Тема: Экономика и политика Англии. Практическое задание: прочитать текст, составить план текста.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy.
It means that the sovereign reigns but does not rule.
Britain does not have a written constitution, but a set of laws.
Parliament is the most important authority in Britain. Technically Parliament is made up
of three parts: the Monarch, the House of Lords; and the House of Commons. In reality the
House of Commons is the only one of the three which has true power.
The monarch serves formally as head of state. But the monarch is expected to be
politically neutral and should not make political decisions.
The present sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II. She was crowned in Westminster Abbey in
1953.
The House of Commons consists of Members of Parliament. There are 650 of them in the House
of Commons. They are elected by secret ballot. General elections are held every five years. The
country is divided into 650 constituencies. All citizens, aged 18 and registered in a constituency,
have the right to vote. But voting is not compulsory in Britain. Only persons convicted of corrupt
and certain mentally ill patients don't take part in voting.
There are few political parties in Britain thanks to the British electoral system. The main
ones are: the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the Liberal / Social Democratic Alliance.
Each political party puts up one candidate for each constituency. The one who wins the most
votes is elected MP for that area.
The party which wins the most seats in Parliament forms the Government. Its leader
becomes the Prime Minister. His first job is to choose his Cabinet. The Prime Minister usually
takes policy decisions with the agreement of the Cabinet.
The functions of the House of Commons are legislation and scrutiny of government
activities. The House of Commons is presided over by the Speaker. The Speaker is appointed by
the Government.
The House of Lords comprises about 1,200 peers. It is presided by the Lord Chancellor. The
House of Lords has no real power. It acts rather as an advisory council.
It's in the House of Commons that new bills are introduced and debated. If the majority of the
members are in favour of a bill, it goes to the House of Lords to be debated. The House of Lords
has the right to reject a new bill twice.
But after two rejections they are obliged to accept it. And finally a bill goes to the
monarch to be signed. Only then it becomes law.
Parliament is responsible for British national policy. Local governments are responsible
for organizing of education, police and many others.
The Economy
Until the 18th century the economy of England was mainly agricultural.
With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, however, England gradually evolved into industrial
region.
During the late 18th and the 19th centuries, the growth of heavy industries (iron and steel,
textiles and shipbuilding) in the northeastern counties was based on the proximity of coal and
iron-ore deposits.
During the 1930s the Depression and foreign competition contributed to a decrease in the
production of manufactured goods and an increase in unemployment in the factories of
Lancashire, Cheshire and Staffordshire.
The unemployed from these northern counties moved to London and the surrounding
counties.
The southeast became urbanized and industrialized, with automotive, chemical, electrical and
machine tool manufactures as the leading industries.
An increase in population and urban growth during the 20th century caused a significant
drop in the acreage of farms in England, but the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Kent,
Lincolnshire, Somerset and North Yorkshire have remained agricultural.
