Parliament

Abstract

The central concern of this chapter is the role of parliament in national politics. We examine the importance of party to the working of the House of Commons, the nature of the representativeness of the lower house of parliament, the constituency work of Members of Parliament, the functions of parliament in the political system, party organisation, recent changes in parliamentary behaviour and organisation, the role of the House of Lords and prospects for the future. The theme of party is the connecting link between these topics. It is argued that the role of parliament in the political system in general has to be understood primarily in terms of the working of the party system within the context of the choices of a democratic electorate channelled in a particular way by the electoral system (Chapter 12). We begin by explaining this key statement.