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The Political System Of The Uk

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The Political system in the UK is a Parliamentary democracy and consists of two chambers, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The House of Commons are democratically elected members of Parliament, whereas, the House of Lords consist of members appointed due to their status, title or contribution to society. Both the House of Commons and Lords are collectively known as Parliament.

Parliament is the highest law making body of the land, and is commonly referred to as Parliamentary supremacy, due to the fact no law can be over ruled or amended except by Parliament themselves.
A majority of bills are introduced and started in the House of Commons unless it is that of Private Members Bill which starts in the House of Lords, but this is very rare. In order for a law to be passed and become an Act of Parliament it first has to complete five Legislative stages in both the House of Commons and House of Lords.

The first stage is the First reading where the short title of the Bill is read and briefly explained to members. The second stage is the second reading where it gives the opportunity for MPs to debate the Bill and decide whether the Bill can pass to the next stage. The third stage is the Committee stage which consists of approximately 16-50 MPs and a detailed examination of the Bill takes place and recommendations for any amendments are made. It is at this stage that involvement from officials from outside of Parliament who specialise in the area of the Bill maybe

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