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This thread is designed for discussion of UK politics.
OK so first lets go through how UK politics works for those unfamiliar with systems etc:
Voting:
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General elections:
General elections in the UK occur every 5 years in May (following the Fixed Term Parliament Act 2011).
The UK is split into constituencies of about 70,000 voters. Each constituency has an MP (Member of Parliament), who are elected on election day using the 'first past the post' system. This means that whoever has the most votes wins. Candidates can be independent or form a political party.
The party with the majority of seats in Parliament after the election wins. Parties with less votes get no control of the government, so smaller parties tend to be a quite a disadvantage, because people will not want to waste their vote on a party that will not get into government.
Local elections:
In local elections, each area of the country (different to constituencies: varies from about 35,000 - 300,000 people) elect a local council. This works using the same 'first past the post' system.
These councils are responsible for local issues such as how to use their budget (allocated by the national treasury), waste collection and disposal, planning applications and social housing (as well as larger housing projects).
References:
http://www.mpacuk.org/vote/how-does-voting-system-work.html
http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/general/
https://www.gov.uk/understand-how-your-council-works/types-of-council
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_government_in_England (sorry)
The Cabinet
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The Cabinet of Her Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom is made up of members of the houses of commons and lords, who are selected by the current government. Each member of the Cabinet is known as a Cabinet Minister.
Cabinet Ministers in the UK are usually known as 'the secretary of state for (insert field here)'.
The main guys in Cabinet at the moment are:
Prime Minister - David Cameron
Deputy PM - Nick Clegg
Foreign Affairs - William Hague
Chancellor of the Exchequer (in charge of money) - George Osborne
Home Affairs - Theresa May
Defence - Phillip Hammond
Education - Michael Gove
Work and Pensions - Iain Duncan-Smith
Health - Jeremy Hunt
Business - Vince Cable
Each Minister employs a staff to help them with their business.
There are others but these are the guys you see in the news alot, making key decisions
The Shadow Cabinet:
The Shadow Cabinet is a system setup each term by the out of power party (the second biggest party) to mirror the Cabinet. Each Minister has his 'alternative' provided by the out of power party to shadow the Minister in that field. Its main purpose is to inform the public of the alternative choice that they would offer, but shadow Ministers usually end up simply criticizing the current Minister.
Refences: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_the_United_Kingdom
Parliament:
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Parliament is made up of a two tier system the UK. The House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Parliament is responsible for passing and debating new legislation; questioning the Prime Minister and other cabinet members about their decisions and raising concerns brought to MPs by member of the public. Its function is central to UK Politics and most of the political debate you will see or hear regarding UK politics will take place in parliament.
Where the government is responsible for drafting and writing new legislation, parliament has the authority to reject this legislation.
Houses of Commons and Lords:
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The House of Commons:
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The House of Lords:
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References:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/
http://www.parliament.uk/business/commons/
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In basic terms, the House of Commons is where MPs go to discuss policies, question the prime minister and conduct their parliamentary business. Each elected MP has a seat in the House of Commons.
Responsible for running operations related to the House of Commons and its business is the House of Commons Commission:
The House of Commons is chaired by the Speaker of the House. who is elected by a vote from all MPs.
Other notable members include:
The leader of the house (nominated by the government)
The Shadow Leader of the House (nominated by the shadow government)
Each of the three biggest parties also nominate one backbench MP to the commission.
Responsible for running operations related to the House of Commons and its business is the House of Commons Commission:
The House of Commons is chaired by the Speaker of the House. who is elected by a vote from all MPs.
Other notable members include:
The leader of the house (nominated by the government)
The Shadow Leader of the House (nominated by the shadow government)
Each of the three biggest parties also nominate one backbench MP to the commission.
The House of Lords:
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Unlike the democratically elected members of the House of Commons, members of the House of Lords are appointed, either by the Queen (on advice from the Prime Minister) or by the Lords Appointments Commission. Some members of the House of Lords are appointed due to their prominent roles in the Church of England.
Although the House of Lords is not elected, they do have some power over legislation. This power is limited, however, and they are not usually able to prevent bills approved by the House of Commons from passing. They do, however have the power to delay these bills.
Although the House of Lords is not elected, they do have some power over legislation. This power is limited, however, and they are not usually able to prevent bills approved by the House of Commons from passing. They do, however have the power to delay these bills.
References:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/
http://www.parliament.uk/business/commons/
Current Major Political Parties and their stances, policies and focus:
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The Government of the UK right now is a coalition made up of the largest party - The Conservative Party - and the third largest: The Liberal Democrats.
The Conservative Party:
The Conservative Party is usually seen as a centre-right party.
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The Labour Party:
The Labour Party is a centre-left party current led by Ed Miliband. Some people claim the party has moved further to the right in recent years, since the birth of 'New Labour' under Tony Blair. However, this effect was limited to certain areas of their policies. For example they still kept similar policies on social welfare, but their general economic policy was of deregulation of the big banks.
The 'New Labour' phenomenon has been noted to have caused serious long term problems for the labour party, with more traditional members feeling marginalized and unable to affect policy. The recent move away from the New Labour model may have had the reverse effect.
Economic Policy:
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Social Policy:
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Other notable parties include:
The Liberal Democrats.
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UKIP
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The Conservative Party:
The Conservative Party is usually seen as a centre-right party.
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Economics:
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Social Policies:
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Foreign Policy:
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The Conservative Party's current stance on economics in general is one of Austerity and business led economic growth. The Conservatives generally believe that taxes should be low (although they have admitted that low taxes will be hard to maintain during the current government due to economic circumstances), and are currently focusing on austerity using cuts to council budgets in order to control borrowing and debt.
Social Policies:
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Currently the Conservative Party is engaged in a policy of reforming welfare in the UK. The idea behind this is to encourage more people into work, especially the long term unemployed, and to reduce the cost of social benefits as part of its austerity program.
This is happening as we speak with the roll-out of 'Universal Credit'. This is a new system for people on low incomes. There are various facets to this system. The government claims it is simplifying the benefits system whilst encouraging people to work, while critics claim it will hurt the more vulnerable people in society.
This is happening as we speak with the roll-out of 'Universal Credit'. This is a new system for people on low incomes. There are various facets to this system. The government claims it is simplifying the benefits system whilst encouraging people to work, while critics claim it will hurt the more vulnerable people in society.
Foreign Policy:
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The Conservative's foreign policy, like the labour government before it, heavily emphasizes the UK's relationship in the USA. The Conservative Party as a whole endorsed the Democratic government of the USA. Unlike the labour government, however, the conservatives are against many of the measure introduced by the EU. Theresa May (Home Affairs) has recently launched a campaign to distance the UK from the EU restrictions relating to the Human Rights Act. This coincided with an expensive and embarrassing legal battle to deport a known terrorist: Abu Qatada, to Jordan; which ended in failure through the European Court of Human Rights.
The Conservative Party supports the ongoing military action in Afghanistan.
The Conservative Party supports the ongoing military action in Afghanistan.
The Labour Party:
The Labour Party is a centre-left party current led by Ed Miliband. Some people claim the party has moved further to the right in recent years, since the birth of 'New Labour' under Tony Blair. However, this effect was limited to certain areas of their policies. For example they still kept similar policies on social welfare, but their general economic policy was of deregulation of the big banks.
The 'New Labour' phenomenon has been noted to have caused serious long term problems for the labour party, with more traditional members feeling marginalized and unable to affect policy. The recent move away from the New Labour model may have had the reverse effect.
Economic Policy:
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The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer is Ed Balls.
Ed Balls has been fierce critic of the government's program of austerity measures. However, he recently admitted that he would have to go along with this program, just re prioritizing rather than avoiding the cuts. Labour are yet to announce any specific economic policy, focusing more on a critique of the current government's performance (which is usually the case during the first years of a government's reign).
Ed Balls has been fierce critic of the government's program of austerity measures. However, he recently admitted that he would have to go along with this program, just re prioritizing rather than avoiding the cuts. Labour are yet to announce any specific economic policy, focusing more on a critique of the current government's performance (which is usually the case during the first years of a government's reign).
Social Policy:
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The labour government has always been a supporter of the UK's welfare system, and launched a huge campaign against the reforms started by the current conservative government. If the party gets elected in 2015, you can be sure that the new Universal Credit system would see some pretty significant changes, although again nothing specific as yet has been said about what changes there would be.
Other notable parties include:
The Liberal Democrats.
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The Lib Dems are in the centre of the political spectrum. Although they are currently in a coalition government, and claim they have altered some legislation to protect the more vulnerable parts of society from the austerity cuts, they lost a huge amount of their support base when they voted in favour of raising university tuition fees to a maximum of £9000 per year, after promising in their pre election campaign that they were against it. This proved to be a miscalculation on a monumental scale, as a large proportion of their voters are university students.
In recent local elections, the Lib Dems had a very poor turnout, which has led some to comment that they are now the fourth biggest party under UKIP. This is highly debatable though.
The Liberal Democrats are currently led by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg
In recent local elections, the Lib Dems had a very poor turnout, which has led some to comment that they are now the fourth biggest party under UKIP. This is highly debatable though.
The Liberal Democrats are currently led by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg
UKIP
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The UK Independence Party started its life as a protest party against the UK's involvement in Europe. Nigel Farage (their leader) is known for his straight talking, aggressive style of speaking which is said to be primarily responsible for the their surge in popularity at the most recent local elections. UKIP are currently near the end of their transition from protest party to a full blown political force, and it currently remains to be seen whether their popularity will last beyond the current term.
After the recent local elections, UKIP's results seemed to be a source of much discomfort for the government, who were forced to have a rethink about the UK's place in Europe, and the possiblity of an In/out referendum.
After the recent local elections, UKIP's results seemed to be a source of much discomfort for the government, who were forced to have a rethink about the UK's place in Europe, and the possiblity of an In/out referendum.
Sources of information/interesting videos etc:
Prime Minister's questions:
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link
Prime minister's questions is a weekly session in which the prime minister answers questions from MPs in the House of Commons. It is often entertaining to watch, with lots of harsh political language and jeering/booing etc.
Question Time
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link
Weekly show on the BBC which usually has one or two MPs from each major party, sometimes with other guests and an invited audience, answering (or usually not answering) questions from the public.
Weekly show on the BBC which usually has one or two MPs from each major party, sometimes with other guests and an invited audience, answering (or usually not answering) questions from the public.
Daily/Sunday Politics BBC
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Have I Got News For You
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link
The brainchild of Ian Hislop - editor of satire magazine Private Eye - this comedy panel show examines the weeks UK political news.
The brainchild of Ian Hislop - editor of satire magazine Private Eye - this comedy panel show examines the weeks UK political news.
OK.
Please send me links/corrections and i will edit this post as required.
I am looking for more links for the final section and will post them as i find them.
Let's keep it civil guys
Current Affairs
Right, I am going to use the BBC for all current affairs links. The reason for this is that its journalists come from a range of political backgrounds, and it doesn't seem to have any overall political bias when it comes to UK current affairs.
massive changes to labour's relationship with unions
More conflict with the ECHR, this time over life sentences
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