Parliament is made up of two chambers: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Legislative power is held by Parliament and the Monarch. Parliament is set in the Palace of Westminster. Parliament in the UK has legal sovereignty. However, when the UK was still a member of the European Union, some European laws had precedence over British laws. The role of Parliament is to examine proposals for new laws, to make laws, but also amend and abolish them, to scrutinize government policy and administration, including proposals for expenditure, to provide, by voting for taxation, the means of carrying on the work of government, to debate the major issues of the day, to protect the public and safeguard the rights of individuals.
Since 1999 there has been a devolved parliament in Scotland as well as devolved assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland, in order to allow greater determination to the said region nations. However, England does not have a separate parliament neither does it have its own regional assemblies.
The House of Commons, also called the Lower House or First House, is elected while the House of Lords is unelected. It is also called the Upper House or the Second House. The monarch is also part of Parliament since s/he announces the legislative agenda in the Opening of Parliament (King or Queen’s speech), which is also the only occasion when both houses and PMs meet. The monarch cannot enter the House of Commons. In 2011, the Fixed Term Parliaments Act introduced terms of 5 years, but Parliament can vote for an early general election, as was the case in 2017. Since 2018, the basic salary for an MP has been £77,379.
