Parliament (UK)

Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
57th UK Parliament
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	House of Lords House of Commons
Leadership
Monarch	Elizabeth II Since 6 February 1952
Lord Speaker	The Lord Fowler Since 1 September 2016
Speaker of the House of Commons	John Bercow Since 22 June 2009
Structure
Seats	1,429 consisting of 779 Lords Temporal and Spiritual 650 Members of Parliament (MPs)
Lords political groups	HM Government      Conservative Party (243) Confidence and supply      Democratic Unionist Party (3) HM Most Loyal Opposition      Labour Party (186) Other opposition      Liberal Democrats (98)      Non-affiliated (29)      UKIP (3)      Ind. Labour (3)      Ulster Unionist Party (2)      Green Party (1)      Ind. Social Democrat (1)      Ind. Ulster Unionist (1)      Plaid Cymru (1) Crossbench      Crossbenchers (181) Lords Spiritual      Bishops (26) (sit with government) Speaker      Lord Speaker
Commons political groups	HM Government      Conservative Party (316) Confidence and supply      Democratic Unionist Party (10) HM Most Loyal Opposition      Labour Party (257) Other opposition      Scottish National Party (35)      Liberal Democrats (12)      Sinn Féin (7) (abstentionist)      Plaid Cymru (4)      Green Party (1)      Independent (6)      Vacant (1) Speaker      Speaker (1)
Elections
Commons last election	8 June 2017
Meeting place
Palace of Westminster, London, United Kingdom
Website
www.parliament.uk

HM Government

Confidence and supply

HM Most Loyal Opposition

Other opposition

Crossbench

Lords Spiritual

Speaker

The Parliament of the United Kingdom, commonly known as the UK Parliament or British Parliament, is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown dependencies and overseas territories. It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. Its head is the Sovereign of the United Kingdom (currently Queen Elizabeth II) and its seat is the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster, one of the inner boroughs of the capital city, London.

The parliament is bicameral, consisting of an upper house (the House of Lords) and a lower house (the House of Commons). The Sovereign forms the third component of the legislature (the Queen-in-Parliament). The House of Lords includes two different types of members: the Lords Spiritual, consisting of the most senior bishops of the Church of England, and the Lords Temporal, consisting mainly of life peers, appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister, and of 92 hereditary peers, sitting either by virtue of holding a royal office, or by being elected by their fellow hereditary peers. Prior to the opening of the Supreme Court in October 2009, the House of Lords also performed a judicial role through the Law Lords.