UK Parliament

About the Adviser

I am passionate about the UK Parliament, its history and influence on our lives today. Over the years, I have had the privilege of working with a huge number of MPs and Peers. The very first MP I met was when I was 13 years old, in an orthopaedic hospital for children, when he came to congratulate me on starting a record request radio programme for patients and their relatives!

What it is really like to be an MP in 2026? How unusual is the life of a politician? How does power work in parliament? And how can MPs try to have an impact from government or the opposition benches?

For this special 2026 International Women's Day episode of Inside Briefing from the Institute for Government, three MPs – Conservative Karen Bradley, Labour's Beccy Cooper, and Ellie Chowns of the Green Party – head to the IfG podcast studio (link below) to explore the challenges, surprises and perhaps frustrations of life in parliament as one of the 263 female MPs sitting in Westminster today (as a point of comparison there were just 27 female MPs in 1975 when International Women's Day was first recognised by the UN).

The IfG podcast features:

Dame Karen Bradley MP – Conservative MP for Staffordshire Moorlands since 2010, a former secretary of state for Northern Ireland and at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, and the current chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee.
Dr Ellie Chowns MP – has been the Green MP for North Herefordshire since 2024 and is the Green Party group leader in Westminster and their spokesperson on six different ministerial portfolios.
Dr Beccy Cooper MP – has been the Labour MP for Worthing West since 2024 and sits on the Health and Social Care Committee.

International women's day special: the inside story of life as an MP

Exploring how local councils and charities can work together more effectively.

All Party Parlimentary Group meeting Dec25.pdf (142.63 KB)

'This is the least extreme weather youwill experience in (the rest of) your lifetime.'

National Emergency Briefing Nov25.pdf (100.72 KB)

It’s Budget week, so the Hansard Society look at what happens after the Chancellor sits down and how the days announcements are converted into the Finance Bill. We speak to Lord Ricketts, Chair of the European Affairs Committee, about whether Parliament is prepared to scrutinise the “dynamic alignment” with EU laws that may emerge from the Government’s reset with Brussels. And we explore the latest twists in the assisted dying bill story, where a marathon battle is looming in the New Year after the Government allocated ten additional Friday sittings for its scrutiny.

u3a highlighted in the House of Commons

Thanks to Chair Hazel and her members at Arnold u3a, Michael Payne MP (Gedling constituency in Nottinghamshire) highlighted the work of u3a and explored, with the Leader of the House (Sir Alan Campbell MP), whether a debate would be appropriate.

Click here to watch the video

Background

Both Parliament and Government have important powers and each play a part in making the laws of the United Kingdom. Parliament represents our interests and makes sure that they are taken into account by the Government. Government is in charge of managing the country and deciding how taxes are spent.

The UK Parliament is made up of three parts – the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Monarch (King or Queen). The Government refers to the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and their junior Ministers.

The Palace of Westminster is synonymous with UK Parliament and has become a symbol of democracy around the world.

The Palace of Westminster has changed dramatically over the course of nearly a thousand years of history. Transformed from a royal residence to the home of a modern democracy.

The site in and around the present-day Houses of Parliament has been a location for ecclesiastical buildings, kingship and power since at least the Middle Ages. Indeed, its history could reach even further back as legend holds that a Roman temple to Apollo once stood here, but that it was destroyed by an earthquake.

One of the most recognised buildings in the world, the Palace of Westminster owes its stunning Gothic architecture to the 19th-century architect Sir Charles Barry. Now Grade I listed, and part of an UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Palace contains a fascinating mixture of both ancient and modern buildings, and houses an iconic collection of furnishings, archives and works of art.

Photo credit : Harry Shum

Subject advice