Photo: Clive Mear/Tearfund
Do you know what the difference is between Parliament & Government? Sometimes the differences aren’t clear and their responsibilities can get a bit confused because Parliament and Government work closely together. So what do they do?
Simply put our Government runs the country. They look at creating and changing laws and are responsible for making key decisions, guiding how our country works.
Parliament is responsible for keeping an eye on what the Government is doing, it checks out and debates each of the laws that the Government wants to change or create. It is made up of two Houses which you’ve probably heard of, the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
The Government is formed by the political party that wins the most places, known as seats, in the House of Commons. Currently the Government is made up of members of the Labour party lead by our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. The opposition is formed by the other political parties and are there to challenge the Government, making sure that the decisions made are in the best interest of the country.