The British National Party is the product of years of in-fighting, mergers and hissy fits from extreme-right 'politicians' and racists from the United Kingdom (including the National Front). Members do not sit at desks (like most legislatures) but on long, red-covered benches and there is only seating capacity for 230 peers out of the total of Aroind 800. However, England - which represents about 84% of the total UK population of around 65 million - does not have a clear and strong sense of regionalism. The Ministerial and Other Salaries Act, passed in 1975, limits prime ministers to 109 ministerial salaries being paid at any one time with a maximum of 95 ministers in the House of Commons. . I was a Special Adviser to Merlyn Rees in the Northern Ireland Office from 1974-1976 and in the Home Office from 1976-1978, while my son Richard was a Special Adviser to Ruth Kelly in the Department for Education & Skills in 2005 and a Special Adviser to Douglas Alexander at the Department for International Development in 2009-2010. Typically a constituency would have around 60,000-80,000 voters, depending mainly on whether it is an urban or rural constituency. Here are just a few of the important events that have shaped our lives today. The bicameral nature of the British Parliament - Commons and Lords - emerged in 1341 and the two-chamber model of the legislature has served as a template in very many other parliamentary systems. The court always has an an odd number sitting to ensure that a majority decision can be reached. Independent judiciary - British judges are appointed through an independent process and operate totally independently of government. Indeed, the Canadian parliamentary system would not be able to function without them. The European Convention is part of the domestic law so that it can be enforced in the domestic courts as well as in the European Court of Human Rights. Under the terms of the Act of Settlement of 1701, the monarch and the monarch's spouse could not be Catholics because the UK monarch is also the Head of the Church of England. Communists also believe in the state ownership of all land, natural resources and industry. House of Lords site click here Wales relies on the Plaid Cymru to represent its interests in the UK. The Lord Chancellor's office - which for 1,400 years maintained the judiciary - has now been replaced by the Ministry for Justice which administers the court system. Links: Anarchists believe that the state and forms of compulsory government are harmful or unnecessary to people’s lives. In the last General Election of May 2015, 66.1% of the electorate actually voted. The votes are counted by 'tellers' who then return to the chamber to announce the numbers to the Speaker. To understand fully any country's political system, one needs to understand something of its history. Communism: Communists believe that the capitalist system is damaging to the interests of the masses, and that workers must unite and overturn it by revolutionary means. Today there are four major political parties in the British parliamentary system.