United Kingdom

House of CommonsHouse of Lords

House of Lords

Political system Political systems: Presidential, Parliamentary, Presidential-Parliamentary, Monarchy, Communist, Transitional.
Parliamentary system
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Structure of parliament Structure of parliament: Unicameral, bicameral
Bicameral
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IPU membership Current membership status
Yes
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About parliament

Basic information such as the official name of parliament and details of its structure and leadership. Also includes the current breakdown of MPs by sex and age, and provisions for quotas and reserved seats.

Parliament name
UK Parliament
Chamber name
House of Lords
Structure & Status of parliament This field is to indicate lower/upper in the back end.
Upper chamber

IPU membership

Affiliation periods
from 1889
IPU Geopolitical Group/s IPU Geopolitical Groups: African Group, Arab Group, Asia-Pacific Group, Eurasia Group, Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC), Twelve Plus Group.
Twelve Plus Group

Speaker

Official title The Speaker may for example be known as the Presiding Officer, President, Chairman/Chairperson, etc.
Lord Speaker
Speaker
Lord McFall of Alcluith (Male)
Year of birth
1944
Term
01.05.2021
Additional information
Sworn in on 1 May 2021.
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Secretary General

Official title This post is most commonly called Secretary General or Clerk. It may also be called Secretary, Head/Chief of the Secretariat, Director General, etc.
Clerk of the Parliaments
Secretary General
Simon Burton (Male)
Notes Additional information about the Secretary General, in particular regarding their term.
2 April 2021 -

Members

Statutory number of members Statutory number of members, as defined in the constitution or other fundamental law.
800
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Principal mode of designation of members
Appointed
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Appointed members Appointed, for example, by the Head of State.
662
Other members For example, ex-officio members of parliament, such as Cabinet members, members of the royal family, Attorney General, Speaker if appointed from outside parliament.
114
Note on the statutory number of members
There is no restriction on the number of members. In practice, the upper limit has been around 800 members.

Appointed members: 676 life peers appointed by the Crown on the advice of the Prime Minister. Other: 90 hereditary peers and 25 archbishops and bishops
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Current number of members Number of members who currently hold seats in parliament. May be lower or higher than the statutory number of members.
784
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Men The number of male parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
557
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Women The number of female parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
227
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Percentage of women Calculated by dividing the current number of women by the current number of members.
28.95% See historical data for this field.
Statutory number of members per country As defined in the constitution or other fundamental laws. Combines the number of parliamentarians in both chambers in bicameral parliaments.
1,450 See historical data for this field.
Population (in thousands)
Click for historical data
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Age

Data on the age of parliamentarians is collected at the start of the legislature, following the most recent elections. This data is not updated during the legislature, except when parliament notifies the IPU of a change in the youngest or oldest member.

Average age of all members Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
70.00
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Youngest member (years) Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
30
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Youngest member
Charlotte Owen (Female)
Oldest member (years) Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
94
Oldest member
James Mackay of Clashfern (Male)
Number of members, by age
Breakdown of members by age and gender
18 - 20 21 - 30 31 - 40 41 - 45 46 - 50 51 - 60 61 - 70 71 - 80 81 - 90 91 and over Totals per gender
Totals per age interval 0 0 5 10 16 93 218 292 140 11
Total <= 45: 15 Total >= 46: 770
Male 0 0 3 6 8 54 153 221 115 9 569
Female 0 0 2 4 8 39 65 71 25 2 216
Percentage of members, by age
Age as last election or renewalOverallMaleFemale
Percentage of MPs 30 years of age or younger0%0%0%
Percentage of MPs 40 years of age or younger0.64%0.38%0.25%
Percentage of MPs 45 years of age or younger1.91%1.15%0.76%
Members for whom data is available
785 See historical data for this field.

Reserved seats and quotas

There are reserved seats in parliament for certain groups Reserved seats are a means to ensure the parliamentary representation of certain groups in society.
Yes
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Number of reserved seats, by group

Notes
26 bishops in the Church of England, 92 heredity peers.
Electoral quota for women Quotas to promote the representation of women in parliament.
No
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Legal source Legal text that stipulates the quota, such as the Constitution or electoral law.
Cf. The Bishopric of Manchester Act 1847 and The House of Lords Act 1999.
Electoral quota for youth Quotas to promote the representation of youth in parliament.
No
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Links to additional information