Editing Politics of the United Kingdom (section)

====House of Commons====
{{Main|House of Commons of the United Kingdom}}
[[File:UK Parliament HDR.jpg|thumb|left|Parliament meets at the [[Palace of Westminster]]]]

The four [[countries of the United Kingdom]] are divided into parliamentary [[constituencies]] of broadly equal population by the four [[Boundary commissions (United Kingdom)|Boundary Commissions]]. Each constituency elects a [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) to the House of Commons at general elections and, if required, at by-elections. As of the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 general election]] there are 650 constituencies (there were 646 before that year's [[2010 United Kingdom general election|general election]]). At the [[2017 United Kingdom general election|2017 general election]], of the 650 MPs, all but one – [[Sylvia Hermon]] – were elected as representatives of a [[political party]]. However, as of the [[2019 United Kingdom general election|2019 general election]], there are currently 11 independent MPs, who have either chosen to leave their political party or have had the whip withdrawn.

In modern times, all prime ministers and [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|leaders of the opposition]] have been drawn from the Commons, not the Lords. [[Alec Douglas-Home]] resigned from his peerages days after becoming prime minister in 1963, and the last prime minister before him from the Lords left in 1902 (the [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury|Marquess of Salisbury]]).

One party usually has a majority in parliament, because of the use of the [[First Past the Post electoral system]], which has been conducive in creating the current [[Two-party system]]. The monarch normally asks a person commissioned to form a government simply whether it can ''survive'' in the House of Commons, something which majority governments are expected to be able to do. In exceptional circumstances the monarch asks someone to 'form a government' ''with a parliamentary minority''<ref>The formal request from the monarch is either to (a) form a government capable of ''surviving'' in the House of Commons (which by implication does not require a majority behind it, given that skilled minority governments can and do survive for long periods); or (b) form a government capable of ''commanding'' a majority in the Commons, which by implication requires a majority behind it</ref> which in the event of no party having a majority requires the formation of a [[coalition government]] or 'confidence and supply' arrangement. This option is only ever taken at a time of national emergency, such as war-time. It was given in 1916 to [[Bonar Law]], and when he declined, to [[David Lloyd George]] and in 1940 to [[Winston Churchill]]. A government is not formed by a vote of the House of Commons, it is a commission from the monarch. The House of Commons gets its first chance to indicate confidence in the new government when it votes on the [[Speech from the throne]] (the legislative programme proposed by the new government).