House of Commons of the United Kingdom

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is made up of Members of Parliament elected by the people. Sometimes it is called the 'lower house'. (The 'upper house' is called the House of Lords.) Other countries also have a bicameral parliament with a House of Commons working in the same way.

The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled
59th Parliament
Flag of the House of Commons
Type
Type	Lower house of the Parliament of the UK
Leadership
Speaker	Sir Lindsay Hoyle since 4 November 2019
Chairman of Ways and Means	Vacant
Prime Minister	Sir Keir Starmer, Labour since 5 July 2024
Leader of the House	Lucy Powell, Labour since 5 July 2024
Government Chief Whip	Sir Alan Campbell, Labour since 5 July 2024
Leader of the Opposition	Rishi Sunak, Conservative since 5 July 2024
Shadow Leader of the House	Chris Philp, Conservative since 8 July 2024
Opposition Chief Whip	Stuart Andrew, Conservative since 5 July 2024
Structure
Seats	650
Political groups	Template:UK Parliament political groups
Length of term	Up to five years[lower-alpha 1]
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post
Last election	4 July 2024
Next election	No later than 15 August 2029
Redistricting	Every eight years, proposed by the boundary commissions
Meeting place
House of Commons chamber Palace of Westminster City of Westminster London, England United Kingdom
Website
www.parliament.uk/business/commons/

In the British parliament, there are 650 Members of Parliament or MPs. Each MP represents a constituency, which covers an area of the country. The people of each constituency vote at a general election or a by-election to choose one person to represent them in the House of Commons. Usually, the people choose someone who belongs to a political party. When all the parties get together, the party or coalition with the most members is the government and runs the country. The leader of that party is called the Prime Minister.

The House of Commons hold their meetings in the Palace of Westminster. Their chief officer is the Speaker of the House, who is elected by MPs. The current Speaker is Lindsay Hoyle, who was elected in 2019. The Clerk of the House of Commons is the Principal Adviser to the Speaker. The Serjeant-at-Arms is in charge of the security.

Election results since 1945

Year	Conservative	Labour	Liberal & SDP	SNP	Others
1945	197	393	12	0	38
1950	298	315	9	0	3
1951	321	295	6	0	3
1955	Winston Churchill resigns and Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister
1955	345	277	6	0	8
1957	Anthony Eden resigns and Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister
1959	365	258	6	0	1
1963	Harold Macmillan resigns and Alec Douglas-Home becomes Prime Minister
1964	304	317	9	0	0
1966	253	364	12	0	1
1970	330	288	6	1	5
1974	297	301	14	7	16
1974	277	319	13	11	15
1976	Harold Wilson resigns and James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister
1979	339	269	11	2	14
1983	397	209	23	2	19
1987	376	229	22	3	21
1988	The Liberal and SDP parties merge and Form The Liberal Democrats

Year	Conservative	Labour	Lib Dems	SNP	Others
1990	Margaret Thatcher resigns and John Major becomes Prime Minister
1992	336	271	20	3	21
1997	165	418	46	6	24
2001	166	413	52	5	23
2005	198	355	62	4	23
2007	Tony Blair resigns and Gordon Brown Becomes Prime Minister
2010	306	258	57	6	23
2015	330	232	8	56	24
2016	David Cameron resigns and Theresa May becomes Prime Minister
2017	317	262	12	35	24
2019	Theresa May resigns and Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister
2019	365	202	11	48	24
2022	Boris Johnson resigns and Liz Truss becomes Prime Minister
2022	Liz Truss resigns and Rishi Sunak becomes Prime Minister
2024	121	411	72	9	37

Notes

1. Current law passed by Parliament limits the term of the House of Commons to five years. However, since Parliament is sovereign, Parliament can extend its term for as long as it pleases.^[1] The last time this occurred was during World War II when Parliament voted to extend the term of the House of Commons multiple times until the conclusion of the war, with that Parliament existing for ten years instead of five years.

References

1. Forsyth, Christopher (1 January 2011). "The definition of Parliament after Jackson: Can the life of Parliament be extended under the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949?". International Journal of Constitutional Law. 9 (1). Oxford University Press: 132–143. doi:10.1093/icon/mor019. OCLC 5113464158. S2CID 144226994.