 Hello and welcome to a video summarizing everything you need to know when it comes to government and politics. My name is Barbara and in this video we will be looking at constitutions, what they mean, why they're important to countries and we'll especially look at constitutions as they relate to the UK in this video. We'll also look at the structure and the layout of parliament and how the UK's constitution or the different governing principles in the UK have set out and influenced how parliament is like today. So let's get started. Now firstly, when it comes to constitution, what does it really mean? Now a constitution is essentially a set of basic laws that set up and establish how a government is run in any country and a constitution essentially sets out how different parts of a government should look like. Now do bear in mind that in Britain it has an uncodified, in other words an unwritten constitution. This is in contrast to the USA which has a codified, a written constitution and you can see an image of this constitution to the left. Now Britain's constitution is not one document which we can refer to but actually several documents and several laws and this is of course as I've mentioned opposite to countries like the USA which has two constitutions but of course is governed by one main constitution which set out how the government should be run. So make sure also you check out our videos that look at how the US is set out and how its constitutions operate. Now when it comes to Britain, Britain's constitution is quite flexible and there's no actual special procedure for changing or amending the constitution. In contrast when it comes to the US, the constitution is actually quite inflexible. It's really hard to change. There's for instance the Fifth Amendment, the rule which can change it but this is a difficult process, in other words two thirds majority are needed and we're going to outline this on our video looking at the US, its politics and its constitution. Now there also are other countries like Germany which have constitutions with parts which are impossible legally to change. So Germany's first 20 articles can actually never be changed. So in contrast to countries like Germany and the USA, the British constitution is fairly flexible. Now what this therefore means is that because it's quite flexible there's no procedure for changing it and of course in contrast to the US, Britain has seen lots of changes and it's still seeing lots of changes today. Now what is the UK constitution made up of? As I've mentioned it's an uncodified constitution primarily made up of six major documents. These are the Magna Carta which was created in 1215, the Bill of Rights which was created in 1689, the Act of Settlement in 1701, Acts of Union in 1707, Parliament Acts which are two separate acts in 1911 and then passed also in 1949 and then finally the European Communities Act in 1972. So let's have a look at each of them starting with the Magna Carta in 1215. So this is important because it was essentially the first document to state that the king and his government was not above the law. Also what this did is it prevented the king or queen from exploiting their power. So really this is the first bit of very important legal document that influenced Britain and how it is today. The second of course is the Bill of Rights of 1689 and this essentially set out the idea that Parliament can meet and decide laws for elections and freedom of speech in Parliament. Now the third document is the Act of Settlement of 1701 and essentially what this is we can see it almost as an update to the Magna Carta. It just simply put more limits on the powers of kings and queens in the UK. Fourthly there was the Acts of Union in 1707 and this was passed by both the English and Scottish Parliaments and this led to the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and it was later expanded from just simply Britain and Scotland to Wales and Northern Ireland as it is today. Now the fifth is the two Parliament Acts of 1911-1949 and what they did was put limits on powers of the House of Lords who are chosen by Queen and Parliament and these Parliament Acts also gave more power to the House of Commons who are elected by us and finally the European Communities Act in 1972 essentially what it did is it made the UK a member of the EU in 1973 which was then known as the European Economic Community. However now the UK has officially left the EU. Now how does this influence how UK's Parliament is structured? Now when it comes to understanding Parliament you need to understand that there are four main components of Parliament that you need to be aware of. The first is the Crown. This is basically the monarch where the king or queen sits and today as of 2020 Queen Elizabeth II is our monarch and she's the longest reigning monarch in history. Then in Parliament there's the House of Lords so historically speaking the House of Lords was created by the king a long time ago and he would choose the members of it and they would debate laws and so on and even today the House of Lords includes unelected members. Also in Parliament of course is the House of Commons and this is really the part of Parliament today which has a lot of power. This is where our Prime Minister sits and of course 650 elected ministers sit and finally the select committees. So let's look in detail at different components of Parliament starting with the monarchy or the Crown. So as I mentioned this is the oldest form of government in the UK. It's unelected so this is Hereditary the Queen will pass on the Crown to her children. However today the monarch really doesn't have that much power they just have a very ceremonial role. They don't have really any power today to change laws. Also the monarchy after each general election invites the Prime Minister to form a government. So of course in the last 90 or so years or rather 60 or so years that Queen Elizabeth has been in power she has invited each Prime Minister when they have been elected to form a government. And finally when a bill, a law has been approved by majority of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. It's formally agreed to by the Queen or the King. Now when it comes to House of Lords firstly it's the non-elected side or the non-elected chamber of Parliament and they make and shape laws with and alongside the House of Commons. The House of Lords has 800 members known as life pairs, hereditary pairs and bishops. However they do not have MPs. As I mentioned members of Parliament we elect them they don't sit in the House of Lords. Now in the House of Lords their people are chosen because they are experts in their specific fields and they look at laws in detail which are passed by House of Commons and they can challenge them. Of course as I mentioned the House of Commons is arguably the most important and essential part of Parliament because we have all as citizens in the UK had a role in electing these people that sit in the House of Commons. Now this is the elected chamber of Parliament and it debates huge issues, proposes and changes laws and criticises things that the government isn't really doing well. It has 650 members of Parliament who represent constituencies in other words boroughs, especially boroughs in London. Each member of Parliament belongs to a political party however some can also be independent but these are quite few. Furthermore the political party which has the most MPs then chooses the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister in turn chooses a cabinet of 20 senior ministers. This is where we've got our Minister of Defence, our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Home Secretary and so on. Also the parties that are not in power are known as the opposition and therefore in other words the party which has the second most amount of seats in the House of Commons forms the opposition party and they can also form a shadow cabinet and the leading party and the opposition party usually debate and the Speaker moderates it in the House of Commons which you can actually watch on TV and finally any bill passed into law becomes an act of Parliament. Now the final chamber of Parliament is the select committees. Now the select committees are essentially smaller groups formed that look at what the government does in detail. They check and report on areas ranging from the work of the government departments to economic affairs. Now committee members can also include people from the House of Lords and the House of Commons both the elected House of Commons but also the elected or rather the unelected House of Lords and the right of report with recommendations after looking into issues. So that's all. If you found this video useful really appreciate it if you gave it a big thumbs up but also make sure you visit our website www.firstreadtutors.com that you will find lots of useful revision materials to help you in this and indeed other academic areas in your studies. Thanks so much for listening.