1.1✅

• the United Kingdom is a parliamentary democracy
• a parliamentary democracy means that most of the country’s laws are made by passing Acts of parliament
• laws made by Parliament are also often referred to as ‘statutes‘ or ‘legislation’
• Parliament is made up of 3 parts: the monarch, the House of Lords + the House of Commons
• the monarch has only a formal role in law making
• the king or queen (monarch) simply gives the Royal Assent
• the Royal Assent is their agreement to the new law
• members of the House of Lords are called peers, there are about 800 peers
• the Lords: in the past all the peers were noblemen (e.g. dukes + barons) + they were hereditary positions that passed from father to eldest son
• the Lords: today there is only 92 hereditary peers = there are also 26 Church of England bishops + archbishops
• the Lords: the rest of the members are life peers who can’t pass their position on to their children
• the Lords: the main job of the Lords is to act as a ‘double check’ on new laws
• the House of Commons is the most important part of parliament because it’s made up of the elected representatives of the people = 650 Members of Parliament (MPs)
• The Commons: each MP is elected at a general election to represent a constituency
• constituency is a geographical area of the country
• Parliaments job is to represent people
• the Governments job is to run the country
• the government is formed by the political party that had a majority of the 650 MPs
• The government: the prime minister is the leader of the majority party
• The government: most proposals for new laws come from the government
• The government: a proposal for a new law is called a Bill
• The government: Bills have to be agreed by both Houses of Parliament + receive the Royal Assent before they can become Acts of Parliament
• The government: Acts of Parliament is laws
• Royal Assent is the final stage of the legislative process, when the monarch formally approves the bill.
• Green Paper: before putting a Bill before Parliament, the government usually publishes a Green Paper
• a Green Paper is a initial report to provoke public discussion of the subject, it usually includes questions for interested people + organisations to respond to
• White Paper: after the discussion the government publishes a White Paper
• a White Paper is a document setting out their detailed plans for legislation, usually including a draft version of the Bill they intend to put before Parliament
• legislation is a law or a set of laws that have been passed by Parliament
• there are 7 parliamentary stages of a Bill
• for a Bill to become a law, it has to go through a series of stages in Parliament
• (stage 1) First reading: the government will introduce the Bill into the Commons (sometimes the Lords), where it receives the first reading, it’s just a formal announcement of the Bill + is followed by a vote for it to be moved on to the next stage
• (stage 2) Second reading: its main concepts are considered + debated by the whole House of Commons + a vote is taken, since the government has the support of a majority of MPs they usually win the vote, if they will the Bill moves on to the next stage
• (stage 3) the committee stage: the Bill is then looked at in detail, line by line, by a small committee made up of MPs from different parties, committee then report back to the whole House + will often propose changes to the Bill
• amendments is also known as changes
• (stage 4) the report stage: it gives MPs an opportunity to consider the committee’s report + to debate + vote on any changes they might want to make for the Bill, major Bills the debates may be spread over several days
• (stage 5) third reading: this happens usually immediately after stage 4, it’s the final chance for the Commons to debate the Bill’s contents, no changes are allowed at this stage so the House votes either to pass or reject the Bill
• (stage 6) the Lords: the Bill then goes to the House of Lords, where it then goes through the same stages as in the Commons, if the Lords have changed the Bill, it has to return to the Commons so that MPs can decide if they want to accept or reject the Lord’s changes, Commons have the final say due to them being made up of people’s elected representatives
• (stage 7) Royal Assent: when the Bill had been passed by both the Houses of Parliament, it then goes to the monarch for signing this is known as Royal Assent, it’s the monarch’s agreement to make the Bill into a law so it’s a formality, the new law will now come into force straight away, unless the Act specifies that it will only apply from some later date (known as commencement order)
• the first stage is the first reading