Westminster Parliament

Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
56th 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	1,455 consisting of 805 Lords Temporal and Spiritual 650 Members of Parliament (MPs)
Lords political groups	HM Government      Conservative (254) HM Most Loyal Opposition      Labour (202) Crossbench      Crossbenchers (178) Other groups      Liberal Democrats (102)      Non-affiliated (30)      Democratic Unionist (3)      UK Independence (3)      Ind. Labour (2)      Ulster Unionist (2)      Green (1)      Ind. Social Democrat (1)      Ind. Ulster Unionist (1)      Plaid Cymru (1) Lords Spiritual      Bishops (25) (sits with government)      Lord Speaker
Commons political groups	HM Government      Conservative (330) HM Most Loyal Opposition      Labour (229) Other Opposition      Scottish National (54)      Liberal Democrats (9)      Democratic Unionist (8)      Sinn Féin (4, in abstention)      Plaid Cymru (3)      SDLP (3)      Ulster Unionist (2)      Green (1)      Independent (5)      Vacant (1) Speaker      Speaker (1)
Elections
Commons last election	7 May 2015
Meeting place
Palace of Westminster, London, United Kingdom
Website
www.parliament.uk

HM Government

HM Most Loyal Opposition

Crossbench

Other groups

Lords Spiritual

HM Government

HM Most Loyal Opposition

Other Opposition

Speaker

The Parliament of the United Kingdom, commonly known as the UK Parliament or British Parliament, is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British 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 boroughs of the British capital, 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.