<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> www.parliament.uk </Td> </Tr> <P> The Parliament of the United Kingdom, commonly known as the UK Parliament or British Parliament, is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown dependencies and overseas territories . It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories . Its head is the Sovereign of the United Kingdom (currently Queen Elizabeth II) and its seat is the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster, one of the inner boroughs of the capital city, London . </P> <P> The parliament is bicameral, consisting of an upper house (the House of Lords) and a lower house (the House of Commons). The Sovereign forms the third component of the legislature (the Queen - in - Parliament). The House of Lords includes two different types of members: the Lords Spiritual, consisting of the most senior bishops of the Church of England, and the Lords Temporal, consisting mainly of life peers, appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister, and of 92 hereditary peers, sitting either by virtue of holding a royal office, or by being elected by their fellow hereditary peers . Prior to the opening of the Supreme Court in October 2009, the House of Lords also performed a judicial role through the Law Lords . </P> <P> The House of Commons is an elected chamber with elections to 650 single member constituencies held at least every five years under the first - past - the - post system . The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster (commonly known as the Houses of Parliament) in London . By constitutional convention, all government ministers, including the Prime Minister, are members of the House of Commons or, less commonly, the House of Lords and are thereby accountable to the respective branches of the legislature . Most cabinet ministers (Secretaries of State) are from the Commons, whilst junior ministers can be from either House . However, the Leader of the House of Lords must be a peer and is a cabinet position, usually combined with a paid position . </P>

Which two chambers make the united kingdom a bicameral type of government