United Kingdom

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House of Commons

This is a bicameral parliament. Switch to theHouse 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 Commons
Structure & Status of parliament This field is to indicate lower/upper in the back end.
Lower chamber
Parliamentary term (years)
5

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.
Speaker of the House of Commons
Speaker
Sir Lindsay Hoyle (Male)
Year of birth
1957
Term
04.11.2019
Additional information
Elected on 4 Nov. 2019, re-elected on 17 Dec. 2019.
See historical data for this field.

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
Secretary General
John Benger (Male)
Notes Additional information about the Secretary General, in particular regarding their term.
Sworn in on 1 March 2019.

Members

Statutory number of members Statutory number of members, as defined in the constitution or other fundamental law.
650
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Principal mode of designation of members
Directly elected
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Directly elected members Directly elected by citizens.
650
Current number of members Number of members who currently hold seats in parliament. May be lower or higher than the statutory number of members.
650
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Men The number of male parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
430
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Women The number of female parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
220
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Percentage of women Calculated by dividing the current number of women by the current number of members.
33.85% 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.
1,443 See historical data for this field.
Population (in thousands) Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects.
66,573
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Inhabitants per parliamentarian Calculated by dividing the population by the statutory number of parliamentarians.
46,135 See historical data for this field.

Age

Data on the age of parliamentarians is collected at start of the legislature, following the most recent elections. This data is not updated during the legislature.

 

Average age of all members Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
50.50
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Youngest member (years) Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
23
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Youngest member
Nadia Whittome (Female)
Oldest member (years) Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
75
Oldest member
Sir Peter Bottomley (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 1 19 110 111 0 102 205 83 15 3
Total <= 45: 241 Total >= 46: 408
Male 0 13 69 79 0 71 142 69 12 3 458
Female 1 6 41 32 0 31 63 14 3 0 191
Percentage of members, by age
Age as last election or renewalOverallMaleFemale
Percentage of MPs 30 years of age or younger3.08%2%1.08%
Percentage of MPs 40 years of age or younger20.03%12.63%7.4%
Percentage of MPs 45 years of age or younger37.13%24.81%12.33%
Members for whom data is available
649 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.
No
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Electoral quota for women Quotas to promote the representation of women in parliament.
Yes
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Notes
Voluntary political party quotas.
Legal source Legal text that stipulates the quota, such as the Constitution or electoral law.
Cf. The Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2002 which allows political parties to select candidates from all-women shortlists. Cf. also individual party statutes.
Electoral quota for youth Quotas to promote the representation of youth in parliament.
No
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Links to additional information