The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster in London. Parliament possesses legislative supremacy and thereby holds ultimate power over all other political bodies in the United Kingdom and the Overseas Territories. While Parliament is bicameral, it has three parts: the sovereign (King-in-Parliament), the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. In theory, power is officially vested in the King-in-Parliament. However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the prime minister, and the powers of the House of Lords are limited to only delaying legislation; thus power is de facto vested in the House of Commons.
The legislatures of the United Kingdom are derived from a number of different sources. The parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body for the United Kingdom and the British overseas territories with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each having their own devolved legislatures. Each of the three major jurisdictions of the United Kingdom has its own laws and legal system.
The European Communities Act 1972, also known as the ECA 1972, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which made legal provision for the accession of the United Kingdom as a member state to the three European Communities (EC) – the European Economic Community, European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), and the European Coal and Steel Community ; the EEC and ECSC subsequently became the European Union.
The Act of Uniformity 1662 is an Act of the Parliament of England. It prescribed the form of public prayers, administration of sacraments, and other rites of the Established Church of England, according to the rites and ceremonies prescribed in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Adherence to this was required in order to hold any office in government or the church, although the new version of the Book of Common Prayer prescribed by the Act was so new that most people had never even seen a copy. The Act also required that the Book of Common Prayer 'be truly and exactly Translated into the British or Welsh Tongue'. It also explicitly required episcopal ordination for all ministers, i.e. deacons, priests and bishops, which had to be reintroduced since the Puritans had abolished many features of the Church during the Civil War. The act did not explicitly encompass the Isle of Man.
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom cabinet position, responsible for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The post was originally named President of the Board of Agriculture and was created in 1889. In 1903, an Act was passed to transfer to the new styled Board of Agriculture and Fisheries certain powers and duties relating to the fishing industry, and the post was renamed President of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries.
Referendums in the United Kingdom are occasionally held at a national, regional or local level. Historically, national referendums are rare due to the long-standing principle of parliamentary sovereignty. There is no constitutional requirement to hold a national referendum for any purpose or on any issue however the UK Parliament is free to legislate through an Act of Parliament for a referendum to be held on any question at any time.
A writ of election is a writ issued ordering the holding of an election. In Commonwealth countries writs are the usual mechanism by which general elections are called and are issued by the head of state or their representative. In the United States, writs are more commonly used to call special elections for political offices.
The British Nationality Act 1981 (c.61) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning British nationality since 1 January 1983.
The Ireland Act 1949 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to deal with the consequences of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 as passed by the Irish parliament, the Oireachtas.
In the United Kingdom, devolved matters are the areas of public policy where the Parliament of the United Kingdom has devolved its legislative power to the national legislatures of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, while reserved matters and excepted matters are the areas where the UK Parliament retains exclusive power to legislate.
The Forfeiture Act 1870 is a British Act of Parliament that abolished the automatic forfeiture of goods and land as a punishment for treason and felony. It does not apply to Scotland, which did not fully abolish forfeiture until the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1949. Prior to the Act being passed, a person convicted of treason or felony automatically and permanently forfeited all of his lands and possessions to the Crown. The old offence of praemunire, which was also punished with forfeiture, was only a misdemeanour, and so the Act did not apply to it.
The British Nationality Act 1948 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on British nationality law which defined British nationality by creating the status of "Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies" (CUKC) as the sole national citizenship of the United Kingdom and all of its colonies.
Agriculture in the United Kingdom uses 69% of the country's land area, employs 1% of its workforce and contributes 0.5% of its gross value added. The UK currently produces about 60% of its domestic food consumption.
The constitution of the United Kingdom is the set of laws and conventions that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a political body. Unlike in most countries, the constitution is not codifed, but is written into thousands of statutes and court cases, and found in unwritten political conventions and social consensus. The UK Supreme Court recognises principles, that guide the constitution, including parliamentary sovereignty, the rule of law, democracy, and upholding international law. It also recognises that some Acts of Parliament have special constitutional status. These include Magna Carta, which in 1215 required the King to call a "common counsel" to represent people, to hold courts in a fixed place, to guarantee fair trials, to guarantee free movement of people, to free the church from the state, and to guarantee rights of "common" people to use the land. After the Glorious Revolution, the Bill of Rights 1689 and the Claim of Right Act 1689 cemented Parliament's position as the supreme law-making body, and said that the "election of members of Parliament ought to be free". The Treaty of Union in 1706 and the Acts of Union 1707 Kingdoms of England, Wales and Scotland, the Acts of Union 1800 joined Ireland, but the Irish Free State separated after the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922, leaving Northern Ireland within the UK. After struggles for universal suffrage, the UK guaranteed every adult citizen over 21 years the equal right to vote in the Representation of the People Act 1928. After World War II, the UK became a founding member of the Council of Europe to uphold human rights, and the United Nations to guarantee international peace and security. The UK was a member of the European Union, joining its predecessor in 1973, but left in 2020. The UK is also a founding member of the International Labour Organization and the World Trade Organization to participate in regulating the global economy.
The Agricultural Wages Act 1948 was a UK Act of Parliament under which the Agricultural Wages Board regulated the amount that farm workers were paid, in order to guarantee a fair minimum wage scale, depending, for example, on type of work, or years of experience. After the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 was introduced, agricultural wages tended to be slightly higher than those at the minimum. However, the Conservative-Liberal-Democrat coalition government decided to allow farm worker wages to be reduced by repealing most of the 1948 Act in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. This did not affect Scotland.
The Referendum Act 1975 , also known simply as the Referendum Act or the Referendum Bill, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which made legal provision for the holding of a consultative referendum on whether the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Communities (EC)—generally known at the time in the UK, with reference to their main component, the European Economic Community (EEC) as stipulated in the Act, also known at the time as the "Common Market". The Referendum Bill was introduced to the House of Commons by the Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council Edward Short on 26 March 1975; on its second reading on 10 April 1975, MPs voted 312–248 in favour of holding the referendum—which came the day after they voted to stay in the European Communities on the new terms set out in the renegotiation.
This is a list of current, amended, spent and repealed acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom relating to its former membership and current relationship to the European Communities and the European Union from 1972 onwards.
The Terms of Withdrawal from EU (Referendum) Bills were a series of private member's bills of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to make provision for the holding of a second referendum in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar on whether or not to leave the European Union either before Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty can be triggered or following the conclusion of negotiations by the Welsh Labour MP Geraint Davies. The first version of this bill was presented in the 2016–2017 session of Parliament to the House of Commons and received its first reading on 6 July 2016 but lapsed when Parliament was dissolved. The Government triggered Article 50 at the end of March 2017.
The European Communities Act 1972 (Repeal) Bills were a series of private member's bills of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to make provision for the repeal of the European Communities Act 1972 and end the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union which at the time of the first bill being presented to Parliament for its first reading on 20 June 2012 by the then prominent Eurosceptic Conservative MP for Clacton Douglas Carswell was approaching its 40th anniversary of being on the statute book. On 26 October 2012 the first bill received its second reading with a half hour debate in the Commons however at the time it did not carry the wider support of the Conservative Party and failed to progress any further before the then current session of Parliament ended. The first bill is also notable for being the first ever private members bill ever to be crowd funded.
