What is Parliament?

Parliament is the name for the people who make laws and check the work of the Government.

The Government is the Prime Minister and the people they choose to help them.

Parliament makes sure the Government thinks about what people in the UK want and need.

Parliament has 2 big groups of people who work for and speak up for the people in the UK.

The 2 big groups are called:

• the House of Commons
• the House of Lords.

The House of Commons

All of the people who win general elections work as MPs in the House of Commons for 5 years or until the next election in their area.

The MPs in the House of Commons are from different political parties.

The House of Lords

The House of Lords has people who:

• the Queen or King made into a Lord or a Baroness

• are a bishop or an archbishop.

Only 26 bishops and archbishops can be in the House of Lords.

The people in the House of Lords know about a lot of different things.  For example, education , health, science, sport.

The King

The King is also part of Parliament.

He:

• opens Parliament
• closes Parliament before a general election
• says yes in the last part of a making a new law.

Parliament:

• checks and asks questions about the work of the Government

• checks and decides how the Government spends money

• makes and changes laws

• talks about and decides things that are important now.