What is the House of Commons?

too busy bickering on TV to run the country there's got to be more to the House of Commons than that right before the House of Commons or the House of Lords there was just the king and his Barons the king could call on them whenever he wanted but he didn't count on them becoming powerful and in 1215 they made King John seal Magna carter which forced him to obey the law and set up an advisory Council of 25 men 50 years later Simon De monford rebelled against Henry II and for the first time invited representative of the towns together with the Knights of the shes to his 1265 Parliament these citizens met separately from the nobility and evolved to form the House of Commons in 1332 so now there are two houses the House of Commons and the House of Lords as the rights of the people increased the king and nobility became less powerful and the balance of power eventually swung to the Commons in 1512 a huge fire consumed Westminster palace Henry VII moved out and once rebuilt it became parli home Parliament still works from Westminster today and has three parts the House of Commons the House of Lords and the monarchy members of the House of Commons are elected by you and me every 5 years we elect representatives to run the country on our behalf which means we run the country kind of it's easy to run as a candidate you just have to be 18 not in prison and not a Lord oh and also you can't be the Monarch ever since Charles the first burst in on the chamber Uninvited no king or queen has been allowed in so what does the house actually do all day it debates important issues makes and reviews our laws represents the public and holds the government to account inside the House of Commons there are two sides on one side the government who run the country and on the other side the opposition who keep an eye on what the government are doing the chamber only has 437 seats for over 600 members so MPS have to pack in for big debates the common speaker sits at the head of the room to maintain order the Prime Minister leads the government and appoints ministers to form a cabinet you'll see them on the front bench it's the government that introduces most of the ideas for new laws and changes to old ones the opposition questions and challenges the government all MPS split their time between the House of Commons and their constituency often MPS have to figure out what's best for their party or what's best for the local people they represent even the ones who didn't vote for them there are lots of ways the government is held to account every week for half an hour the Prime Minister comes to the House of Commons to answer questions from MPS it's dramatic it's heated and it's this that gets the most viewers tuning in but it's not just the PM in the hot seat MPS get to question ministers from all government departments and then there are select committees where MPS spend a lot of time reviewing the policies and spending of government this is called scrutiny they speak to experts and the public to understand how Laws affect our everyday lives this work helps the government shape their policies also whenever the government wants to raise taxes the House of Commons has to agree they review any proposed bill before they vote so it's not just a lot of Rowdy bickering they do more than what's shown on TV debating important issues making laws holding the government to account and allowing MPS to represent the public that's you so what do you think of the House of Commons [Music] now

Channel: UK Parliament

Views: 517,018

Keywords: UK Parliament, Education, how parliament works, house of commons

Id: dS_SLF92e5A

Length: 3min 32sec (212 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 04 2014