Bean states I found that article confusing, probably because I have no idea what the structure of gov't is in the UK. There are assemblies for the Scots and the Welsh, but not one for just the English alone? Confusing. And there is some sort of national assembly - is that what they call Westminster? With members from every part of the UK? Is it different people on the regional assemblies, or do the Scottish and Welsh MPs do double duty?

Bean, you are quite right, it almost as confusing as the laws of cricket. The United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) has its national assembly in Westminster. The House of Commons is elected by (some of) the people, in single-member first-past-the-post constituencies across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. All those countries apart from England has its own National Assembly, where the representatives are elected separately; all by some form of Proportional Representation. The (modern) Welsh and Scottish Assemblies are recent (2-3 years?). The Northern Irish assembly is much older but has been suspended for a lot of the time because they were fighting. [Stay behind after class and write out 100 times...]

The Channel Islands and Isle of Man have their own parliaments and are not represented in Westminster. They are dependencies. The UK and the Channel Islands (though NOT including the Isle of Man) are also a member of the European Union, to which we also elect representatives using Proportional Representation.

Westminster also has The House of Lords which traditionally was just that, Barons and Bishops and so on. A while back (30 years?) Life peers were introduced, who could not pass the right/responsibility to their children, who were appointed by the Govenment with an allocation to the opposition. Last year, the Hereditary peers were given only a limited number of (life) seats, and they had to vote amongst themselves to select which of their number would take them. There is still a lot of debate about the right form for a second chamber.

Still confused?
Rod