The West Lothian Question refers to the perceived imbalance between the voting rights in the House of Commons of MPs from Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland constituencies and those of MPs from ...

The Commons Chamber looks very different to that of the Lords. The current Chamber was rebuilt after the Blitz by the architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in relatively austere style (although it was ...

Tally sticks were a form of receipt for government income which originated in the middle ages. Tallies were regularly destroyed over the centuries by the Exchequer which had offices in the Palace of ...

The Sandwich Student Scheme is an opportunity for undergraduate students to work within the House of Commons, offering a unique insight into governance and the running of Parliament in general.

The removal of James II by the protestant William of Orange in 1688 – the Glorious Revolution – changed matters. The resumption of war with Catholic France in the 1690s meant that British Catholics ...

Vastly improved life expectancy, one of the great triumphs of the last century, looks set to be one of great challenges of this one. Between 2015 and 2020, over a period when the general population is ...

The 1835 competition to redesign the Palace was won by the Westminster-born architect Charles Barry. By then, the 40-year-old Barry was already quite a famous architect, having built several churches ...

From the late 18th century children formed a rising proportion of the population almost two out of five people by the mid-1820s. It was common for them to work to supplement family incomes. Orphans ...

The Liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill MP (1806-1873) was elected MP for the City of Westminster in 1865 on a platform including votes for women. Mill's thinking on women's rights was influenced by ...

The Government asserts that, in its licensing of arms sales to Saudi Arabia during the current hostilities in Yemen, it is “narrowly on the right side” of international humanitarian law. The Committee ...

The House of Lords Library provides impartial research and information services to support Members of the House of Lords, their staff and staff of the House. Further information about the Library, as ...

Simon De Montfort's Parliament was the first instance of a parliament in which representatives from towns and the shires were summoned together to discuss matters of national concern. This Parliament ...