Parliament:

Parliament is made up of all members from the House of Commons, all members from the House of Lords and the sovereign, some 1400 people in all. As this country’s legislative power, Parliament is responsible for making and repealing laws. It also scrutinises the work of the government to ensure that its decisions are in the public’s interest. It is also in Parliament that major events of the day are debated.

The House of Commons

The structure of the House of Commons dates back to the sixteenth century when Parliament began to sit permanently in the Palace of Westminster and this still influences the language and manner in which we conduct politics in this country today.

Unlike the American and most European parliaments, the British parliament does not sit in a semi-circle. Instead our debating chamber owes its shape to its religious origins. The first chamber used by members of the House of Commons was St Stephen’s Chapel (now a public corridor on the way to the central lobby). When it was still used as a chapel, monks would sit in two opposing rows of choir stalls on either side of the altar. When politicians moved into the chapel, they did not change the seating arrangements.

Today, the Speaker of the House, who chairs debates in the chamber, sits behind the Table of the House, which evolved from the chapel altar. We still speak of ‘tabling’ a question, which means handing in a question to the Speaker by placing it on the Table of the House. These days, the volume of parliamentary work is such that this is no longer done in the chamber itself but through a separate table office, situated behind the House of Commons chamber.

The government usually sits on the right hand side of the Speaker and the opposition parties sit on his left.

Party Whips

The House of Commons is the busiest legislative chamber in the world and as such, the way its business is organised is paramount to its success. The smooth running of our Parliament and the political parties is dependent on party whips whose role lies somewhere between that of a sergeant and a messenger.

The term ‘whip’ dates back to the eighteenth century when party officials were likened to the men on the hunting field who “whipped in” the hounds, keeping the pack together. Whips work in a similar way to ensure that Parliament, as well as political parties, work together to achieve the best political results.

Communication within a political party is essential and it is the whips who make this happen. There is one chief whip per party, a deputy chief whip and several junior whips (numbers vary according to party size). All whips are MPs and they are chosen by their party leader (or, in the case of the governing party, by the prime minister).

Whips are responsible for MPs’ discipline: they ensure that members are present to vote during a division and that they do so according to party line. If an MP is absent from an important vote (a three-line whip), the Chief Whip can initiate disciplinary action against the MP, and the member may be suspended from their political party. Obviously it is not in any MP’s interest to disobey a whip, but a member may do so to emphasise their independence of mind and to impress the electorate. If a member has a problem or a serious issue that needs to be discussed within the party, the MP will usually go to a party whip, who will then relay the MP’s concerns to the relevant person.

Whips are generally well-respected and helpful. MPs can also rely on whips for party gossip and to find out what is going on behind the scenes in Parliament! Whips ensure that MPs are kept up to speed with upcoming business and important party matters. They also make sure that the leadership is aware of backbenchers’ opinions (and vice versa), and they make recommendations to party leaders as to which MPs would make good shadow spokespersons or Ministers.

Each week, the government chief whip draws up a schedule of parliamentary business for the coming week. The (official) opposition chief whip will generally have agreed to it. After the schedule has been drawn up, other opposition chief whips are usually consulted but it is ultimately up to the government to decide how it runs Parliament’s business.

After the agenda has been agreed, the whip’s office in each political party circulates a document known as ‘ the Whip’. The Whip outlines the order of business for the week as well as the attendance required for votes on bills passing through Parliament. When MPs are required to vote on a motion, a debate or a bill, the matter in question will be underlined in the Whip. It is underlined once if attendance is not particularly requested (‘one line vote’), twice if it is required (‘two line vote’) and three times if it is essential (‘three line vote’). Failure to turn up to a three line vote can result in disciplinary action unless there is urgent business elsewhere and the whip has given his permission for the MP to be absent.

The Business of the House: Debates and Divisions

MPs conduct their business primarily by debating issues (either in questions or in debates) and then by voting on them (by voting ‘yes’ or ‘no’).

1. Questions and Debates

Questions and debates fulfil the primary role of holding the government to account.

2. The Speaker

All Questions, important debates and votes in the House of Commons are chaired by the Speaker of the House. The Speaker has three deputies who chair lower key business or adjournment debates.

The Speaker is elected by the members of the House of Commons, usually after a general election or when the incumbent Speaker retires or dies. The Speaker is a figure whose authority MPs respect and obey.

The Speaker of the House and his deputies are MPs, although they relinquish party affiliations when they take up their role as Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the House so as to ensure political neutrality when chairing debates. Convention has it that the Speaker and one of his deputies will be elected from the governing party and the remaining two deputies will be elected from the official opposition party, but this is not always so. Betty Boothroyd, who was a Labour MP before she became Speaker, held her Speaker’s post during a Conservative government. As Speakers are not entitled to vote, the pairing of Speakers from the government and official opposition ensures that their vote is mutually cancelled, so that no one party is favoured over another.

During debates and questions, emotions can sometimes run high, and it is then the Speaker’s role to call the House to order so that business can proceed. The Speaker also calls members in succession who wish to speak on a particular issue, taking care to allow a balance of members from all sides of the House.

When the allotted debating time for a bill or a motion has ended, the Speaker calls out for those in agreement or disagreement to speak out so as to decide whether or not the bill or motion will pass (“as many as are of that opinion say ‘Aye’ .. and to the contrary ‘No’ ”). The Speaker listens out for calls on either side: if only one side responds (usually the ayes), there usually isn’t a vote, but if both sides protest, a division is called.

3. Divisions: the 8 minute rule

Divisions are the process by which members register their opinion on an issue by voting for or against it (‘Aye’ or ‘No’). They do so quite literally by ‘dividing’ around the sides of the chamber into a ‘Yes’ lobby and a ‘No’ lobby.

view a diagram of the chamber

When a division is called by the Speaker, he or she gives out the order to ‘Clear the lobby’, ensuring that no visitors (called ‘strangers’) are in the voting lobby where MPs are about to vote. A loud division bell then rings throughout the Palace of Westminster, in government departments and other parliamentary buildings to announce that a vote is taking place. Wherever members are, they have 8 minutes to get to the chamber’s lobbies to vote. When 8 minutes have elapsed, the Speaker calls out to ‘Lock the doors’ and the doors into the lobbies around the chamber are closed. Any member who arrives after that time is not allowed to vote.

Members vote by filing through the ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ lobby where they are counted by four MPs who have been chosen to be tellers for that vote. The four tellers, two for the ‘ayes’ (from the government) and two for the ‘noes’ (from the official opposition), stand in opposing pairs (one government and one opposition) at the exit of each lobby, to check each other’s counting as members go out of the lobbies and back into the chamber. An official public record is kept for each MP showing how he or she voted on a particular issue, which is published in Hansard, the official transcript of what is said and done in Parliament.

After the vote has ended, all 4 tellers approach the table of the House in a single file and give the Speaker a note with the official results of the vote. The Speaker then calls out “The ‘Ayes’ (or the ‘Noes’) have it”. In a close vote, members can tell which side has won the vote because the senior teller from the winning side will stand on the right hand side of the table of the House, facing the Speaker.

back to top