House of Commons

The House of Commons isn’t where politicians live; instead it’s one of the most important parts of the UK government. MPs are elected to sit in the House of Commons and play several vital roles in the function of the government. We will discuss these roles, as well as how the House is structured and what makes it different from the House of Lords.

UK House of Commons

The UK House of Commons is one of the two bodies that make up the country's parliament, alongside the House of Lords. Parliament is only one branch of government within the UK, and its title, the 'legislative branch', is rather suggestive of its main role; can you guess what it is? The main role of parliament as the legislative branch is to create new laws – to 'legislate'.

The House of Commons is a panel of Members of Parliament (MPs) who discuss matters of proposed legislation. Do you remember all the election posters you've seen around town? Or hearing your uncle try to convince you and your siblings that his party is the best? Well, all that relates to the election of these MPs. As part of the UK's democracy, these MPs are elected by the people to sit in the House of Commons. Once elected, MPs have various roles, but most of their time involves debating, voting, and correcting proposed legislation, which comes to parliament in the form of a bill.

Fig. 1 Chamber of the House of Commons

House of Commons Roles

We know that the House of Commons plays an important role in parliament, but what role is that? Well, the House of Commons has four main roles within parliament. These are:

• Passing legislation

• Parliamentary Scrutiny

• Providing ministers for the executive

• Representation

The biggest role they carry out, and the one that takes up most of their time, is passing legislation.

House of Commons: The Passage of a Bill

The House of Commons plays a vital role in the billing process. This is the name given to the creation of new laws. Proposed legislation, or bills, are given to parliament to consider and debate.

Working alongside the House of Lords, the other House of Parliament, the House of Commons debates and votes upon bills. Most bills start in the House of Commons, but some start in the House of Lords. A bill that starts in the House of Commons will follow this process:

• First Reading: MPs read the bill that has been put forward, there is no debate.

• Second Reading: MPs debate the bill, discussing what they like and don't, but no amendments are made. An initial vote takes place, here the MPs can turn down the bill completely if they believe it cannot be salvaged even with amendments.

• Committee Stage: Next committees, or the House itself, debate the bill and make amendments.

• Report Stage: The changes made in the previous stage are then reported back to the House of Commons.

• Third Reading: Here no amendments can be made, this is the final reading of the bill and the last chance for the House to hear what the bill includes and what has been changed

Next, the House of Commons passes the amended bill to the House of Lords where it goes through the same five stages. The bill is then returned to the House of Commons. If they do not agree with the changes then the above five stages will be repeated, and then it will be sent back to the other house. This may happen a few times until both bodies can agree. Once an agreement has been reached the Houses will pass the bill over to the Crown where it will receive Royal Assent and be made law.

House of Commons: Parliamentary Scrutiny

The next role that the House of Commons carries out is parliamentary scrutiny. The House of Commons, alongside the House of Lords, is responsible for holding the government to account, by scrutinising their actions to ensure that they are doing their job properly and not abusing their power. There are three main ways that this parliamentary scrutiny can be carried out. These are:

• Questions to ministers: these can be from anyone in the house, and may be answered either orally or in written form. They allow MPs to question ministers on important issues.

• Select committees: in the House of Commons these are committees that 'shadow' or duplicate government departments.

• Debates: these usually happen within the House of Commons chamber and discuss formal proposals.

House of Commons: Providing Ministers for the Executive

Alongside sitting in the House of Commons a select few MPs are also selected to be ministers in Cabinet, also known as Secretaries of State. The Queen technically appoints these ministers but does so on recommendation from the Prime Minister, who also chooses which portfolios the appointed ministers get. Each member of the cabinet will be representative of a governmental department and will meet weekly, alongside the Prime Minister.

Cabinet is one of the most important bodies in government as it is the main body of the executive, but also has MPs and Lords, so they have power in two branches of the government. Though Cabinet Ministers are the most politically important, Junior Ministers and Ministers of State are ministers also appointed from the House of Commons (and House of Lords). They usually also work in governmental departments and often help to prepare bills and represent their departments.

Fig. 2 Boris Johnson and his Cabinet during a meeting

House of Commons: Representing their Constituents

The final role that is carried out by the House of Commons' MPs is the representation of their constituents. Every MP is elected by and represents a constituency. As such, there are 650 constituencies within the UK (in 2022). They have the duty to prioritise their constituency's needs within the House. To do this they make sure that any local issues are held into consideration when discussing matters in the House of Commons. Additionally, if their constituency has concerns on matters of the executive then the constituency's MP can raise a question to the executive.

Structure of the House of Commons

Fig. 3 Distribution of the Seats in the House of Commons in 2019

The House of Commons is made up of Members of Parliament (MPs) who hold the six hundred and fifty seats in the House. People like you and me vote for the individual we think best represents our political views, voting for them to gain a seat in parliament. Each individual running for candidacy represents a political party.

All Members of Parliament have the same bog-standard role of representing their party in the House and carrying out House responsibilities, but some have extra roles within the House of Commons in addition to their main role. The most important of these are that of the Speaker and the Leader.

Speaker of the House of Commons

The Speaker is the highest authority in the House of Commons, they are elected at the start of every parliamentary term and are voted on by the rest of the MPs within the House of Commons. Their role is to chair meetings, making sure that they run smoothly. They call MPs to speak and keep order in debates. Another of their responsibilities in the House of Commons is to select the amendments to the bill that should be considered by the House. This gives the speaker a lot of influence.

To remain impartial to these differences, once elected, the speaker becomes non-partisan by resigning from their political party – although they still represent their constituency. Once they have been elected they do not themselves take part in voting in the house; however, in the case of a tie the speaker may cast the deciding vote.

Leader of the House of Commons

The leader of the House of Commons works alongside the chief whip in making sure the House of Commons works efficiently and effectively. They do this by organising the meetings and general affairs of the House of Commons – making sure all their roles are carried out and ample time is provided for each individual matter. As the leader, they not only run the House as a whole but are also responsible for individual members, if any complaints arise either by the MPs or against them the leader is responsible for addressing these concerns and amending them professionally and fairly.

As the leader of the House of Commons, they are representative of the House as a whole and often appear in public ceremonies or conferences. They also hold a position in Cabinet, acting as a representative of the house within the government itself. Their role within government is, of course, related to the legislative branch and they are responsible for the government's legislative programme, making sure that it runs smoothly.

Difference between the House of Commons and the House of Lords

The House of Commons and the House of Lords together make up the Houses of Parliament. Most of their functions are the same, such as passing bills, parliamentary scrutiny, and providing ministers for the executive. However, there are still a few differences between them, especially, how they get their seats, who has the final say, and the ability to dismiss the executive

How members of each house reach their position in Parliament is the biggest difference between the two. In the House of Commons, MPs are elected by the people to represent their political party and constituencies. However, members of the House of Lords are appointed, either by the executive, or the church, or they inherit their title from their family. This is why the House of Commons has a representative function and the House of Lords doesn't.

Due to the House of Commons being a lot more representative of the country they have a privileged position within parliament. They have the advantage during the billing process where when a decision between the two houses cannot be reached the House of Commons can have the overruling say. They also have more authority over certain areas of law that the House of Lords doesn't have a say in. These include taxation and public expenditure.

The last difference between the House of Commons and the House of Lords is that the House of Commons is allowed, and has the power to dismiss the executive. The House of Commons can hold a 'Vote of No Confidence' which, if it passes, means that the executive has to resign or call a new election.