United Kingdom Political System

7/31/2019 United Kingdom Political System

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UNITED KINGDOM POLITICAL SYSTEM

The United Kingdom is governed within the framework of a constitutional

monarchy, in which the Monarch is the head of state and the Prime Minister of the

United Kingdom is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by Her

Majesty's Government, on behalf of and by the consent of the Monarch, as well as

by the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales, and the Executive of

Northern Ireland. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom, the House of Commons and the House of

Lords, as well as in the Scottish parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland

assemblies. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The

highest national court is the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

The UK political system is a multi-party system. Since the 1920s, the two

largest political parties have been the Conservative Party and the Labour Party.

Before the Labour Party rose in British politics the Liberal Party was the other

major political party along with the Conservatives. Though coalition and minority

governments have been an occasional feature of parliamentary politics, the first-

past-the-post electoral system used for general elections tends to maintain the

dominance of these two parties, though each has in the past century relied upon a

third party to deliver a working majority in Parliament.

Support for nationalist parties in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales led

to proposals for devolution in the 1970s though only in the 1990s did devolution

actually happen. Today, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each possess a

legislature and government alongside that of the United Kingdom, responsible for

devolved matters. However, it is a matter of dispute as to whether increasedautonomy and devolution of executive and legislative powers has contributed to a

reduction in support for independence. The principal pro-independence party, the

Scottish National Party, won an overall majority of MSPs at the 2011 Scottish

parliament elections and now forms the Scottish Government administration, with

plans to hold a referendum on negotiating for independence. In Northern Ireland,

the largest Pro-Belfast Agreement party, Sinn Fin, not only advocates Northern

Ireland's unification with the Republic of Ireland, but also abstains from taking
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their elected seats in the Westminster government, as this would entail taking a

pledge of allegiance to the British monarch.

The constitution of the United Kingdom is uncodified, being made up of

constitutional conventions, statutes and other elements. This system of

government, known as the Westminster system, has been adopted by other

countries as well, such as Australia (significantly modified with a supreme,

codified constitution as well as a federalist senate adopted from the US Congress),

Bangladesh,Canada,Kenya, India, Jamaica, Malaysia,New Zealand, Singapore,

and countries that made up large and significant parts of the British

A. THE CROWNThe British Monarch, currently Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is the

Chief of State of the United Kingdom. Though she takes little direct part in

government, the Crown remains the fount in which ultimate executive power over

Government lies. These powers are known as Royal Prerogative and can be used

for a vast amount of things, such as the issue or withdrawal of passports, to the

dismissal of the Prime Minister or even the Declaration of War. The powers are

delegated from the Monarch personally, in the name of the Crown, and can be

handed to various ministers, or other Officers of the Crown, and can purposely

bypass the consent of Parliament.

The head of Her Majesty's Government; the Prime Minister, also has

weekly meetings with the sovereign, where she may express her feelings, warn, or

advise the Prime Minister in the Governments work.

According to the uncodified constitution of the United Kingdom, the monarch has

the following powers:Domestic Powers

The power to dismiss and appoint a Prime Minister The power to dismiss and appoint other ministers The power to summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament The power to grant or refuse Royal Assent to bills (making them valid and

law)

The power to commission officers in the Armed Forces
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The power to command the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom The power to appoint members to the Queen's Council The power to issue and withdraw passports The power to grant Prerogative of mercy (though Capital Punishment is

abolished, this power is still used to remedy errors in sentence calculation)

The power to grant honours The power to create corporations via Royal Charter

Foreign Powers

The power to ratify and make treaties The power to declare War and Peace The power to deploy the Armed Forces overseas The power to recognize states The power to credit and receive diplomats

B. The ExecutiveExecutive power in the United Kingdom is exercised by the Sovereign, Queen

Elizabeth II, via Her Majesty's Government and the devolved national authorities -

the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern

Ireland Executive.

C. The United Kingdom GovernmentThe monarch appoints a Prime Minister as the head of Her Majesty's

Government in the United Kingdom, guided by the strict convention that the

Prime Minister should be the member of the House of Commons most likely to be

able to form a Government with the support of that House. In practice, this meansthat the leader of the political party with an absolute majority of seats in the House

of Commons is chosen to be the Prime Minister. If no party has an absolute

majority, the leader of the largest party is given the first opportunity to form a

coalition. The Prime Minister then selects the other Ministers which make up the

Government and act as political heads of the various Government Departments.

About twenty of the most senior government ministers make up the Cabinet and

approximately 100 ministers in total comprise the government. In accordance with
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constitutional convention, all ministers within the government are either Members

of Parliament or peers in the House of Lords.

As in some other parliamentary systems of government (especially those

based upon the Westminster System), the executive (called "the government") is

drawn from and is answerable to Parliament - a successful vote of no confidence

will force the government either to resign or to seek a parliamentary dissolution

and a general election. In practice, members of parliament of all major parties are

strictly controlled by whips who try to ensure they vote according to party policy.

If the government has a large majority, then they are very unlikely to lose enough

votes to be unable to pass legislation.

D.The Prime Minister and the CabinetThe Prime Minister is the most senior minister in the Cabinet. S/he is

responsible for chairing Cabinet meetings, selecting Cabinet ministers (and all

other positions in Her Majesty's government), and formulating government policy.

The Prime Minister is the de facto leader of the UK government, since s/he

exercises executive functions that are nominally vested in the sovereign (by way

of the Royal Prerogatives). Historically, the British monarch was the sole source

of executive powers in the government. However, following the rule of the

Hanoverian monarchs, an arrangement of a "Prime Minister" chairing and leading

the Cabinet began to emerge. Over time, this arrangement became the effective

executive branch of government, as it assumed the day-to-day functioning of the

British government away from the sovereign.

Theoretically, the Prime Minister isprimus inter pares (,i.e. Latin for "first

among equals") among his/her Cabinet colleagues. While the Prime Minister isthe senior Cabinet Minister, s/he is theoretically bound to make executive

decisions in a collective fashion with the other Cabinet ministers. The Cabinet,

along with the PM, consists of Secretaries of State from the various government

departments, the Lord High Chancellor, the Lord Privy Seal, the President of the

Board of Trade, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Ministers without

portfolio. Cabinet meetings are typically held weekly, while Parliament is in

session.
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Government departments and the Civil Service

The Government of the United Kingdom contains a number of ministries known

mainly, though not exclusively as departments, e.g., Ministry of Defence. These

are politically led by a Government Minister who is often a Secretary of State and

member of the Cabinet. He or she may also be supported by a number of junior

Ministers. In practice, several government departments and Ministers have

responsibilities that cover England alone, with devolved bodies having

responsibility for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, (for example - the

Department of Health), or responsibilities that mainly focus on England (such as

the Department for Education).

Implementation of the Minister's decisions is carried out by a permanent

politically neutral organisation known as the civil service. Its constitutional role is

to support the Government of the day regardless of which political party is in

power. Unlike some other democracies, senior civil servants remain in post upon a

change of Government. Administrative management of the Department is led by a

head civil servant known in most Departments as a Permanent Secretary. The

majority of the civil service staff in fact work in executive agencies, which are

separate operational organisations reporting to Departments of State.

"Whitehall" is often used as a synonym for the central core of the Civil Service.

This is because most Government Departments have headquarters in and around

the former Royal Palace Whitehall.

Devolved national administrations
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Scottish Government

Main article: Scottish Government

The cabinet of the Scottish Government

The Scottish Government is responsible for all issues that are not explicitly

reserved to the United Kingdom Parliament at Westminster, by the Scotland Act;

including NHS Scotland, education, justice, rural affairs, and transport. It manages

an annual budget of more than 25 billion.[4]

The government is led by the First
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Minister, assisted by various Ministers with individual portfolios and remits. The

Scottish Parliament nominates a Member to be appointed as First Minister by the

Queen. The First Minister then appoints his Ministers (now known as Cabinet

Secretaries) and junior Ministers, subject to approval by the Parliament. The First

Minister, the Ministers (but not junior ministers), the Lord Advocate and Solicitor

General are the Members of the 'Scottish Executive', as set out in the Scotland Act

1998. They are collectively known as "the Scottish Ministers".

Welsh Government

Main article: Welsh Government

The Welsh Government and the National Assembly for Wales have more limited

powers than those devolved to Scotland,[5]although following the passing of the

Government of Wales Act 2006 and the Welsh devolution referendum, 2011, the

Assembly can now legislate in some areas through an Act of the National

Assembly for Wales. Following the 2011 election, Welsh Labour held exactly half

of the seats in the Assembly, falling just short of an overall majority. A Welsh

Labour Government was subsequently formed headed by Carwyn Jones.

Northern Ireland Executive

Main article: Northern Ireland Executive

The Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly have powers closer to those

already devolved to Scotland. The Northern Ireland Executive is led by a diarchy,

currently First Minister Peter Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party) and deputy

First Minister Martin McGuinness (Sinn Fin).[6]

Legislatures

The UK Parliament is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom (i.e.,

there is parliamentary sovereignty), and Government is drawn from andanswerable to it. Parliament is bicameral, consisting of the House of Commons

and the House of Lords. There is also a devolved Scottish Parliament and

devolved Assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland, with varying degrees of

legislative authority.

UK Parliament

House of Commons
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Parliament meets at the Palace of Westminster

Main article: British House of Commons

The Countries of the United Kingdom are divided into parliamentary

constituencies of broadly equal population by the four Boundary Commissions.

Each constituency elects a Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons

at General Elections and, if required, at by-elections. As of 2010 there are 650constituencies (there were 646 before that year's general election. Of the 650 MPs,

all but one - Lady Sylvia Hermon - belong to a political party.

In modern times, all Prime Ministers and Leaders of the Opposition have been

drawn from the Commons, not the Lords. Alec Douglas-Home resigned from his

peerages days after becoming Prime Minister in 1963, and the last Prime Minister

before him from the Lords left in 1902 (the Marquess of Salisbury).

One party usually has a majority in Parliament, because of the use of the First Past

the Post electoral system, which has been conducive in creating the current two

party system. The monarch normally asks a person commissioned to form a

government simply whether it can survive in the House of Commons, something

which majority governments are expected to be able to do. In exceptional

circumstances the monarch asks someone to 'form a government' with a

parliamentary minority[7]

which in the event of no party having a majority

requires the formation of a coalition government. This option is only ever taken at
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a time of national emergency, such as war-time. It was given in 1916 to Andrew

Bonar Law, and when he declined, to David Lloyd George and in 1940 to

Winston Churchill. A government is not formed by a vote of the House of

Commons, it is a commission from the monarch. The House of Commons gets its

first chance to indicate confidence in the new government when it votes on the

Speech from the Throne (the legislative programme proposed by the new

government).

House of Lords

Main article: House of Lords

The House of Lords was previously a largely hereditary aristocratic chamber,

although including life peers, and Lords Spiritual. It is currently mid-way through

extensive reforms, the most recent of these being enacted in the House of Lords

Act 1999. The house consists of two very different types of member, the Lords

Temporal and Lords Spiritual. Lords Temporal include appointed members (life

peers with no hereditary right for their descendants to sit in the house) and ninety-

two remaining hereditary peers, elected from among, and by, the holders of titles

which previously gave a seat in the House of Lords. The Lords Spiritual represent

the established Church of England and number twenty-six: the Five Ancient Sees

(Canterbury, York, London, Winchester and Durham), and the 21 next-most

senior bishops.

The House of Lords currently acts to review legislation initiated by the House of

Commons, with the power to propose amendments, and can exercise a suspensive

veto. This allows it to delay legislation if it does not approve it for twelve months.

However, the use of vetoes is limited by convention and by the operation of the

Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949: the Lords may not veto the "money bills" ormajor manifesto promises (see Salisbury convention). Persistent use of the veto

can also be overturned by the Commons, under a provision of the Parliament Act

1911. Often governments will accept changes in legislation in order to avoid both

the time delay, and the negative publicity of being seen to clash with the Lords.

However the Lords still retain a full veto in acts which would extend the life of

Parliament beyond the 5 year term limit introduced by the Parliament Act 1911.
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The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 outlined plans for a Supreme Court of the

United Kingdom to replace the role of the Law Lords.

The House of Lords was replaced as the final court of appeal on civil cases within

the United Kingdom on 1 October 2009, by the Supreme Court of the United

Kingdom.

Devolved national legislatures

Main article: Devolution

Though the UK parliament remains the sovereign parliament, Scotland has a

parliament and Wales and Northern Ireland have assemblies. De jure, each could

have its powers broadened, narrowed or changed by an Act of the UK Parliament.

However, Scotland has a tradition of popular sovereignty as opposed to

parliamentary sovereignty and the fact that the Scottish parliament was

established following a referendum would make it politically difficult to

significantly alter its powers without popular consent. The UK is therefore a

unitary state with a devolved system of government. This contrasts with a federal

system, in which sub-parliaments or state parliaments and assemblies have a

clearly defined constitutional right to exist and a right to exercise certain

constitutionally guaranteed and defined functions and cannot be unilaterally

abolished by Acts of the central parliament.

All three devolved institutions are elected by proportional representation: the

Additional Member System is used in Scotland and Wales, and Single

Transferable Vote is used in Northern Ireland.

England, therefore, is the only country in the UK not to have a devolved English

parliament. However, senior politicians of all main parties have voiced concerns

in regard to the West Lothian Question,

[8][9]

which is raised where certain policiesfor England are set by MPs from all four constituent nations whereas similar

policies for Scotland or Wales might be decided in the devolved assemblies by

legislators from those countries alone. Alternative proposals for English regional

government have stalled, following a poorly received referendum on devolved

government for the North East of England, which had hitherto been considered the

region most in favour of the idea, with the exception ofCornwall, where there is

widespread support for a Cornish Assembly, including all five Cornish MPs.[10][11]
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England is therefore governed according to the balance of parties across the whole

of the United Kingdom.

The government has no plans to establish an English parliament or assembly

although several pressure groups[12] are calling for one. One of their main

arguments is that MPs (and thus voters) from different parts of the UK have

inconsistent powers. Currently an MP from Scotland can vote on legislation which

affects only England but MPs from England (or indeed Scotland) cannot vote on

matters devolved to the Scottish parliament. Indeed, the former Prime Minister

Gordon Brown, who is an MP for a Scottish constituency, introduced some laws

that only affect England and not his own constituency. This anomaly is known as

the West Lothian question.

The policy of the UK Government in England was to establish elected regional

assemblies with no legislative powers. The London Assembly was the first of

these, established in 2000, following a referendum in 1998, but further plans were

abandoned following rejection of a proposal for an elected assembly in North East

England in a referendum in 2004. Unelected regional assemblies remain in place

in eight regions of England.

Scottish Parliament

Main article: Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament Building in Holyrood, Edinburgh, seat of the Scottish

Parliament.
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The debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Parliament is the national, unicameral legislature ofScotland, located

in the Holyrood area of the capital Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred

to as "Holyrood"

[13]

(cf. "Westminster"), is a democratically elected bodycomprising 129 members who are known as Members of the Scottish Parliament,

or MSPs. Members are elected for four-year terms under the mixed member

proportional representation system. As a result, 73 MSPs represent individual

geographical constituencies elected by the plurality ("first past the post") system,

with a further 56 returned from eight additional member regions, each electing

seven MSPs.[14]

The current Scottish Parliament was established by the Scotland Act 1998 and its

first meeting as a devolved legislature was on 12 May 1999. The parliament has

the power to pass laws and has limited tax-varying capability. Another of its roles

is to hold the Scottish Government to account. The "devolved matters" over which

it has responsibility include education, health, agriculture, and justice. A degree of

domestic authority, and all foreign policy, remains with the UK Parliament in

Westminster.

The public take part in Parliament in a way that is not the case at Westminster

through Cross-Party Groups on policy topics which the interested public join and

attend meetings of alongside Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs).

The resurgence in Celtic language and identity, as well as 'regional' politics and

development, has contributed to forces pulling against the unity of the state.[15]

This was clearly demonstrated when - although some argue it was influenced by

general public dillusionment with Labour - the Scottish National Party (SNP)

became the largest party in the Scottish Parliament by one seat.
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Alex Salmond (leader of SNP) has since made history by becoming the first First

Minister of Scotland from a party other than Labour. The SNP govern as a

minority administration at Holyrood. Nevertheless, recent opinion polls have

suggested that nationalism (i.e., a desire to break up the UK) is rising within

Scotland and England. However, the polls have been known to be inaccurate in

the past (for example, in the run up to the 1992 General Election). Moreover, polls

carried out in the 1970s and the 1990s showed similar results, only to be

debunked at elections. While support for breaking up the UK was strongest in

Scotland, there was still a clear lead for unionism over nationalism.[16]

However,

an opinion poll in April 2008 suggested the result of any referendum on Scottish

independence could be close as support for independence had reached 41% with

just 40% supporting retention of the Union.[17]

Welsh Assembly

Main article: Welsh assembly

The Senedd - The Welsh Assembly Building

The National Assembly for Wales is the devolved assembly with power to make

legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as

Assembly Members, or AMs (Welsh:Aelod y Cynulliad). Members are elected for

four-year terms under an additional members system, where 40 AMs represent

geographical constituencies elected by the plurality system, and 20 AMs from five

electoral regions using the d'Hondt method ofproportional representation.
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The Siambr - The debating chamber of the Welsh Assembly

The Assembly was created by the Government of Wales Act 1998, which

followed a referendum in 1997. On its creation, most of the powers of the Welsh

Office and Secretary of State for Wales were transferred to it. The Assembly had

no powers to initiate primary legislation until limited law-making powers were

gained through the Government of Wales Act 2006. Its primary law-making

powers were enhanced following a Yes vote in the referendum on 3 March 2011,

making it possible for it to legislate without having to consult the UK parliament,

nor the Secretary of State for Wales in the 20 areas that are devolved.[18]

Northern Ireland assembly

Main article: Northern Ireland Assembly

Parliament Buildings in Stormont, Belfast, seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The government of Northern Ireland was established as a result of the 1998 Good

Friday Agreement. This created the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Assembly is

a unicameral body consisting of 108 members elected under the Single

Transferable Vote form ofproportional representation. The Assembly is based on

the principle of power-sharing, in order to ensure that both communities in
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Northern Ireland, unionist and nationalist, participate in governing the region. It

has power to legislate in a wide range of areas and to elect the Northern Ireland

Executive (cabinet). It sits at Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast.

The Assembly has authority to legislate in a field of competences known as

"transferred matters". These matters are not explicitly enumerated in the Northern

Ireland Act 1998 but instead include any competence not explicitly retained by the

Parliament at Westminster. Powers reserved by Westminster are divided into

"excepted matters", which it retains indefinitely, and "reserved matters", which

may be transferred to the competence of the Northern Ireland Assembly at a future

date. Health, criminal law and education are "transferred" while royal relations are

all "excepted".

While the Assembly was in suspension, due to issues involving the main parties

and the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), its legislative powers were

exercised by the UK government, which effectively had power to legislate by

decree. Laws that would normally be within the competence of the Assembly

were passed by the UK government in the form of Orders-in-Council rather than

legislative acts.

Northern Ireland Assembly in session.

There has been a significant decrease in violence over the last twenty years,

though the situation remains tense, with the more hard-line parties such as Sinn

Fin and the Democratic Unionist Party now holding the most parliamentary seats

(see Demographics and politics of Northern Ireland).

Judiciary

See also: Courts of the United Kingdom and Law of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom does not have a single legal system due to it being created

by the political union of previously independent countries with the terms of the

Treaty of Union guaranteeing the continued existence of Scotland's separate legal
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system. Today the UK has three distinct systems of law: English law, Northern

Ireland law and Scots law. Recent constitutional changes saw a new Supreme

Court of the United Kingdom come into being in October 2009 that took on the

appeal functions of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords.[19] The

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, comprising the same members as the

Supreme Court, is the highest court of appeal for several independent

Commonwealth countries, the UK overseas territories, and the British crown

dependencies.

England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Main articles: English law and Northern Ireland law

Both English law, which applies in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland law

are based on common-law principles. The essence of common-law is that law is

made by judges sitting in courts, applying their common sense and knowledge of

legal precedent (stare decisis) to the facts before them. The Courts of England and

Wales are headed by the Senior Courts of England and Wales, consisting of the

Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown Court

(for criminal cases). The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the highest

court in the land for both criminal and civil cases in England, Wales, and Northern

Ireland and any decision it makes is binding on every other court in the hierarchy.

Scotland

Main article: Scots law

Scots law, a hybrid system based on both common-law and civil-law principles,

applies in Scotland. The chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases, and

the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases. The Supreme Court of the United

Kingdom serves as the highest court of appeal for civil cases under Scots law.Sheriff courts deal with most civil and criminal cases including conducting

criminal trials with a jury, known as Sheriff solemn Court, or with a Sheriff and

no jury, known as (Sheriff summary Court). The Sheriff courts provide a local

court service with 49 Sheriff courts organised across six Sheriffdoms.

Electoral systems

Main article: Elections in the United Kingdom

Various electoral systems are used in the UK:
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The first-past-the-post system is used for general elections to the House ofCommons, and also for some local government elections in England and

Wales.

The plurality-at-large voting (the bloc vote) is also used for some localgovernment elections in England and Wales.

The Additional Member System is used for elections to the ScottishParliament, the National Assembly for Wales (Welsh Assembly) and

London Assembly. The system is implemented differently in each of the

three locations.

The single transferable vote system is used in Northern Ireland to elect theNorthern Ireland Assembly, local councils, and Members of the European

Parliament, and in Scotland to elect local councils.

The Alternative Vote system is used for by-elections in Scottish localcouncils.

The party-list proportional representation system is used for EuropeanParliament elections in England, Scotland and Wales.

The supplementary vote is used to elect directly-elected mayors inEngland, including the mayor of London.

The use of the first-past-the-post to elect members of Parliament is unusual among

European nations. The use of the system means that MPs are sometimes elected

from individual constituencies with a plurality (receiving more votes than any

other candidate, but not an absolute majority of 50 percent plus one vote), due to

three or more candidates receiving a significant share of the vote.

Elections and political parties in the United Kingdom are affected by Duverger's

law, the political science principle which states that plurality voting systems, suchas first-past-the-post, tend to lead to the development of two-party systems. The

UK, like several other states, has sometimes been called a "two-and-a-half" party

system, because parliamentary politics is dominated by the Labour Party and

Conservative Party, with the Liberal Democrats holding a significant number of

seats (but still substantially less than Labour and the Conservatives), and several

small parties (some of them regional or nationalist) trailing far behind in number

of seats.
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In the last few general elections, voter mandates for Westminster in the 40%

ranges have been swung into 60% parliamentary majorities. No single party has

won a majority of the popular vote since the Third National Government of

Stanley Baldwin in 1935. On two occasions since World War II - 1951 and

February 1974 - a party that came in second in the popular vote actually came out

with the larger number of seats.

Electoral reform for parliamentary elections have been proposed many times. The

Jenkins Commission report in October 1998 suggested implementing the

Alternative Vote Top-up (also called Alternative Vote Plus or AV+) in

parliamentary elections. Under this proposal, most MPs would be directly elected

from constituencies by the alternative vote, with a number ofadditional members

elected from "top-up lists." However, no action was taken by the Labour

government and the time. There are a number of groups in the UK campaigning

for electoral reform, including the Electoral Reform Society, Make Votes Count

Coalition and Fairshare.

The 2010 general election resulted in a hung parliament (no single party being

able to command a majority in the House of Commons). This was only the second

general election since World War II to return a hung parliament, the first being the

February 1974 election. The Conservatives gained the most seats (ending 13 years

of Labour government) and the largest percentage of the popular vote, but fell 20

seats short of a majority.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats entered into a new coalition

government, headed by David Cameron. Under the terms of the coalition

agreement the government committed itself to hold a referendum in May 2011 on

whether to change parliamentary elections from first-past-the-post to AV.Electoral reform was a majority priority for the Liberal Democrats, who favor

proportional representation but were able to negotiate only a referendum on AV

with the Conservatives. The coalition partners plan to campaign on opposite sides,

with the Liberal Democrats supporting AV and the Conservatives opposing it.

Voter turnout in the 2010 general election with 65 percent.

Political parties
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_National_Government_1935%E2%80%931937http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Baldwinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1935http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1951http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_February_1974http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_reformhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenkins_Commission_%28UK%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_Vote_Top-uphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_votehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Additional_Member_Systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_Reform_Societyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairsharehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_2010http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hung_parliamenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_coalition_government_%282010%E2%80%93present%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_coalition_government_%282010%E2%80%93present%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Ministryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_%E2%80%93_Liberal_Democrat_coalition_agreementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_%E2%80%93_Liberal_Democrat_coalition_agreementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_Alternative_Vote_referendum,_2011http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportional_representationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnouthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnouthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportional_representationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_Alternative_Vote_referendum,_2011http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_%E2%80%93_Liberal_Democrat_coalition_agreementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_%E2%80%93_Liberal_Democrat_coalition_agreementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Ministryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_coalition_government_%282010%E2%80%93present%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_coalition_government_%282010%E2%80%93present%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hung_parliamenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_2010http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairsharehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_Reform_Societyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Additional_Member_Systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_votehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_Vote_Top-uphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenkins_Commission_%28UK%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_reformhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_February_1974http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1951http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1935http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Baldwinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_National_Government_1935%E2%80%931937


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2005 election results by age group: voters for Conservative (blue), Labour (red),

Lib Dem (yellow), other parties (green); and those not voting (grey).

Three parties currently dominate the national political landscape in Britain: the

Conservative Party, the Labour Party, and the Liberal Democrats.The modern Conservative Party was founded in 1834 and is an outgrowth of the

Tory movement or party, which began in 1678. Today it is still colloquially

referred to as the Tory Party and its members as Tories. The Liberal Democrats

were formed in 1988 by a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic

Party (SDP), a Labour breakaway formed in 1981. The Liberals and SDP had

contested elections together as the SDPLiberal Alliance for seven years before.

The modern Liberal Party had been founded in 1859 as an outgrowth of the Whig

movement or party (which began at the same time as the Tory party and was its

historical rival) as well as the Radical and Peelite tendencies.

The Liberal Party was one of the two dominant parties (along with the

Conservatives) from its founding until the 1920s, when it rapidly declined and

was supplanted on the left by the Labour Party, which was founded in 1900 and

formed its first government in 1924. Since that time, the Labour and

Conservatives parties have been dominant, with the Liberal Democrats also

holding a significant number of seats and increasing their share of the vote in

parliamentary general elections in the four elections 1992.

Minor parties also hold seats in parliament:

The Scottish National Party, founded in 1934, advocates for Scottishindependence and has had continuous representation in Parliament since

1967. The SNP currently leads a majority government in the Scottish

Parliament.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party_%28UK%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Party_%28UK%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Democratshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tory_%28British_political_party%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Party_%28UK%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Democratic_Party_%28UK%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Democratic_Party_%28UK%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDP%E2%80%93Liberal_Alliancehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDP%E2%80%93Liberal_Alliancehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDP%E2%80%93Liberal_Alliancehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whig_%28British_political_party%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radicals_%28UK%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peelitehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-wing_politicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_National_Partyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority_governmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Parliamenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Parliamenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Uk_general_election_2005_by_age.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Uk_general_election_2005_by_age.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Uk_general_election_2005_by_age.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Uk_general_election_2005_by_age.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Parliamenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Parliamenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority_governmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_National_Partyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-wing_politicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peelitehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radicals_%28UK%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whig_%28British_political_party%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDP%E2%80%93Liberal_Alliancehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Democratic_Party_%28UK%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Democratic_Party_%28UK%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Party_%28UK%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tory_%28British_political_party%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Democratshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Party_%28UK%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party_%28UK%29


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Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, has had continuousrepresentation in Parliament since 1974. Plaid has the third-largest number

of seats in the National Assembly for Wales, after Welsh Labour and the

Welsh Conservative & Unionist Party, and participated with the former in

the coalition agreement in the Assembly before the 2011 election.

In Northern Ireland, all 18 MPs are from parties that only contest electionsin Northern Ireland (except for Sinn Fin, which contests elections in both

Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland). The unionism Democratic

Unionist Party (DUP), the republican Sinn Fin, the nationalist Social

Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and the nonsectarian Alliance Party

of Northern Ireland all gained seats in Parliament in the 2010 election, the

Alliance Party for the first time. Sinn Fin has a policy of abstentionism

and so i

Documents

United Kingdom Political System