The House of Commons, also called Commons, popularly elected legislative body of the British Parliament. Although it is technically the lower house, the House of Commons is predominant over the House of Lords, and the name “Parliament” is often used to refer to the House of Commons alone. The UK is divided into 650 areas called constituencies. At a general election, all constituencies become vacant and a Member of Parliament is elected for each from a list of candidates standing for election. The candidate who gets the most votes becomes the MP for that area until the next election. General elections happen every five years. If an MP dies or retires, a by-election is held in that constituency to find a new MP for that area. Most MPs are members of one of the main political parties in the UK - Labour, Conservative, Scottish National Party or Liberal Democrat. Other MPs represent smaller parties. At the beginning of each new session of Parliament, the House elects from its members the speaker, who presides over and regulates debates and rules on points of order and members’ conduct. The calling of members to speak in debate is entirely in the speaker’s hands, the main concern being to ensure that a variety of points of view is heard. The Leader of the House of Commons is a government minister whose main role is organising government business in the Commons. The Leader of the House does this by working closely with the government's Chief Whip. It includes The House of Commons Commission. The Commission is responsible for the administration and services of the House of Commons, including the maintenance of the Palace of Westminster and the rest of the Parliamentary Estate. It consists of the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Leader of the House of Commons, the Member of Parliament appointed by the Leader and three Members of Parliament appointed by the House of Commons. The Commission has delegated the management of day-to-day operations to the Commons Executive Board. It has many responsibilities, for example, assist the Finance Committee in the preparation of the Estimates. The members of the Commons Executive Board are Clerk of the House (Chair). The Clerk of the House is the principal constitutional adviser to the House, and adviser on all its procedure and business, including Parliamentary privilege, and frequently appears before Select and Joint Committees examining constitutional and Parliamentary matters. Director General Clerk Assistant and Managing Director, Chamber and Committees Librarian and Managing Director, Participation and Research and Information; Managing Director, Corporate Services and Finance Director Managing Director, In-House Services Director of the Parliamentary Digital Service Director of Security for Parliament Managing Director, Strategic Estates The House of Commons appoints General Committees on a routine basis to consider proposed legislation in detail. This committee system allows faster processing of Bills and is unique to the House of Commons. Public Bill Committees examine each Bill line by line. Once a committee has finished looking at a Bill, it reports its conclusions and any amendments made to the Commons, where Members debate the Bill further. Fourteenth Delegated Legislation Committee There is a Commons Select Committee for each government department, examining three aspects: spending, policies and administration. Health and Social Care Committee, Education Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee Joint Committees are committees consisting of MPs and Members of the Lords. Three Joint Committees meet on a regular basis: Human Rights National Security Strategy Statutory Instruments Joint Committees on specific topics, like those set up to consider draft Bills and other issues, stop meeting once they have fully reported. Recent examples include the Joint Committees on the draft Online Safety Bill, Privacy and Injunctions and Prisoner Voting. The tradition that a bill must be read three times in the Commons (and also in the Lords) before it can be voted on is based on the need to allow members adequate time to investigate the principles on which the bill is based and the details of its provisions. The first reading is purely formal, but the second reading provides the occasion for debate on the principles involved. The bill then goes into committee, where it is examined clause by clause. Most bills are sent to standing committees, each of which deals with bills belonging to a particular range of topics, with the committees reflecting in their makeup the respective strength of parties in the House. Having examined the bill, the committee then reports back to the House, and after further amendments may have been proposed in the course of more debate, the bill is read a third time and is then voted on. In addition to bills proposed by the government, a limited number of bills sponsored by individual members are considered by the House each session. Functions Parliament is an essential part of UK politics. Its main roles are examining and challenging the work of the government, debating and passing all laws and enabling the Government to raise taxes. Lawmaking is one of Parliament’s essential roles. Find out how new laws are made and learn how a Bill passes through Parliament and becomes an Act. Much of the work of the House of Commons takes place in committees, made up of around 10 to 50 MPs. These committees examine issues in detail, from government policy and proposed new laws, to wider topics like the economy.
