States and systems
Topic a Briti sh politics
Count ries a UK
v ocabulary a Polit ics
Links a 2a. Sf. 6e
UK parliament: tradition...
In the 14th cent ury, the Britis h parlia ment split into two
d ivisions, the (lo use of Lo rds, w hich included the e b isho ps
a nd the aristocracy (or ' pee rs'), and the Ho use of C0 l11 m On5,
which included representatives of th e ordin a ry people. The
two I lo uses still exist today, but over the centuries the
elec ted Ilou se o f Com mo ns ha s becom e th e mo re powerfu l.
The Lords, whose me mbers arc no t elected a nd who
tradi tion al ly inherited their seat in the I lo use from th eir
fath ers, no longer have the au to matic right to block new
laws. The British parliamen t is o ne of the oldes t
parliam enta ry systems in the world. an d foreign ers are o ften
a puxzlcd by some of its a ncient custo ms. Durin g debates in
th e House of Com mons, for exa mp le, members are not
permitted to refer to each ot her by name, bu t mu st use th e
title 'T he Honourable Member". The Lord Chance llor, who
co ntrols debates in the House o f Lords, m ust sit on the
'woolsack', a seat filled with woo l tha t orig ina ted in the 14th
cen tu ry when wool was a symb o l o f Britain 's prosp erity. The
positio n of the Lord Cha ncellor will soon be abolis hed. This
is just one of the rad ica l cha nges tha t have been imposed
on the 700-yea r-old parl iament in recent years, inclu d ing
the creation of a sepa rate Scottish Parliam ent a nd we lsh and
No rthe rn Irish Assemblies.
• Vocabular't:
(J Match the political words to the ir definitions.
1. candidate
2. to stand
3. to elect
4. seat
5. debat e
6. Act
Before
a. to ask for people's votes
b. a position in parliament
c. a f ormal, contro lled argument
d. to give someone the most votes
e. a law th at parliament passes
f. a person wh o w ants your vote
ou read
B Do you know what the photos on this page represent? What
is an English Lord?
Readin
111 Read the text on this
page and answer th e questions.
1.Whi ch has the most politi cal powe r - the House of Lords or
the House of Commons?
2. W hich House has members w ho used to inherit their places
in pa rliam ent?
3. W hat must members of the House of Commons call each
oth er during debates?
4. W ho sits on 'the woo lsack'?
5. W hat is its symbolic meaning?
to back Q to suppo r t
to be tried Q to be l eqally j Ud qe d
am a a proposal for a new l aw
ersncp Q a hi qh ra nk of priest
by -election a an election for a slnqle seat in pa r liam ent t hat
happen s when some one dies or r estqns
to launch Q t o st ar t
pu zzled a conf used
turnout a th e number of voters that vote i n an election
...and change
British voter " turnout
in recent elections
General (national) elections
C
lORD'S PROPOSAl
fOR AlOWER VOTING AGE
1997
2001
72%
59%
Local (council) elections
onservative peer Lord Luca f
. proposed a new voting a e o~ ~ Crudwell and Din gwall has
his" Bill has" been launched ~t th :' and a campaIgn supporting
e' ouses of Pa rliament. The Votes
at 16 Campaign is " backed b
groups, and the reformers hY a WIde range of political and youth
argue, young people can lea~~e s~ strong case. At sixteen, they
consent in Scotland) be com
~?Ol, marry (withour parental
Court and join some ~ections ~~ntYhe Jrectodrs , " be tried in a Crown
arme fDrees.
1998
2003
29%
35%
European eleclions
1994
1999
36%
23%
~tarch
24- WlJ3
TIlE GUARDL-\x
Peers stand
.
in Lords by-election
he son of a \VaT hero and
the gr-J.ndson of a prime
. minister arc among the 81
candidates standing in a House of
Lords a b y·electio n tomorrow.
following the death in January of
hereditary peer Viscount oxfuird.
T
their he reditary right to a seat in
Lord Ox fuird was one of 92
the Hou se .
peers with inherited titles allowed
The 92 hereditaries were allowed
to stay in parliament after the
to srav as a concession to the
pas.<;ing of the Hous e of Lords Act
oppo;ition and the go\"emm~nt
in ;,\ovember 1999. wh en more
agn.--eO that any of the 92 who ~Ied
than 600 dukes. marquesse s,
would be replaced in a by-eled.1o n .
earls. viscounts and barons lost
--.----
--- -- --
o ~ Read the two t exts on this page and choose the correct
alt ernatives.
1. Lord Lucas wa nts people to be able to
a. marr y
b. join the army
c. vote
when they are 16.
2. His supporters think that 16-year-olds are old enough for this
because :
a. they already understand a lot about politics.
b. they already have a lot of responsibilities .
c. people in other countries can vote at that age.
3. ln 1999, the government took away seats in parliament from
a. 92 hereditary peers .
b. nearly all hereditary peers.
c. members of the House of Commons.
4. When a hered itary peer now dies,
a. an election takes place .
b. their son inherits the ir position in parliament.
c. th eir positi on in parliament disappears.
Before yg u listen
111 Look at the statistics about voter turnout in British
elections. Why do you think the statistics are like this?
How often , roughly, do the British have elections?
-----------
[i'I Q) Listen to two young British people talking about politics .
For each person, answer these questions.
1. How ald are they?
2. Are they intereste d in politics?
3. Have they ever voted?
4. Are they going to vote in the loca l elections?
5. Would they like the voting age to be lowered to 16?
6. Why (not)?
e
61 Discuss in pairs . How often do you have election s in your
country? Do you think that more or fewer people vote than in
Britain? What is the att itude of young people in your country to
politics?
~iD.:g
mResearch the answers to the following questions, then
write a paragraph about the way your country is governed .
> Is th e parliament divided into diffe rent houses, like the UK
parliament ?
> How many members of parliament are there?
> How ofte n are they elected?
> W hat are the main political parties?
> What is the leader of the government called?
> How is he/she chosen?
> What party does the current leader belong to?