The system of government in Great Britain

The UK is a constitutional monarchy. The constitution has three branches: Parliament, which makes laws, the government, which puts laws into effect and the law courts, which interpret laws. In law, the Head of the State is the Queen. In practice, the Queen reigns, but does not rule. The country is ruled by the elected government with the Prime Minister at the head. (Today the Prime Minister is Gordon Brown).

The British Parliament consists of two chambers: the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

Members of the House of Commons are elected by the voters of 650 constituencies. They are known as MPs, or Members of Parliament. They have been paid salaries since 1911. The Prime Minister, the leader of the Government, is also an MP. The Prime Minister is advised by a Cabinet of about twenty other ministers. The House of Lords consists of the Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual. The Lords Spiritual are Archbishops of York and Canterbury. The Lords Temporal consist of hereditary peers, life peers and the Lords of Appeal.

The British government is elected for up to five years. The Prime Minister chooses the date of the next general elections. He does not have to wait until the end of five years. A time is chosen which will give as much advantage as possible to the political party in power. Voting takes place on Polling Day (usually a Thursday).

There are three main parties in Great Britain: the Labour, the Conservative and the Liberal parties. There are other political parties within the UK e.g. the Green party, the Scottish Nationalist party, which wants independence for Scotland within the European Community.