Why So Many MP's

[Marky B]

Why does a country as small as ours,need over 600 representatives in the House of Commons,yet the United States,as large as it is,only needs 100?

Ta Ta

Marky B

[Grunty]

Maybe they save a lot of time by saying 'him' instead of 'the right honorable gallant and learned gentleman, the member for .....'.

[Drusilla]

Don't forget the 435 people in the House of Representatives who are appointed for a two year term.

[Drusilla]

Sorry, I meant elected, not appointed. No offence to our American friends.

[bob57]

well there needs to be someone awake in the house of commons

[jno]

the more MPs there are, the fewer people they represent, which means that in theory they have more time to devote to your concerns. US senators represent on average about 3 million people each (but that's just the upper house, as Drusilla points out)

[kempie]

A description of US Congress here.

It is interesting to note that under Article One, Section Two of the Constitution, seats in the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states on the basis of population and consisting of no more than one member for every 30,000 people.

As the US population increased, this minimum proved untenable (adhering to this mimumum would today fill the House with nearly 10,000 members), and Congress fixed the size of the House at 435 seats in 1911. This currently equates to one member per 680,000 people (approx.).

In comparison the UK House of Commons has 646 members, or one per 93,500 people.

The 100 US Senators act in an equivalent manner to the 726 (!!!) Peers which comprise the House of Lords [link]

[Englishbird]

I sat in the gallery of the house of commons once, god it was boring.

But to the question.... maybe the question should read, why, in a country the size of the United States of America, are there only 100 representatives, when in GB there are 600? With all it's faults, I think I'll stick with ours.

[Englishbird]

Oh yes, and I was already ****** when I went in there, and it was still boring..... tangent, I know....

[Pajama Girl]

No, No. Sorry, folks. Got to correct the mispreception.

The US has TWO legislative houses. The Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has 100 legislators (two from each state, elected for 6 years) and the House has 435 legislators (according to population within a state, elected for 2 years).

These two legislative houses are separate from each other and there's a lot of behind the scenes bickering .. ah well, pretty boring, really. Important but boring.

[Stu in USA]

How does the UK compare to other European countries or Australia? How about the world's largest democracy, India?

[BigMac]

You also have to remember that the Senate and Congress are federal bodies; each state also has its own legislature.

[kempie]

As a comparison to other bicameral sytems of government, i.e. Lower & Upper Chambers:

France - 577 L & 321 U (increasing to 346 in 2010)

Germany - 603 L & 69 U

Spain - 350 L & 259 U

Italy - 630 L & 315 U

Australia - 150 L & 76 U

India - 545 L & 250 U

(Federalism not accounted for)

[Stu in USA]

Thanks kempie for that info. So we're not that different from similar sized (by population) European countries, at least in the lower chamber.

[bernardo]

Most of the job of governement and legislature is done at the level of the 50 states - all of which have their own eleced congresses, senates, and c.4000 counties which have their councils (or "supervisors" as they are sometimes called). The federal congress (435) and senate (100) only have to deal with big national and international issues.

[Stu in USA]

bernardo, how come you know so much about the USA?

[bernardo]

I know everything about everything.

[BigMac]

bernardo - is modesty your only fault?

[Stu in USA]

bernardo, can you join our quiz team when I'm back in the UK?