THE WORK OF AN MP

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 420.

Exercise 6 Complete the following text with the words and expressions from the box.

Debates midnight morning

Weekends news MP

Housing Government constituents

Elect mail House of Commons

Constituencies abroad letters

Speaker Sitting

The country is divided into 659 voting areas or constituencies which each electone MP to serve in the House of Commons. MPs have to represent all of their constituents, regardless of whether they voted for them. In addition MPs have a duty to their political party, to themselves and their own beliefs and to the nation as a whole. Once or twice a week people in a constituency have the chance to meet their MP when they can talk about their problems, large or small. People may come to their MP with housing or money problems or perhaps someone has a relative in hospital and finds it difficult to get there on public transport. An MP spends time at weekends, and during holidays, meeting people in local factories, clubs, schools, etc.

The working hours of the House of Commons are very unusual. Most MPs start their day early in the morningand may not get home until midnightor later.

It is important for MPs to keep up with the news - so the first thing they do in the morning is to look at the newspapers to know what has been happening overnight both in this country and abroad. MPs often do this over breakfast.

The first thing an MP does after arriving at the House of Commons is to collect his mail. MPs receive huge amounts of mail every day; so reading and answering letters takes a large amount of time.

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings, many MPs will be sitting on Committees.

At 2.30 p.m. each day, the MP walks in procession to the Chamber of the House of Commons to begin the day's Sitting. The first hour of the afternoon from 2.30 to 3.30 p.m. is Question Time at which most MPs like to be present because they have a chance to ask the Governmentabout what it is doing or not doing and why. They especially like to be present on Tuesdays and Thursdays for Questions to the Prime Minister. From tea-time until about 10.00 p.m. there are debates in the Chamber in which MPs may try to speak, especially if the subjects are of interest to their constituents.

Sometimes an MP finally gets to bed when it is nearly time to begin the next day's work.

Answer the following questions:

1. Who does an MP represent?

2. How many MPs are there in the House of Commons?

3. What does the job of an MP consist of?

4. What is the equivalent of MPs in Ukraine? What does their work involve?