While the US Congress battles to pass bills to avert a government shutdown and provide support to Israel and Ukraine, in the United Kingdom there is a very different spectacle on display. November 7 is the date for the State Opening of Parliament, an annual extravaganza of pomp and ceremony. So let's look away from the serious business of attempting to run a government for a moment and sit back to enjoy the crazy traditions and costumes.
The British Parliamentary system
The Houses of Parliament consists of two Houses. The House of Commons (the principle legislative chamber of the Parliament, preferred color green) consists of 650 MPs (Members of Parliament), each representing a distinct constituency. All MPs are elected at the same time, in one general election. The leader of the party with the majority of MPs is invited by the monarch (the head of state) to form a government. General elections must happen at least every five years; when exactly the election happens is down to the government of the day who can call an election at any time during the parliament. The final year of any parliament is very much lame duck, so governments will tend to call an election after four years, traditionally in early May on a Thursday, unless they are so unpopular they feel they have no chance to win and will therefore run the full five years out hoping for miracles. Which will probably be the case with the current parliament - the five year term runs out in January 2025, and current speculation is the election won't happen before November next year.
The House of Commons debates the Queen's Speech in 2013
The second chamber, The House of Lords (preferred colors red and gold. . . lots of gold), is unelected so the Lords don't have to worry about inconveniences such as voters. Once appointed by the government, 'life peers' are members for life. And there are still 92 'hereditary peers' whose seats in the House pass through the generations, along with Church of England Bishops who have automatic seats. This adds up to a lot - there are currently 778 sitting members of the Lords, although most don't regularly turn up. The Lords have a limited role in government, serving to scrutinise and improve legislation coming from the Commons but with limited powers to block legislation coming from the elected House of Commons.
House of Lords debates an humble address following the State Opening of Parliament in 2022
The UK has parliamentary sessions, in a similar way that in the US each state sets out its legislative sessions. Parliamentary sessions are generally a year in duration but that can vary according to circumstances. So a typical parliament will have four sessions. At the end of the session, Parliament is prorogued and all unfinished legislation will normally die, though there are processes which allow important pieces of legislation to be carried over. The new session begins with the State Opening of Parliament, with the centrepiece of the ceremony being a speech by the monarch of the day setting out the government's legislative agenda for the coming year.
The State Opening of Parliament
There are many wonderful traditions associated with this event, dating back centuries. Members of the two chambers are usually kept quite separate, despite the actual chambers being physically next to each other. In fact, during debates, members in each chamber never mentions the other directly, merely referring to 'the other place'. The State Opening is the one time of the year when MPs will join the Lords in the Lords chamber, to listen to the monarch's speech.
There are obvious security implications of having all members of the government, the Head of State and in fact the heads of the judiciary in one place at the same time. This was exploited in 1605 in the infamous Gunpowder Plot, when scheming landowners hired a mercenary, Guido Fawkes, to smuggle gunpowder into the Houses of Parliament and blow everyone up, thereby allowing them to take over the country. The plot was foiled (and all involved were gruesomely tortured and executed) but to this day the building's cellars are ceremoniously search by the Yeomen of the Guard to make sure there aren't any suspicious looking barrels secreted away. And the event is celebrated every year on November 5, Guy Fawkes Night, with bonfires and fireworks. "Remember, remember, the fifth of November" as the nursery rhyme goes.
The Yeomen of the Guard pick up their lamps in preparation for checking the cellars of the Houses of Parliament
In central London roads are closed to allow the monarch and their consort to travel the short distance from Buckingham Palace in the gilded state carriage. They are then escorted from Sovereign's Entrance to the Robing Room where they are dressed in all their finery (a room only used for this express purpose, once a year).
Her Majesty the Queen and HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh arrive at Sovereign’s Entrance in 2012
Meanwhile, members of both Houses gather in their respective chambers, the Lords garbed in all their ceremonial finery. The Usher of the Black Rod, a senior officer in the House of Lords responsible for maintaining order and security in the House, will lead a procession to the House of Commons to invite members to join the Lords for the speech. Importantly, Black Rod will have the doors of the Commons slammed in their face and will need to knock three times to be admitted. A tradition to demonstrate the supremacy of the elected Commons over the unelected Lords dating back to the Civil War in the 1600s.
Black Rod knocks three times on the Commons door
MPs will then troop across Central Lobby to the House of Lords, led by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition who put aside political differences for this occasion and will usually chat amiably on the way. The main Lords chamber isn't anywhere near big enough for all 778 Lords so adding 650 MPs makes for a crowded room. But they all cram in to listen to the speech before returning to the Commons to debate it.
Her Majesty the Queen gives the speech in the Lords chamber in 2012
The Kings Speech
This year's speech is particularly notable as it's the first King's Speech for over 70 years, following the death of Queen Elizabeth last year and the accession of King Charles III to the throne. The King, as a purely ceremonial head of state, has no role in drafting the speech or deciding its contents, he merely reads out the speech that the Prime Minister provides setting out the government's legislative agenda. There is a lot riding on the government's plans this year, as it's almost certainly the last speech before a general election and perhaps the last chance for the government to avoid a crushing defeat, given they are 15 to 20 points behind the opposition Labour Party according to most polls.
The speech today outlined 21 bills that the government plans to introduce in the coming year. This is pretty standard - the average number of bills in each session is about 20. It compares to the over 10,000 bills introduced in Congress each two year session. Each Parliamentary bill is a comprehensive and lengthy piece of legislation and is very likely to pass given the government's current healthy majority in the Commons. The US Congress , in contrast, passed only 358 bills out of 15,061 that were introduced in 2021-2022.
There were few surprises in the speech as the Conservative government sought to draw clear battle lines between themselves and the opposition Labour party. They promised to introduce legislation ensuring sexual offenders would not be released from prison early and for the most horrific murderers to never be released, keen to capitalise on their customary 'law and order' strengths. They also set out measures to expand oil drilling licenses in the North Sea where the Labour party has said they will halt new oil exploration. Environmental policies, which until recently have enjoyed broad cross party consensus, are a new dividing line as the Conservatives seek to delay key planks of their own environmental agenda in the hope of winning over voters. On education, they announced a major shake up of post age 16 qualifications to combine technical and academic qualifications into a single "advanced British standard." And one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's signature campaigns to make Britain 'smoke free' made it into the programme - to progressively raise the age at which people can buy cigarettes by one year each year, meaning that anyone currently 14 years old or younger will never be allowed to legally buy tobacco products.
Only time will tell whether the agenda will prove enough to reverse the fortunes of a government beset by a cost of living crisis, rising crime, crumbling schools and a health service that's on its knees.
All images licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
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