Editing Member of parliament (section)

=== United Kingdom ===<!-- This section is linked from Republic of Ireland -->
{{anchor|United Kingdom}}
{{Main|Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)}}
{{See also|List of current United Kingdom MPs|List of United Kingdom MPs|List of Parliaments of the United Kingdom|List of MPs elected in the 2024 United Kingdom general election|Number of Westminster MPs|Salaries of Members of the UK Parliament|Records of members of parliament of the United Kingdom|List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies}}

The United Kingdom elects members of its parliament:

* the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]], with 650 members elected by the [[First-past-the-post voting|first-past-the-post]] system to the (lower) [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]], referred to as members of Parliament, abbreviated to ''MP''

and four devolved legislatures:

* the [[Scottish Parliament]], with 129 members elected under the [[additional member system]] every five years, and each called [[Member of the Scottish Parliament]] (''MSP''; {{langx|gd|Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA}}; {{langx|sco|Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP}})
* the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]], with 90 members each known as [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland)|Member of the Legislative Assembly]] (''MLA''; {{langx|ga|Comhalta den Tionól Reachtach, CTR}}; [[Ulster Scots dialects|Ulster-Scots]]: ''Laa-Makkan Forgaitherar'', LMF). (Between 1921 and 1973, Northern Ireland was governed by the bicameral [[Parliament of Northern Ireland]]. Members of its lower house, the [[House of Commons of Northern Ireland]], were known as ''Member of Parliament''.)
* the [[Senedd (Welsh Parliament)]], with 60 elected members called ''[[Member of the Senedd]]'' (''English - MS''); {{langx|cy|Aelod o'r Senedd, AS}})<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/about/languages.cfm |title=UK Parliament |access-date=15 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029230135/http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20080806121825/http%3A//www.parliament.uk/about/languages.cfm |archive-date=29 October 2013 }}</ref>
* the [[London Assembly]], with 25 members elected under the additional member system every four years, called ''Members of the London Assembly'' (''AM'')

MPs are elected in [[United Kingdom general elections|general elections]] and by-elections to represent [[United Kingdom constituencies|constituencies]], and may remain MPs until Parliament is dissolved. "If it has not been dissolved earlier, a Parliament dissolves at the beginning of the day that is the fifth anniversary of the day on which it first met."
([[Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022]]).

A candidate to become an MP must be a British or Irish or Commonwealth citizen, be at least 18 years of age (reduced from 21 in 2006), and not be a public official or officeholder, as set out in the schedule to the [[Electoral Administration Act 2006]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/20060022.htm |title=Electoral Administration Act 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071110144847/http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/20060022.htm |archive-date=10 November 2007 |url-status=dead |publisher=Office of Public Sector Information}}</ref>

Technically, MPs have no right to [[resignation from the British House of Commons|resign]] their seats (though they may refuse to seek re-election). However a [[legal fiction]] allows voluntary resignation between elections; as MPs are forbidden from holding an "[[office of profit]] under the Crown", an MP wishing to resign will apply for the [[Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds]] or the [[Steward of the Manor of Northstead|Stewardship of the Manor of Northstead]] which are nominally such paid offices and thus result in the MP vacating their seat. (Accepting a salaried ministerial office does not amount to a paid office under the Crown for these purposes.)

The [[House of Lords]] is a legislative chamber that is part of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Although they are part of the parliament, its members are referred to as [[peerage|peers]], more formally as ''Lords of Parliament'', not MPs. [[Lords Temporal]] sit for life, [[Lords Spiritual]] while they occupy their ecclesiastical positions. [[Hereditary peers]] may no longer pass on a seat in the House of Lords to their heir automatically. The 92 who remain have been elected from among their own number, following the [[House of Lords Act 1999]] and are the only elected members of the Lords.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060103134602/http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/HLLReformChronology.pdf House of Lords Reform] UK Parliament</ref>