church in 1951 and his Populist Democratic Unionist party in 1971. This party commands
the support of halt of the Unionist voters.
The other main unionist party is the more middle class Moderate Unionist Party led by David
Trimble. Security and Law and Order have long been important and sensitive issues. The
Royal Ulster Constabulary is responsible for Law and order in NI. Many Catholics see RUC
as a Protestant force though in fact it is opened to Catholics recruits.
Irish Nationalists support the reunification of Ireland which would involve the withdrawal of
Britain and the dissolution of Northern Ireland. It is expressed by a variety of organizations;
all of which received Catholics’ support.
Moderate Constitutional Nationalism is advocated by the SDLP: Social Democratic and

Labour Party. It is open to both Catholics and Protestants but it is supported mainly by
Catholics. The SDLP was formed in 1970 to pursue reunification but based on the majority
consensus. Its leader, John Hume has played major roles in inaugurating the peace process.
More militant nationalism is advocated by other Republicanist Groups. It is essentially Sinn

Fein, led by Jerry Adams that represents Republicanism in Northern Ireland. It is widely
believed that this party has direct links with the IRA although this is denied by its members.
Still, Sinn Fein is presented as the political wing of the IRA.
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Sinn Fein has put candidates forward in local and parliamentary elections. The most dramatic
being the success of Bobby Sands who eventually died on hunger strikes on H Bloc prison.
The Irish Republican Army then is the paramilitary wing of Republicanism which has
committed terrorist acts in Northern Ireland and Britain. The IRA has experienced internal
disagreement which resulted in breakaway factions (factions dissidents) such as the
Provisional IRA (“the provos”) and the Irish National Liberation Army.
Finally, there have been political initiatives which have attempted to end the polarisation in
politics in Northern Ireland. In 1976, the Peace People, a peace Movement organized by
women after three children were killed in an incident, were quite a successful group and their
message even found echoes of support during a certain time from both the Protestants and
Catholics Communities.
Women were again the focus for action in the Northern Ireland Women’s’ coalition which
successfully contested the elections.
The Campaign for Equal Citizenship was also an attempt for the 2 communities’ integration.
They wanted the electorate to have the opportunity to support Labour, Conservative and Lid-
Dems parties rather than the Northern Irish parties which it was argued contributed to
Northern Ireland problems rather than solve them.
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Lecture 9:
Britain and the Commonwealth; Britain and Europe
Glossary:
 A framework: un cadre
 Former: ancien, ex
 To set up: établir, créer
 To gather momentum: prendre de l’ampleur
 A patch: un petit morceau
 A tax heaven: un paradis fiscal
 Headquarters: QG, siège
 To soften: apaiser
 An outlet: un marché, un débouché
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 The Rule of Law: l’Etat de Droit
 To resume: retrouver, reprendre
 To relaunch: relancer
XXI. Introduction
Winston Churchill described Britain’s role as being at the intersection of three majestic
circles:
- The Commonwealth circle as a result of GB history
- Britain’s special relationship with the United States
- Britain’s close relationship with Western Europe
Today, Britain is still at this intersection despite the changes that it is led to make to adapt.
Part 1: Great Britain & the Commonwealth
The name of Commonwealth itself symbolizes all the positive prospects that the member
states applied in their membership. Its name suggests the sharing of resources and benefits
between member states.
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I. Historical perspective
The setting up of the Commonwealth resulted from the disintegration of the British Empire. It
comes from the fact that there was a peaceful end to colonization. Moreover, the British
colonies had always had a certain degree of self-government with their own institutions
sometimes (Parliament…).
1931 was the date of creation of the Commonwealth with states that were already a bit
autonomous.
Australia, Canada, Eire (Ireland), South Africa and New Zealand were given the status of
dominions.
Dominions were “autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no
way subordinates one to another in any respect to their internal or domestic affairs though
united by a common allegiance to the crown and freely associated as members of the British
Commonwealth of Common Nations”. This definition stresses the equal status of the member
states, their lack of subordination and the common allegiance to the crown.
The main characteristics of the dominions were:
- complete legislative authorities and ministers in these countries who could have direct
access to the sovereign with no need to be represented by a British minister
- separate states with their own representatives in the League of Nation, their own
ambassadors and the participation to the negotiation of their own treaties.
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In 1931, the status of Westminster set up the Act of what would become “the British
Commonwealth of Nations” which notably established the principle of equality between the
dominions and the newly founded colonies.
The link between the members states were:
- sentimental (due to common historical events shared by the dominions)
- trade, investment and currency agreements
- a common educational, judicial heritage…
In 1936, the Union became the Commonwealth of nations. This new organization increased
the status of domination of England over the other members. As decolonization gathered
momentum towards the middle of the 20th century, more countries were granted
independence.
India and Pakistan in 1947, Ceylan (Sri-Lanka) in 1948 joined the Commonwealth. These
countries did not share the same European heritage as GB and so they became independent:
India did so but also Pakistan in 1956 to create the Republic of Pakistan under the pressure of
Muslim parties.
Not all the former colonies accepted to join the Commonwealth. It however let the members a
free choice for their government, but also a free choice to join and resign: South Africa
resigned in 1961 and Pakistan in 1972 before joining again respectively in 1994 and 1989.
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Ireland also resigned but never accepted to join again the Commonwealth probably because it
is more independent economically, has its own membership in the EU…
A lot of smaller countries joined the CM in the 60s and 70s. Some of them have accepted
allegiance to the British crown like Malaysia, Lesotho… but with their own monarchies.
Commonwealth today is composed of 53 sovereign states and 13 dependent territories. Such

territories are patches of territories or islands formerly occupied by the British either for
strategic reasons (like Gibraltar or the Falklands Islands) or just for the means of territorial
expansion. In any case, these territories have no economic autonomy and are too small (like
the Caiman Islands, also well known for being a tax heaven) to be sovereign states.
Commonwealth is currently a large organisation that requires an administration.
In 1965, the Commonwealth Secretariat was created with its HQ in London. It is responsible
for the coordination of the meeting with the Commonwealth leaders of government but also
for activities such as information, meetings organization and decision-making.
When smaller countries joined the Commonwealth in the 1960s, a special fund was created to
help the inhabitants improve their standards of living and gain economic progress. The
Commonwealth fund for Technical Cooperation is financed by all the member states.
The British Monarch
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She is the formal Head of only 16 states in the Commonwealth as 5 have their own monarch
and 30 are Republic.
In the states where the British Monarch is the formal Head, like Canada and Australia, she is
represented by a government general (who is independent from the British government) who
acts on the advice of his country Prime Minister.
Leadership of the monarch on the Commonwealth is essential formal (a ceremonial role).
Every year, the monarch makes one or two trips to visit member states after the Prime
Minister’s approval in order either to maintain or to restore relationship. The current queen is
very good at playing her softening role probably due to her personality and her impartial
position.
The queen also participates to the meeting of the Commonwealth Member States that take
place every two year in a Member State capital (in 1999, it was in South Africa).
II. The changing role of the Commonwealth since it was set up in 1931
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Originally, Westminster envisaged the Commonwealth as a “means of establishing political

autonomy in former British colonies and on the other hand a way to establish a consensual
and cooperative framework for the peaceful retreat of the Empire.”
Economic cooperation within the Commonwealth is essential, especially with Canada,

Australia and New Zealand: It provided GB with outlets and guaranteed outlets as well for
Canada… in the member states for their agricultural products and mineral resources.
The main benefit of the Commonwealth was the preferential tariffs between the states,
encouraging them to do trade within the group.
As developing countries joined the Commonwealth, it continued to play an economic role but
it also became a technical assistance forum of dialogue between developed and developing
countries.
The 1970s witnessed a decline of the economic role of the Commonwealth since Britain
joined the European Union in 1973 and therefore had to give up the preferential tariffs within
the Commonwealth countries. The link between the countries became weaker and there have
been some conflicts within the Union:
- The Cold War contributed to divide the Union into 2 groups: the pro USSR
communists and the pro Western Europe.
- In the 1980s further conflicts weakened the Commonwealth even more with the
question of apartheid in South Africa. At the time, GB was governed by the
conservative Margaret Thatcher who was hostile to economic sanction against South
Africa, believing that it was not. On the other hand, the majority of the
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Commonwealth countries were in favour of sanctions towards South Africa to

pressurize them to stop apartheid. The conflict was all the more acute at the time that
the monarch disagreed with Mrs Thatcher.
In 1991, the Commonwealth Assembly took place in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe and
during this meeting a particular decision was made, known as the “Harare Decoration”. It was
a commitment to respect values, traditions and interests with a focus on peace, freedom and
security maintenance. It also defended Democracy and Human Rights as one of the
Commonwealth’s role.
In the 1990, Nigeria was for instance suspended and their ruled was requested to restore
democracy and free prisoners in his country.
In 1997, at the Edinburgh Summit, more than 45 countries came which shows the high level
of cohesion between the member states. The meetings are a very informal reliable network of
advanced expertise (where the countries can find answers and share experience about how to
manage a budget, write a constitution…).
When Tony Blair came into office, he declared that he wanted to modernize the
Commonwealth. He said it was a “great economic powerhouse” but the issues discussed
during meetings covered Trade, Aids, Development and Investment in the member states.
Since the 1990s, a new focus was required for Commonwealth as its members still want it to
exist. The future of the Union would probably require a less London based community and to
go closer to Asia and Africa, where they can really benefit from the Organization.
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Part 2: Great Britain & the European Union
Glossary:
 A policy : une politique
 To enhance : favriser, promouvoir
 To found : fonder
 To strengthen : renforcer
 To dump : déverser, inonder (un marché)
 Compliance with : en accord (respect) avec
 Supply and demand : l’offre et la demande
 To sell something off cheap : brader quelquechose
 To apply for: postuler pour => application
 welfare: système de protection sociale
GB is part of the Western Union, and not only from a geographical point of view. After the
Second World War, it was linked to other Western European countries but it also wanted to
maintain its relationships with the Commonwealth. However, there has never been any fear
that the Commonwealth could become a Federal organization.
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Concerning EU, the situation is different as it could become a federal organization so that it
can play a role compared to USA and USSR at the time.
I. Key dates in the EU process
A few years after Second World War ended, the French Prime Minister at the time, Robert
Schumann established a plan to create a European organization that led to the treaty of Paris,
setting up the European Coal & Steal Community. This treaty was signed in 1951 by 6
countries: France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. It came into force
the year after, establishing the first supranational European authority.
In 1957, The Treaty of Rome was made establishing the principles of a common European
Market. The same 6 countries signed it and GB remained apart.
The European Atomic Energy Treaty was also signed in Rome.
The purpose of these treaties was to set up a joint institution and enhance economic
prosperity. However, when recession hit the countries, it led to some protectionist measures
which were in contradiction with the EU aim.
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In the mid 80s, with the impulse of Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission at
the time, the Single EU Act was signed in Luxembourg. The 6 same countries signed it with 6
additional ones: GB, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal who had joined the
community by then. This Act modified the previous treaties by:
- extending the principle of majority voting
- strengthening the power of the Parliament in the EU legislative process
- creating an area without frontier and with free movement of goods, persons, services
and capital, as of the 31st of December 1992.
With the Single EU Act, the Member States committed themselves to improve cooperation
regarding economic matters and monetary policy. It was well understood that the single
market was an excellent opportunity to extend outputs, increase jobs, reduce prices and
increase EU competitiveness.
The Member States went further in the EU Integration for the above-mentioned purposes by
establishing a closer political unity. In order to do so, a single currency was required. This
single currency obviously implied a loss of sovereignty for the concerned countries as it
would limit their freedom of decision in terms of economic policy. But this loss of
sovereignty was to be compensated by a more federal decision-making process.
The Economic Monetary Union (EMU) was to be achieved in three main stages:
a. a single market in 1992 implying that each country had to ensure that its currency
would remain fix compared to the other member states’ currencies
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b. the setting of a EU Central Bank to coordinate the monetary policies (aspects of

taxation policy and interest rates were no longer under the member states’ scope of
decision)
c. the replacement of the national currencies by the euro
Two further treaties were signed afterwards:
- The treaty on EU in Maastricht, in 1992 which was about the main aspect of the
monetary union and it also launched a common foreign and security policy.
- The treaty of Amsterdam in 1997 signed by the 12 countries mentioned before plus
Austria, Finland and Sweden which put forward the so-called Schengen freedom of
movement rules within the EU.
In December 2000, the treaty of Nice set out new rules for choosing the commission and
voting.
A certain number of convergence criteria were also created in order to draw the economies of
the Member States closer together:
- interest rates
- budget deficit
- national debt
- growth
- inflation rate
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The countries complying with these criteria would be entitled to the single currency.
In 1992, GB withdrew from EU and in 1997, Tony Blair declared that he would not adopt the
single currency during the time of Labour first government.
II. Great Britain Membership of the EU
GB was initially in favour of a Europe Free Trade Association (EFTA) which is similar to the
EU but with less political union, like the Commonwealth.
Regarding EU, GB was in favour of economic cooperation but has always been reluctant to
loss of sovereignty and to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
CAP was much criticized by the Americans as they believed they could not sell their products
to Europe whereas EU countries could dump the world market with agricultural products at
artificially lower prices. GB was at the intersection of the circles to take the Churchill
expression. It was attracted by membership of the EU but on the other hand it would mean
giving up its commercial privileges with the Commonwealth countries and probably affect its
relationships with USA.
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GB applied to join the EU community in 1963 but this first application was not successful. It
was accepted at the second application through the EU Countries Act of 1972, which came
into force on the 1st of January 1973. This decision to enter the EU was made by the
conservative government of the time but then when labour came into office in 1974, the
Prime Minister Harold Wilson, decided to hold a referendum and consult British population,
who confirmed in 1975 that GB would continue its membership.
III. Standing at the EU
After GB joined the EU, there were many issues regarding the CAP.
The British system of agricultural support was based on providing a balance between the
supply and the demand of food whereas the CAP meant at the time, a surplus of food
production which would end up either destroyed, stored or sold off cheaply to consumers
outside the EU.
Both labour and Conservative criticized CAP.
Labour considered that as a result of the CAP, the British families were paying more money
for food than they should since prices were higher and extra taxes were to be paid.
Conservative believed that it meant too much state intervention in the agricultural economy
as well as money waste.
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Divisions about the CAP even went public as the minister of agriculture supported CAP
which “worked very much in the interest of British farmers” while the Treasury pressed for a
reform of the CAP.
There was a general feeling in the 1980s that GB was paying its membership into the EU far
more than what it got out.
In 1984, an agreement was reached. The EU Commission and the Council of Ministers
agreed on a reform of the CAP which became effective in 1992. The new method of ever
larger agriculture subsidies (subventions) no longer relied on production but on the hands
taken out of agriculture production, quotas for dairy (laitier) farmers and prices paid for
cereals for instance (the policy method was lowering institutional prices for key products and
offsetting the impact of these cuts on producer incomes by means of direct payments).
The CAP enabled the Conservative government of the 1980s under Thatcher expressed not
only the doubts about CAP but about the EU community as a whole which she opposed for
trying to impose concepts that the governments strived to suppress:
- state intervention into the economy
- trade-union privileges
- bureaucracy
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Today, labour still wants a reform of the CAP so as to gear the EU budget from agriculture to
industry and training.
IV. Varying British Attitudes to the EU
There are three categories of people in GB: the Europhobes, the Europhiles, and the Euro
sceptic who are the most numerous ones.
The Europhobes are in greater number in the conservative party (which is amazing when we
know that this is a conservative Prime Minister who took the decision of joining the EU when
the application became successful in 1973)!
Since Margaret Thatcher was elected in 1979, the Conservative became more critical towards
the EU.
Mrs Thatcher completely disagreed with the idea of giving up any kind of sovereignty to an
international organization be it European.
In the 1980s the Social Charta which contained a proposal to harmonize social policies
including trade-unions and welfare rights was completely opposed to the free Market
conception that Mrs Thatcher had. GB was allowed to opt out of the Social Charta and in
1990, the EU monetary system was also very much criticized by M. Thatcher.
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Her successor, John Major, was less hostile and more positive to EU though certain aspects of
federalism contradicted his conservative ideology. He opted out in 1991 of several aspects of
the Maastricht treaty and forced the principle of subsidiarity into the text of the treaty: the
community as per this principle only tackles the matters that it is used to deal with more
effectively than what the member states could do on their own. He found it difficult to
discipline his party with members who were sceptical and refused to vote legislation about
EU.
The BSE Crisis and the EU ban of British beef increased the divisions into the Conservative
party about EU.
When John Major was defeated in 1997, he was replaced by William Hague as the new leader
of the Conservative party. W. Hague has repeatedly said that there was no question that GB
would join the single currency in the near future.
As for the Labour party, it was also divided at the time the EU integration was reinforced,
which led to a dilemma for the Labour politicians. They therefore moved from an anti EU
market position in the 1970s to a more supportive approach and when Tony Blair was elected
in 1997, he spoke of a new Europe: a “people’s Europe”.
In the 1980s the Labour opposition became increasingly devoted to the EU cause and notably
because it was a good way to oppose to Thatcher government regarding trade-unions and
welfare rights.
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According to labour, people’s Europe could be beneficial to the British citizens as it would
enable them to claim new rights.
In 1997, Blair had to negotiate the Treaty of Amsterdam, which extended EU jurisdiction
over aspects of immigration and border policy (the Schengen Rules) as well as Human Rights
and Employment Policy and reducing the scope of national vetoes to cancel decisions. But
the main question GB really had to answer was whether it was to adopt the € and therefore
give up the £. There is much uncertainty as to what the Prime Minister thinks about this
question. Until very recently, he was thought to be in favour of the € but by November 2000,
he publicly declared that should a referendum (what he was thought to do to overcome the
divisions within his party) on the euro be held, he would most probably vote no. Tony Blair
probably lost his enthusiasm following his failure at convincing his party senior members of
the beneficial aspects of adopting euro. He also probably did not want this discussion to
occupy too big a place in the electoral campaign of May 2001.
To finish on a positive note, among British political parties the Lib-Dems are in favours of a
Federal European Union and are real Europhile.
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Lecture 10:
Citizens’ rights in Britain
I. England: a common law country.
British legal system: common law system that’s based on judge made law (case law). “Judge
made law” stresses the fact that judges (not legislators) make laws.
II. Civil liberties in the UK today.
General principle: British citizens may do what they want so long as no law prevents them.
2nd principle: most citizens’ rights have been established gradually by judges and are thus nor
defined nor protected by any legislation.
“Englishmen do not have rights  they only have remedies”.
When legislation exists, its aim is mostly to prohibit the exercise of a right in certain
circumstances; British legislation tends to give negative definitions of British citizens rights
instead of stating that such a right exists.
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 Right to vote in elections (local or national)  Few rights to be guaranteed by

several Acts of Parliament (Reform Acts of the 19th Century and the various
representations of the People’s Act of the XXth century). Members of the Hours of
Lords (peers), prisoners, aliens (foreigners) and mental patients are not allowed to
vote.
 Freedom of movement is a common-law right (common-law is established as a

result of some litigation and restricted in certain circumstances by legislation)  right
to move freely in Britain, leave the territory and not to be deprived of the nationality.
Home Secretary has power to retain suspected terrorists for prevention of terrorism;
under the Criminal Justice Act, the police have powers to stop and search w/o first
establishing reasonable suspicion that an offence has been committed. The Football
Disorder Act (2000) enabled police to arrest any supporter likely to cause any trouble.
 Personal Freedom  one of the most ancient liberties. Consistently used in claming
a conflict with the monarchs. Reference to personal freedom dates to Magna Carta in
1215. It includes freedom from arrest (no more than 24hrs or in serious arrestable
offence 36hrs. w/o charge). Freedom of Police searches at home without warrant.
Includes the right for a fair trial which rests on an assumption of innocence
(everybody is innocent until proven guilty). Freedom from torture by the state.  the
right that is at most risk in a common law non legislative system.
 Freedom of conscience (religion, etc.)  the right not to be compelled to undergo

military service, remove kids from religious schools, marry someone from another
religion.
 Freedom of expression  individual freedom to seek information and communicate

ideas. Includes freedom of press from political censorship. Excludes: treason,
blasphemy, obscenity, insulting words or behaviour, incitement to racial hatred,
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defamation and in cases of contempt of court or parliament or the Official Secrets Act.
Still some censorship in movies, videos and TV.
 Freedom of Association and meeting  right to meet and protest freely and to
associate for political purposes. Subject to restrictions: public meetings limited on
trespassing, nuisance, and obstruction. Moreover, police have discretionary power to
ban or reroute a march with they consider is likely to cause public disorder. Secondary
picketing (during strike) strictly restricted by the Employment Act of 1980.
 Right to property  hold and use of property. Has suffered important infringements
during the XXth century (nationalisation or compulsory purchase as part of slump
clearance, etc).
 Rights at work protection against unfair dismissal, freedom from racial and sexual
discrimination and employment. Employment Protection Act of 1978, Race Relations
Act of 1976, The Equal Pay Act of 1970, Sex Discrimination Act of 1975.
 Right to Divorce: 1969, Right to Abortion (on social and medical grounds) in
1967 Right to practice homosexual relations in 1967.
 Right to privacy does not exist. (controversy b/c bugging, telephone tapping,
political surveillance may constitute infringement of British citizens rights). Its
existence would reduce any form of harassment of well known personalities by
the press.  Badly needs reviewing!!!
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III. No formal Bill of Rights until 1998.
Difficult to give a precise list since there is no official list (as in most democratic countries)
 non existent Bill of Rights (text or code voted by legislative body). British constitutional
rules are unwritten, uncodified and thus have no superior value.
IV. The British judiciary.
British judiciary has an old tradition of independence  principle established by Magna

Charta in 1215. Recalled in 1689 in the Bill of Rights. Resulted from the legislative, and
since there was no bill of rights precisely defining British citizens’ rights, it became an
essential role of the judiciary (the judges) to establish the existence of such rights and
guarantee their protection.
Should they leave it to a handful of judges? Judges are immune from political pressure, etc
and could be trusted by the population. They enjoyed this trust for centuries but wore thin
over the last 25 yrs. Several factors influenced: British citizens greater interest in all
institutions making up gvt, doubt whether judges should stay apart from parliamentary
control, also a certain miscarriages made by judges (wrong decisions). It took victims several
years to expose the mistake  1980s. Concerned northern Irish Catholics convicted of
terrorist crimes, etc. successive gvts were passing legislation that might interfere with the
judiciary (granting police more powers, establishing mandatory sentences, & judges alone
could not guarantee British rights were protected to their best interest).
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V. Judicial review.
Judges helped people defend the case in court. Review = examine in depth to sort out what is
good and bad. Judicial review = judges decide cases in which litigation is based on decisions
made illegally by a member of the executive or one resulting from an unacceptable damage
for an individual citizen.
There is no administrative court in GB. Members of the executive are tried in civil courts.
Now, courts can cancel or prevent an order or a decision or compel (oblige) a public authority
to perform a duty. They can also prevent the commission or the continuance of unlawful
conducts.
VI. Tribunals & Quangos.
JR was not the only way British could be sure their fundamental rights were guaranteed by
the executive. A number of paralegal institutions were set up (1970-2000) whose role was to
prevent any abuse of rights guaranteed by legislations.
Tribunals  very significant role in GB over the last 30yrs. They are not courts. Usually
established by acts of Parliament and deal with litigation relating to welfare. They are
specialized in one domain (Social Security, or Employment, Immigration, Education, etc).Ex:
Industrial Tribunals specialise in claims arising out of injuries at work, disputes over a
person’s conditions of employment, unfair dismissal and redundancy (chômage).
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Tribunals composed of at least 3 persons: 1 chairman (usually a lawyer) and two lay persons
(w/o legal qualifications but represent the interested). (Ex: Housing Tribunal composed of a
chairman and one lay member representing tenant’s interest and the other landlord’s interests.
Industrial tribunal: chairman + lay member representing manager’s interests and the other
representing employee’s interests. Like courts, tribunals are independents and have a quasi
judicial authority. Their role is to establish the facts of each case and apply the relevant legal
rules to it.
Tribunals were essentially created to relieve court from all the work and provide cheaper,
more expert, accessible justice than ordinary courts. If unsatisfied, litigants can make appeal
either in an Appellate tribunal or in a full fledge court of justice.
Quangos (quasi non governmental organisations)  aim to help the individual citizen to
understand what his rights were particularly when of recent creation. They cover many
categories of agencies set up by the executive to control the carrying out of an activity. Some
quangos were created to check whether new legislation was effectively implemented. Ex:
Equal Opportunities (1974) or Racial Equality (1976). They do not make a decision in case of
litigation but to give support to an individual claiming he or she was discriminated against on
the grounds of sex or race. They can help him investigate the facts and give him legal advice
to be able to bring his case to court.
VII. The Ombudsman.
In 1967 an Act of parliament created the Office of Parliamentary Commissioner for

administration (PCA), also known as the Ombudsman (Swedish word). Creation: to
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guarantee citizen’s a good standard of administration. The creation of the PCA coincided with
the realization that Parliament had no real power to protect citizens against “administrative
abuse”.
Role of the PCA: investigate and if possible, remedy, complaints by individuals and
corporations who feel they have been victims of mal administration (corruption, bias, unfair
discrimination, misleading public as to its rights, failing to notify him of his rights, or reason
for decisions affecting him, using powers for a wrong purpose, losing correspondence or
failing to respond to it, delaying unreasonably before making a tax refund or decision when
applying for a grant or a licence, etc.
The PCA cannot be approached directly, but through an MP.
1969 – An ombudsman for NI was created.
1973 – One for the National Health Service
1974 – One for local gvt in England and Wales. For Scotland in 1976.
Because the public has no direct access, bc only investigation but no power to enforce any
decision, bc many areas are outside this jurisdiction (Police are immune from PCA
investigation)  PCA has played a minor role in helping citizens fighting for their rights.
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VIII. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Creation of the European Court of Human Rights decided by the European Convention on
Human Rights signed in 1950. Britain participated in the drafting, ratification and yet the
convention never applied in the UK bc the Parliament never voted it until 1998.
1966  cases could now be appealed to the European Court.
Cases could only be launched after failing to obtain remedy in the UK. Taking the case made
it lengthily. Cases must go to the commission first, who decided if they were admissible or
not.
Every year, 1960-1998 , the commission received over 800 complaints a year (more than for
any other country). 100 cases were eventually heard by the court and in half of them, Britain
was found to have infringed citizens rights. Main areas:
 Treatment of suspected terrorists in NI
 Refusal to allow prisoners the right to correspond with their lawyers, their
MPs or newspapers.
 Corporal punishment in schools
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 Undue interference with the principle of the freedom of the press (unlawful
ban of press release of documents disclosed in court).
 Unlawful immigration rules on the grounds of discrimination against women.
Decisions not applied in the UK but made a bad reputation to the country that claimed
democracy.
IX. Pressure groups supporting the codification of human rights.
For centuries, British convinced that their institutions were competent and sufficient to
enforce law. Yet, the British developed their own peace mill structures to cope with abuse of
their rights. Individual citizens started advocating a more comprehensive approach and
pledged for a Bill of rights to protect their rights in court. Pressure strongly resisted until
1997. Labour party was among those who advocated a change. Blair included the Bill of
Rights in the party’s manifesto in 1997.
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X. The Human Rights Act, 1998.
Passed through parliament without much difficulty. The human rights act fell short of
expectations and has been criticized on several grounds:
 It does not allow judges to strike down legislation contrary to the convention.
 The idea of the commission to monitor the enforcement of the convention was
rejected.
 The text of the convention was drafted almost 50 yrs ago and probably needs
some updating (weak on some rights (privacy, rights of immigrants and
children) for example).
The Human Rights Act was a step forward, but it is expected by many supporters to be
followed by more decisive up to date steps in the near future.
XI. Exercises.
Regle de droit d’origine legislative = statutory rules
Droitd’origine JP = case law or judge made law , common law.
Charte des droits = bill of rights
214
Violer un droit = to infringe a right.
Les droits de l’homme = human rights
Les libertés publiques = civil liberties
Le droit de vote = the right to vote.
La liberte de culte = freedom of worship.
L’etat de droit = rule of law
Control des actes administratifs par le juge = judicial review
« conseil de prud’hommes » equiv. Français = industrial tribunals
le médiateur = Parliamentary Commission for Administration (Ombudsman).
XII. Postscriptum.
List of rights, which articles of the European Convention guarantee:
 Art 2 – guarantees the right to life
 Art 3 – freedom from torture, unhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
 Art 4 – freedom from slavery or forced labor.
215
 Art 5 – right to liberty and security of the person.
 Art 6 – right to a fair trial by an impartial tribunal
 Art 7 – Freedom from retroactive criminal laws
 Art 8 – right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence.
 Art 9 – freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
 Art 10 – freedom of expression.
 Art 11 – freedom of peaceful assembly and association (right to join a trade union as
well).
 Art 12 – right to marry and found a family.
 Art 13 – right to an effective remedy before a national authority.
 Art 14 – Freedom from discrimination.
216
Protocol N°1 contains three articles:
Article 1  right to the peaceful enjoyment of one’s possessions.
Article 2  Right to education (includes parents rights to education of their children in

conformity to their religious beliefs).
Article 3  Right to take part on free elections by secret ballot.
Protocol N°4 guarantees four more rights:
 Freedom from imprisonment for death.
 Freedom of movement of persons
 Right to enter and remain in one’s own country.
 Freedom from collective expulsion.
217

Anglais Juridique

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CAVEJ L1 Cours Anglais juridique

CAVEJ L1 Anglais juridique

I. The formation of the U.K.

II. The British Constitution & Monarchy

III. Democracy in Britain

IV. Political parties in GB

V. The British Government

VI. The British Parliament

VIII. Devolution in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

IX. Britain and the Commonwealth; Britain and Europe

X. Citizens’ rights in Britain

CAVEJ L1 Cours Anglais juridique

Lecture 1: The formation of the UK

 To brush up: dépoussiérer

 Lay the emphasis on

 Course: series of lessons or lecture

 Lecture: talk given to a group of people

 Country, adjective, people

 GB, British, the British

 English, the English, English people

 Wales, welsh, the welsh or welsh people

 Scotland, Scottish, the Scots

 Ireland, Irish, the Irish

 A flag: un pavillon, un drapeau

 To result in: avoir pour conséquence

 To result from: être la consequence de

CAVEJ L1 Cours Anglais juridique

 To come to an end = se terminer

 North, Northern, East, eastern

 To warn: mettre en garde

 Warning: une mise en garde

 A rule, a legal rule

 A code => to codify (codifier)

 A survey: une étude

 A trend : une tendance

 A brand : une marque

 Cross : une croix

 Voyage : périple en mer

 A trade union : un syndicat

 To take place, to sum up

 To accomodate: loger => accommodation

 Former: ancien, ex => formely : autrefois

CAVEJ L1 Cours Anglais juridique

 Tricky : trompeur, rusé, difficile

 Eventually: en fin de compte

 Trip, travel: court voyage, long voyage

 To put an end to: achiever

 Possibly, maybe: eventually

 To achieve: réussir, mener à terme

 Member of the French Assembly, Député : depute

 To stand for : Représenter, symboliser

 To break away from: se séparer de, s’éloigner de

 To give up: rejeter, abandonner

 To pile up: accumuler

 To bring up: Elever

 To end up: Finir par être, finir par devenir

 To break out: éclater (des conflits)

CAVEJ L1 Cours Anglais juridique

 To be given the peerage: être anobli

 Headed by : avec à sa tête

 Union Jack : drapeau anglais

 The Church of England: l‘anglicanisme