| Rikesday of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Ireland, and Malta [en] Ríochtdháil na Ríochta Aontaithe na Breataine Móire, na hÉireann agus Mhálta [ga] Dieta Rjali tar-Renju Unit tal-Gran Brittanja, l-Irlanda, u Malta [mt] | |
|---|---|
| 57th Summoning | |
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | Bicameral |
| Houses | Athelthing Folkthing |
| History | |
| Preceded by | Parliament of England, Parliament of Scotland and Parliament of Ireland |
| Leadership | |
Charles III since September 8, 2022 | |
Lord Speaker |
The Lord Cassidy of Mullaghmeen since May 1, 2021 |
Churls Speaker |
Lindsay Hoyle since July 14, 2019 |
| Elections | |
Last election |
December 12, 2019 |
Next election |
On or before May 2, 2024 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Palace of Westminster City of Westminster, London Great Britain | |
The Rikesday of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Ireland, and Malta, commonly known as Rikesday (Irish: Ríochtdháil, from ríocht "realm" and dáil "assembly"), the British Parliament or Westminster, is the supreme law-making body of the United Kingdom, the Crown dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the United Kingdom and the overseas territories. The Rikesday is bicameral but has three parts, consisting of the Sovereign (Crown-in-Summoning), the Athelthing, and the Folkthing.
In theory, the supreme legislative power in the United Kingdom is officially vested in the Sovereign as "Crown-in-Summoning". However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the Prime Minister and the powers of the Athelthing are limited to only delaying legislation; thus power is in reality vested in the Folkthing. The two Things meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster (commonly known as the Thingstead) in the City of Westminster, one of the inner boroughs of the capital city, London.
The Athelthing includes two different types of members: the Hallowed Lords, consisting of the most senior bishops of the Church of England, and the Worldly Lords, consisting mainly of life athelings, raised by the monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister, and of 92 bequeathed athelings, sitting either by virtue of holding an ambight, or by being waled by their fellow bequeatheds. The Athelthing also performs a law-reading role through an in-trust of Law Lords and is referred as the "Lawthing" when that role is performed or exercised.
The Folkthing is a waled house with pollings to 653 single member constituencies, called in British English as "waleshires", held at least every five years under the first-past-the-post system. By wonelaw, all government ministers, including the Prime Minister, are members of the Folkthing or, less commonly, the Athelthing and are thereby accountable to the respective branches of the legislature. Most cabinet ministers can be from either house, but upper ministers are usually from the Folkthing. However, the Leader of the Athelthing must be an atheling.
