Explain the composition and powers of the British Parliament.

The British Parliament consists of two chambers: the lower house, which is the House of Commons, and the upper house, the House of Lords. The House of Commons is democratically elected, usually every four or five years. After each general election, the party that wins the most seats gets to form the government. The second largest party is officially called the Opposition.
The House of Lords is unelected and consists largely of political appointees, or so-called life peers. The number of hereditary peers—those who inherited their titles—was severely limited by government reforms in 1999, but a handful still remain, along with the so-called Lords Spiritual, senior bishops from the established Church of England.
Ultimate sovereignty in the British system lies with the House of Commons, which has the power to make law. The House of Lords, on the other hand, is a revising chamber. That means that it has the power to amend legislation sent to it by the Commons. It can reject legislation and send it back to the Commons, but the constitutional supremacy of the Commons can ultimately be enforced by invocation of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, which were devised to ensure that the will of the democratically elected lower house should always prevail.
Once a bill has passed both houses, it is sent to the queen for what's called the Royal Assent. In theory, the queen could refuse her assent, but in fact she never does; her approval of each Act of Parliament is a mere formality.

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