The House of Commons

The House of Commons is the primary legislative chamber of the United Kingdom parliament. The UK parliament is a bicameral legislature, made up of the commons and House of Lords. The commons, or lower House, is the democratically elected body of 650 MPs, each representing a specific geographic constituency. The UK operates under the principle […]

Whips

Whips are MPs or peers in the House of Lords who are appointed by their political party to enforce party discipline and manage its contribution to the parliamentary schedule. The term “whip” has three meanings. It refers to an individual MP or Lord who holds the role – but also to the written instruction they […]

Recesses in the House of Commons

A recess is a period when the House of Commons and the House of Lords are not sitting. These breaks in the parliamentary calendar are not holidays; they are periods that allow MPs and their counterparts in the House of Lords, peers, to carry out their duties away from Westminster. For MPs, recesses are traditionally […]

House of Commons sitting hours

The sitting hours of the House of Commons are the scheduled times each day when the chamber meets to conduct its business. The current hours, which are mostly confined to the daytime, are a relatively modern innovation designed to make parliamentary work more predictable and effective. The end of a sitting is governed by a […]