People and Parliament in the United Kingdom - Assignment Example

Introduction The United Kingdom operates under a parliamentary democracy system in which the government is voted into various positions of power by the members of the public through a democratic electoral process. Universal suffrage is a term used to refer to the right to vote by every adult citizen. Those elected are to act in the interest of the people. The country is also operating a constitutional monarchy in which the leadership has remained impartial and with very limited powers (Corbett, et. al, 231). The parliament of the United Kingdom is the highest legislative authority and it is responsible for checking the work of the government. They play the examining role as well as debating and approving of new laws. The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative organ in the United Kingdom, British overseas territories as well as the British Crown dependencies. This is the only body that bears legislative supremacy and has ultimate power over all other political organs. The parliament is headed by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom that is currently occupied by Queen Elizabeth II. It is located in the palace of Westminster in London. On the other hand, the European parliament refers to the assembly of the representatives of the citizens of the union. The members of the European parliament are usually elected by the directly through the universal suffrage. According to the Lisbon Treaty made the total number of seats to be 751 and the European Council sets the number of representatives for each country. Each country must have a minimum of 6 representatives and a number not exceeding 96. The European parliament operates under three major locations that include Brussels in Belgium. Luxembourg and Strasbourg in France. The office at Luxembourg hosts the administrative offices that includes the General Secretariat. The parliamentary meetings or the plenary sessions are held in both Strasbourg and Brussels. History of the two parliaments The parliament of the United Kingdom was created in the year 1801 when there was a merger of the two kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland as a result of the Acts of Union. Since its inception until in the 19th century, the House of Lords was regarded to be superior than the House of Commons and this came to end at the development of the principle of ministerial responsibility to the lower House. Those who form the membership of the House of Commons were elected in an antiquated electoral system in which the constituencies varied in terms of sizes and economic wealth. The member of the Upper House had control over small constituencies which were referred to as pocket boroughs in which they ensured the election of their close associates and family members. It is recorded that a large number of seats in the House of Commons fell under the influence of the Lords. The elections to the House of Commons become more regularized after the reforms of the 19th century beginning with the Reform Act of 1832. The House of Commons no longer depended on the Upper House and it began to grow more assertive. The British House of Commons had its supremacy established in the early 20th century and in 1909 the House passed a bill that was termed as the people’s budget that saw huge number of changes being witnessed in the taxation system of the nation which was hurting to the wealthy landowners. However, the budget was rejected by those in the House of Lords that is mainly made up of powerful landowners. In 1911, an Act was made in the parliament that prevented the Lords from blocking any bill dealing with taxation. Despite the attempts by the House of Commons to prevent the House of Lords from blocking any bill, the House of Lords has since retained the power to block as well as to veto any bill that aims at extending the life of parliament. The European Parliament first met in the year 1952 upon its inception. It first began as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community and was a consultative assembly that had 78 appointed parliamentarians who were largely drawn from the national assemblies of the member countries. At its inception, the European Parliament was less powerful and was labeled a multi-lingual talking shop which was a proof that it had no powers over member countries. However, the scenario has since changed as the parliament has evolved over the years to become one of the most powerful institutions in the world through the exercise of its executive oversight and legislative powers. The parliament is the only European institution that has its members elected through direct universal suffrage after a period of five years. Upon the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC) and the EUROTOM, the parliament became known as the European Parliamentary Assembly in the year 1958 and the name was not changed until in the year 1962 when it became the European Parliament. The change of name was as a result of the evolving debates on the roles that it will play as well as the appropriate name to be adopted. Since 1951, the members of the assembly were being nominated by the national parliaments in accordance to the treaty of Rome. The first elections through direct suffrage took place in the year 1979 (Pilkington, 49). Composition The Upper House of the United Kingdom’s parliament is formally styled as The Right Honourable and has the Lord’s spiritual as well as the Temporal in the Parliament Assembled. The Lords spirituals are mainly the bishops from the Church of England while the Lords Temporal are Peers of the Realm. These two groups are regarded as separate estates despite the fact that they sit and debate and vote together. The House of Lords has had very less powers since the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949. The House of Lords seem to possess most of the powers as opposed to the House of Lords which seems to handle most of the key legislations. After recent changes, the House of Commons can force the Bill through without the Lords consent under the Parliament Acts. The House of Lords can also hold the government to account through questions to government ministers and the operation of a small number of select committees. The European’s parliament is made up of elected members of parliament and the seats are allocated based on the population of each country. A third of the parliamentarians are women who were initially appointed by the national assemblies of their respective countries. The allocation of the seats was based on the Lisbon Treaty digressive proportionality is a term used to describe the manner in which the seats are distributed. This simply means that the larger the state, the more representatives it must have in parliament. Roles, duties and powers The European parliament has several functions which include legislative powers in which the parliament shares its legislative roles with the Council by following ordinary legislative procedures of the parliament. The parliament also performs budgetary powers which are shared with the Council through a voting process which is done annually. The process then renders the budget enforceable through the signature of the president of the parliament who proceeds to foresee its implementation. The European has the power to control all the institutions of the Union including the commission. The parliament has the authority to offer or disapprove the designation of the Commissioners as well as bearing the power to dismiss the Commission through the use of a censure motion. The parliament further has the power to control the activities of the Union through a written or formal request made to the Commission and the Council. They have the power to form committees of inquiry on temporary basis whose task may be to ensure that the policies of the Union are implemented fully within the member countries (Blondel, et. al, 302). The European Parliament as well as the Council are regarded as the legislative branch of the European Union. The law-making powers of the parliament are well distributed between the two chambers. However there are some powers that have differ from one chamber to another on how they are handled and this includes the power of legislative initiative. The parliament has indirect influence through the non-binding resolutions as well as the committee hearings. The parliament has to approve all forms of development grant such as those being directed to overseas countries. For example, the support for post-war Iraq reconstruction, or incentives for the cessation of Iranian nuclear development, must be supported by the Parliament. The European Union needed the support of the parliament in the trans-Atlantic passenger data-sharing deal that was to be signed between the Union and the United States. On the other hand the legislative authority of the U.K parliament has three separate elements which include the Monarch, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. This is different from the European Union’s parliament that only has two chambers. One is not allowed to vote in more than one house. The Monarch’s Royal Assent is needed for all the Bills to become part of the law and certain Delegated legislations must be made by the Monarch by the Order in Council. It must be noted that the Crown too has some executive powers that do not depend on the powers of the parliament due to the prerogative powers. However in practice, the monarch must always consult with the Prime Minister before they exercise their powers such as the ability to make treaties, declare war, and appoint various officers as well as awarding of honors to distinguished performances. Both the government and the Office of the Prime Minister are directly accountable to the parliament owing to the fact that the assembly is in charge of public finances and other public resources (Cygan, 102). The U.K parliament bicameral meaning that is it made up of two houses namely the upper house or the House of the Lords and the lower house also referred to as the House of the Commons. The House of Lords is made up of two different type of membership that includes the Lords Spiritual consisting of the senior bishops of the Church of England and the Lords temporal or the members of the Peerage. The members who occupy theses special seats are not elected by the members of the public but are rather appointed by the Sovereign after receiving advice from the Prime Minister. The Sovereign that forms the third component of the legislature is also known as the Queen-in- Parliament (Jones, 125). The European Parliament has supervisory powers which were granted by the Maastricht Treaty. It thus has the power form committees of inquiry as well as calling other institutions to respond to matters of national interests affecting its member countries. It has the power to make appointments to the membership of the Court of Auditors, the president as well as the executive board of the European Central Bank. The president of the European Central bank must submit the bank’s annual report to the parliament and then respond to questions from the members of the parliament. The parliament elects the European Ombudsman who is then in charge of public complaints that may arise against all the institutions. The petitions can also be brought forward by any EU citizen on a matter within the EUs sphere of activities. The Committee on Petitions hears cases, some 1500 each year, sometimes presented by the citizen themselves at the Parliament. While the Parliament attempts to resolve the issue as a mediator they do resort to legal proceedings if it is necessary to resolve the citizen’s dispute As opposed to the European Parliament, the United Kingdom Parliament performs the judicial functions. This was mainly witnessed before the formation of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in the year 2009. The Queen-in-parliament was the one that constituted the highest court in the realm for most purposes. The jurisdiction of the parliament came as a result of the ancient custom petitioning that was directed to both the houses so that they could facilitate justice in the kingdom. Work Cited Blondel, Jean, R Sinnott, and Palle Svensson. People and Parliament in the European Union: Participation, Democracy, and Legitimacy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Internet resource. Constitutional Reform in the United Kingdom: Practice and Principles. Oxford: Hart Pub, 1998. Print. Corbett, Richard, Francis Jacobs, and Michael Shackleton. The European Parliament. London: Harper, 2011. Print. Cygan, Adam J. The United Kingdom Parliament and European Union Legislation. The Hague [u.a.: Kluwer Law International, 1998. Print. Jones, Clyve. A Short History of Parliament: England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Scotland. Woodbridge: Boydell, 2012. Print. Pilkington, Colin. Britain in the European Union Today. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005. Print. The Green Book: A Guide to Members Allowances. London: House of Commons, 2009. Print. Read More