Parliament

How does the UK Parliament Work

The UK parliament has two houses, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Both houses of parliament work on lawmaking, scrutinising the work of government and debating policy. The crown is also a part of parliament, and the monarch has responsibilities such as opening parliament with the King’s Speech, formally dissolving parliament and signing bills into law.

The House of Commons has 650 publicly elected members (MPs), each representing a constituency in the UK. All legislation must be passed through the House of Commons, and this house alone has the authority to impose taxes and to vote on the spending of public money. The House of Lords, on the other hand, is more limited in its power. Its members are mostly appointed for life, rather than elected, and it has no fixed number of seats. All bills must be read in the House of Lords before becoming law, however, this house cannot normally block the progression of a bill for more than one year.

The UK is a parliamentary democracy, meaning that the government is drawn from, and regularly answerable to, the houses of parliament. The leader of the political party that has won the largest number of MPs in a general election will become Prime Minister. The Prime Minister appoints the cabinet by selecting ministers from members of the House of Commons and, less frequently, the House of Lords. The parliament holds the work of government to account by raising questions to ministers and the Prime Minister, debating legislation and scrutinising the activities of government departments. Moreover, MPs have the power to pass a vote of no confidence in a Prime Minister, which normally leads them to resign and/or call a general election.

The role of the opposition

In a parliamentary democracy, opposition parties play a particularly important role in holding government to account. The leader of the largest non-government party in the House of Commons is the Leader of the Opposition. Since the 2024 general election, the largest opposition party is the Conservative Party, currently led by Kemi Badenoch. It is Badenoch’s role to lead the scrutiny of government actions and forward alternative policies. She engages in regular parliamentary debates with Prime Minister Keir Starmer through the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions.

The Leader of the Opposition is supported by their shadow cabinet. The shadow cabinet is made up of senior opposition MPs who are chosen by their party leader to mirror the work of the government. Members of the shadow cabinet act as spokespersons on their assigned area, scrutinising the work of their corresponding government area and promoting the opposition’s perspective. Often, they will have been government ministers in the past. For instance, the current Shadow Secretary for Energy Security and Net Zero is Claire Coutinho, who previously served as Energy Secretary in the previous government under Rishi Sunak. The Shadow Secretary may ask questions of or debate their corresponding government Secretary in the House of Commons during Ministerial Question Time.

While often overlooked by those seeking to influence government, the opposition plays an important role in the policy making process. It shapes the framing through which government actions are interpreted and scrutinised. Its opinions are heard by government on a regular basis and its responses to government policy are generally covered in the media. As such, engaging with the opposition and shadow cabinet can provide an important avenue for influencing the direction of national policy discussions.

 

Cross Party Groups

Another important way in which the parliament holds government to account is through cross party groups. Perhaps the most significant of these groups are select committees, which are formal bodies established to scrutinise the work of each government department. An IOM3 policy explainer on these committees and how to engage with them is available here.

In addition to select committees, All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG) are a key avenue through which MPs influence policy making on a given issue. APPGs are informal groupings of members of the House of Commons and/or House of Lords interested in a particular area. For instance, there are APPGs on critical minerals, net zero, hydrogen, and steel and metals-related industries. These groups have no official status within parliament and are created and run by their members. Members of parliament join APPGs voluntarily, based on their own interest in an issue. As such, looking at the membership of these groups is a great way to identify MPs and Lords who are familiar with your area of expertise. You can find the list of APPGs here. 

Each APPG typically has its own webpage with the contact details of its members and information about upcoming meetings. You can get in touch with the secretariat, usually provided by charities or other relevant non-government organisations, to find out more about the type of work the group does and how you might be able to engage. As APPGs are non-partisan and work across both houses of parliament, they can be quite influential. Sharing your knowledge and insights with these groups can thus be an effective form of advocacy.

 

Policy work at IOM3

IOM3 engages with a wide range of stakeholders, including members of parliament, to share the expertise of our members in the materials, minerals and mining sectors. If you want to get involved in IOM3’s policy work, we regularly post opportunities for engagement on our Policy and Influence webpage, through our member newsletters and on our social media. You can also get in touch with the Policy Team at [email protected]