The system of Government of the UK

In theory, the constitution has three branches: Parliament, which makes laws, the government, which “executes” laws, i.e. puts them into effect, and the law courts, which interpret laws. Although the Queen is officially head of all three branches, she has little direct power.

Parliament has two parts: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The House of Commons is presided over by the Speaker. The main function of the House of Commons is to legislate. Members of the House of Commons are elected by the voters of 650 constituencies. They are known as MPs, or Members of Parliament. The Prime Minister, or leader of the Government, is also an MP, usually the leader of the political party with a majority in the House of Commons.

The Prime Minister is advised by a Cabinet of about twenty other ministers. The Cabinet includes the ministers in charge of major government departments or ministries. Departments and ministries are run by civil servants, who are permanent officials. Even if the Government changes after an election, the same civil servants are employed.

The House of Lords consists of the Lords Temporal and the Lords Spiritual. The Lords Spiritual are the Archbishops of York and Canterbury, together with twenty-four senior bishops of the Church of England. The Lords Temporal consist of hereditary peers who have inherited their titles (their number has been cut from 790 to 90 as the result of the recent reforms); life peers (about 670 in number) who are appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Government for various services to the nation. Historically, the chairperson of the House of Lords was the Lord Chancellor. Now the head of the House of Lords is the Lord Speaker.

The House of Lords as an Upper Chamber has the primary purpose of examining Legislation proposed by the Lower House through the form of debate and through proposing amendments to legislation. Governments in recent years have used the Upper House as a variant of the Select Committee process to finalise legislation before presentation for Royal Assent.

Historically, the House of Lords held several judicial functions. Most notably, until 2009 the House of Lords served as the court of last resort for most instances of UK law. Since 1 October 2009 this role is now held by the newly created Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. It consists of 12 Justices with the President of the Supreme Court as its head. The twelve justices do not all hear every case; typically a case will be heard by a panel of five justices. The Supreme Court deals with the cases of the greatest public and constitutional importance.