The Speaker of the House of Commons visited Qatar from the 16 to 18 September to strengthen ties between the two Parliaments.

A minority government is a government formed by a political party that does not have an overall majority of MPs in the House of Commons. A party may decide to govern alone - rather than form a ...

Two events have changed the way Members of the House of Lords are appointed: the 1999 House of Lords Act, which ended hereditary Peers' right to pass membership down through family, and the ...

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The Lords Chamber is the most lavishly-decorated room in the Palace of Westminster. It has the grandest interior because it is where the three elements of Parliament (the Sovereign, the Lords and the ...

MPs have public contact details so their constituents can get in touch. In most cases you can write, phone, fax or email. MPs will generally only act on behalf of their constituents, so please check ...

The Houses of Parliament are determined to be a rewarding, inclusive and diverse place to work. Parliament has set up three schemes to offer opportunities to individuals who would not previously have ...

Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries removed the main source of charity for those who could not support themselves. In 1601, Elizabeth I's Government tried to fill the gap with the Poor Relief ...

The earliest factories (or mills) had grown up in the later 18th century around the expanding cotton industry in Lancashire. Conditions of work were grim and factory owners often imposed excessively ...

The House of Lords Appointments Commission was established in 2000. It is independent and separate from the House of Lords. The Appointments Commission recommends individuals for appointment as ...

The Race Relations Act 1965 was the first piece of legislation in the UK to address the prohibition of racial discrimination and followed previously unsuccessful bills. The Act banned racial ...

What did the Act achieve? Passed just before the outbreak of WWII, as a response to Germany and the Soviet Union's non-aggression pact, this Act gave the Government special powers to take almost any ...