The British Parliament (The Houses of Parliament)

Hello again everybody!

Today, I'm debuting a new entry about another of the most iconic places in London.

Today, we're going to talk about the Houses of Parliament, also known as the Westminster Palace. It's the building the United Kingdom parliament works out of. The building is just next to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey in Westminster Square, it was built in 1840-1870 in a renaissance/gothic style. The original palace was demolished in 1834, due to a big fire (which shouldn't be confused with the Great Fire of London, which happened in 1666).

The location of the Westminster Palace is thought to have been considered as a strategic placement, since it was situated on the banks of the river Thames and that gave it a good view point and a source of defensive for the Thorney Island. (Thorney Island was an island in the river Thames, but, over the years, the river's water level has raised and not you can't see the old Thorney Island, as it has become totally submerged).

Westminster Palace is the British Parliament and is divided into 2 Houses: the House of Lords and the House of Commons, and it's where both Houses come together to discuss, debate and oversee all of the laws and rules for the United Kingdom. The prime minister is the head of the government and who calls elections every five years.

To continue in this vein, I'm going to explain the Houses that the parliament is divided into a bit more extensively.

The House of Commons

• The House of Commons is the lowest class of the British Parliament. Meaning, the members of the House of Commons are chosen by the British population, while the members of the House of Lords are appointed. The House of Commons is considered to be small and modest in comparison with the great and luxurious House of Lords.

• They are the people who actually make the laws.

• It's made up of 650 elected members, of which around 500 are men and 150 are women. Although the House has 650 members, there are only 427 seats. On important days, like the approval of the budget, all 650 members are in attendance, people who don't get a seat will have to stand at the back of the room.

  Did you know that you can reserve a place for those days? And do you know how? The person just has to be there at 8 in the morning and to leave a piece of paper with (religious) prayers on it, but then they have to be in the room at the start of that day, for prayers.

The House of Lords

• The House of Lords is the highest class of the British Parliament. The memebrs are born into being a Lord because of their ancestors and marriages, meaning, the members are assigned based on the nobility of their family. Some noble ranks include Duke, Duchess, Count, Countess, Baron and Baroness. Also the House of Lords is also very large and luxuriously decorated with red wooden benches and two royal thrones. It's made up of 675 people and its main job is to make sure that new laws that are going to be passed are fair and viable.

The official name of the House of Lords is "The House of Lords is The Right Honorable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled”. So most people just refer to it as the House of Lords. Applauding during the sessions there is not very common, it has only happened on exceptional occasions, like the appointment of a new prime minister.

How to get to the Parliament?

The Parliament's address is “Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London SW1A 0AA” and you can get there in a few different ways:

• If you come on foot, you can cross Westminster Bridge or Waterloo Bridge. The name of the street that lets you access the Parliament is “St. Margate Street”.

• If you come by tube, you can get off at the following stops:

  • Enbankment, you just have to follow the river from there until you get to Big Ben.

  • Westminster, it'll put you right in front of Parliament, it's the closest stop.

  • Waterloo, it'll put you just on the other side of the Westminster Bridge.

• By bus:

  • There are a lot of buses that stop at the Westminster Pier and at the other side of the Parliament Square.

How much does it cost to get into the Parliament? Is it worth it?

I've only been inside once and it was also quite a few years ago, but, in my opinion, it's worth it if you're going to do an "in-depth" trip to London. I mean if you're going to be there for the weekend, I wouldn't recommend going, I think there are more important things to see than the inside of the Parliament (but that's just my opinion).

Of course it's amazing inside and it has been very well preserved, but, as I said, I'd recommend it for long stays in London: from 4 days to a week.

You can buy tickets online on the Parliament website and at the ticket offices there.

You can get tickets with audio guides or for a tour group with a native guide, there are also Spanish groups that go around at different times.

Entry for an adult with an audio guide costs around £18. 50 and with a tour guide it costs around £25. I went one day with a tour guide and they actually explained everything really well, they told anecdotes and answered some questions that people had. There are also tickets for children, students and the elderly.

What are the security measures like in Parliament?

Well given the current world situation, I would assume that they've increased the security measures considerably from what I saw when I was there. At any rate, I'll tell you what they had. You go through a metal detector like at the airport and the security check is the same for the suitcase or bags you're carrying, they go through a metal detector.

Liquids are not allowed inside the building, but there isn't a problem with food.

And, obviously, just like in an airport, you can't take any sharp objects, sprays,

etc.

Of course, aside from all these security measures, everything is recorded on security cameras and the inner enclosure is protected by security guards.

Can you take photos inside of the Parliament?

Personally, I went on a group visit and they didn't let us take photos apart from in specific rooms and rooms shown to you on the guided visit. These photos are to be for personal use and not for anything commercial. If it's for a magazine or for public use, you have to ask permission and to warn them beforehand by email or by calling the Parliament. You can find more information here.

With around 100 staircases inside, 11 patios, 1, 100 offices and more than 3, 000 corridors throughout the building. Could you guess how many of those are secret? Apart from that, they contracted out lots of artists to decorate and paint its rooms with scenes from British history to teach people about these events.

The different parts of the building are marked out by different colours, gold for the parts used by the monarchy, the benches in the House of Lords are made of a fine red leather, while the benches in the House of Commons are personalised and made of green leather. They are personalised because, as I mentioned before, the members are elected by the public so they change regularly at certain times. In the olden days, the colour hierarchy was very important, but as the years went by it has become less important as, nowadays, the House of Commons is the most powerful house.

I can also tell you that the queen goes to Parliament once a year and she can't go into the House of Commons room, since they are elected by the public and their title isn't a birth rite, as I said before. If she goes in without permission and enters the House, this can be see as her trying to interfere with the functioning of those who have been elected by the public. The queen reads her speech which establishes the legislative programme to be followed by the prime minister for the coming year. Even if the queen does not agree, there is nothing she can do. It is not part of her power to decide these things.

Did you know that you can't use vulgar language inside Parliament? You also are not allowed to condescend or disrespect other people or to blaspheme.

The Hall of the Parliament is the oldest in the building, built in 1097 and named as the oldest hall in Europe. There are some huge, old statues in the interior hall of the most famous British ministers.

Something very particular to this Parliament is that it doesn't have a constitution like we have in Spain or in other countries, but it works off of modifying and creating laws as it needs to. Also the kind of Parliament that have laws that are irrevocable by tribunals is a sovereign parliament.

To speak in parliament, from 2006, they have to decide among each other in the House who and the order in which it'll happen.

In 1941, the House of Commons was destroyed by a bombing and it was rebuilt by Giles Gilbert Scott a few years later. Do you recognise that name? Do you know who that is? He was the architect behind the power stations at Bankside and Battersea, as well as being the man who designed the famous red telephone boxes, which are all over England and that are an iconic symbol of this country.

You can't leave without taking a photo in one of the telephone boxes!

If you enjoyed this article, I would recommend looking at this definitive guide to going on a 4 day trip to London.

Photo gallery