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THE ELEMENTS OF BRITISH CULTURE AND HISTORY
Who rules the country?
The Constitution
Britain is the constitutional monarchy governed by a king or queen (Head of State), who has very little power, with the support of the Parliament but they meet only on symbolic occasions. It is also a parliamentary democracy because the politicians are elected by people. Britain does not have a constitution although there are rules for the running of the country known as “the constitution”. But there is no single written document which could be the highest law in this country.
The Parliament
The British Parliament works in a large building called the Palace of Westminster (popularly known as the Houses of Parliament). Parliament consists of two chambers (=izby) known as the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The design of the British Parliament differs from those in other countries. It has no front, the MPs (Members of Parliament) can speak from their places. On the left side there are seats for the governing party, on the right side there are the opposition benches. The division between these two groups is clearly seen because of the table in the middle. Behind it, there is a Speaker’s Chair from which the debate is controlled. When politicians have to vote for or against a proposal, they walk through one of two corridors (AYES or NOES) at the side of the house.
The House of Lords
Members of the House of Lords (Peers) are not elected. They are members as of right. Some of them have this “right” because they inherited (=odziedziczyli) an aristocratic title, some of them are bishops of the Church of England, retired politicians or judges. This House has little power but all proposals must have the agreement of Lords before they become law. But the Lords cannot refuse a proposal because nevertheless, it will become law in 6 months.
The House of Commons and the elections
The House of Commons has true power to rule the country. It is here that new bills (=ustawy) are introduced and discussed (if the majority of the members are in favour of a bill, it goes to the House of Lords and finally to the monarch who signs it and it becomes law). It is made up of 650 elected members (MPs), each of whom represents an area of the United Kingdom. Parliamentary elections are held every five years on Thursdays. The election campaign usually lasts three weeks. Everyone over the age of 18 can vote and the candidate with the most votes wins. In this way each area (constituency) has its representative in the Parliament. This is called the general elections.
The Party System
Britain is normally described as having a “two-party system”. This is because one of the two biggest parties controls the House of Commons and form the government. The party which won the elections chooses the leader, Prime Minister, and the leader of the second biggest party gets the title Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition and forms a “shadow cabinet” (MPs who have to criticize the government). At present, the UK is governed by the Labour Party. In the opposition there are Conservative Party and Liberal Democratic Party. There are also representatives of Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) and Scottish National Party in the Parliament.
The Prime Minister
The Prime Minister is traditionally described as PRIMUS INTER PARES (first among equals). The PM has a great power because he / she is the person who can command
a majority in the House of Commons and advises the queen who is going to be a minister.
He / She is the leader of the governing party and the head of the Cabinet (20 Ministers) that he meets once a week to make political decisions. The Prime Minister is very popular with
the British as he / she often appears on television and in the newspapers. Together with
the family, he / she lives at Number 10 Downing Street. Three last Prime Ministers are: Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown (since 27th June 2007, Labour Party).
The Monarch
According to the law, in Britain the queen has almost absolute power. She can choose and dismiss the Prime Minister and the Ministers whenever she wants because they are all “Servants of the Crown”. Nothing that Parliament has decided can become law until she has signed it. She summons (=powołuje) and dissolves (=rozwiązuje) the Parliament. There is also a principle of English law that the monarch can’t do anything that is legally wrong, so Queen Elizabeth is above the law .
In fact, the Queen never makes any political decisions herself, all she does is on the advice of the elected Government. The reality is that the Queen has almost no power at all. However, the monarch has three main roles to perform:
1. the monarch is the embodiment of the government of the country; Queen opens the new session of Parliament each autumn by reading “the Queen’s Speech”, which describes the main political goals of the Government (but the speech is prepared by the Ministers)
2. the monarch can act as a final check on a government (e.g. stop the bill from becoming law)
3. the monarch represents the country.
bibliografia to:
Britain - the country and its people
spotlight on Britain
+notki własne
powodzenia