Parliament is where British law is made, and its structure differs from the American system in one fundamental way: the government is not separate from the legislature. The prime minister and almost every minister are sitting members of Parliament, and they govern only for as long as they hold the confidence of the House of Commons.
The House of Commons
650 elected MPs, each representing one geographical constituency, elected by first-past-the-post. This is the chamber that matters: it makes law, approves taxation, and can bring down a government with a vote of no confidence.
The layout is confrontational by design. Government and opposition benches face each other across a narrow floor rather than sitting in a semicircle, which shapes the whole tone of British politics — debate here is adversarial, noisy, and frequently rude in a way that startles visitors watching for the first time.
The two sword-lengths
Two red lines are woven into the carpet, and members speaking must stay behind them. They are set two sword-lengths apart, from a time when MPs might have been armed. Crossing the line draws immediate cries of “order” from the Speaker.
Prime Minister’s Questions
Every Wednesday at noon, the prime minister answers questions for half an hour, with the Leader of the Opposition getting six. It is loud, theatrical and widely criticised as a shouting match, and it is also the most watched thing Parliament does — a weekly public interrogation of the head of government with no equivalent in the American system.
The House of Lords
Around 800 members, none of them elected. They comprise life peers appointed for their careers, 92 remaining hereditary peers, and 26 bishops of the Church of England.
The Lords cannot block legislation indefinitely — the Parliament Acts allow the Commons to overrule them — but it revises, scrutinises and delays, and it does this work seriously and often well. Its existence is permanently contested, and reforming it is a promise every party makes and none completes.
How a law is made
A bill passes through both Houses: first reading, second reading, committee stage, report stage, third reading, then the same again in the other House. Once both agree, it receives royal assent and becomes an Act of Parliament. Assent has not been refused since 1708.
Parliamentary sovereignty
The foundational principle: Parliament can make or unmake any law, and no other body — including the courts — can overrule it. There is no written constitution and no supreme court power to strike down primary legislation as unconstitutional. In theory Parliament could abolish itself. In practice it is restrained by convention, and by the fact that voters exist.
The State Opening
Each session opens with enormous ceremony. The monarch reads a speech written by the government, having first sent an official called Black Rod to summon the Commons — who slam the door in his face, requiring him to strike it three times before being admitted. The ritual dates from Charles I’s attempt to arrest five MPs in 1642 and asserts, every single year, that the Commons is independent of the Crown.