political system of the uk present

8/13/2019 Political System of the UK Present

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Politics in the UK at the presentday


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Electoral systemUK is divided into constituencies (650)Each elects a Member of Parliament (MP) tosit in the House of CommonsNo contest for the seats to the House ofLords

To ensure equitable representation fourpermanent Boundary Commissionsmake periodic reviews to adjust electoralboundaries and redistributes seats


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Who can vote? All British citizens, provided they areaged 18 or over, are registered, and arenot disqualified by insanity, membershipof the House of Lords or by beingsentenced prisoners


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Voting is not compulsory

General election normally attracts about 75 per centof the electorate,

A decline in participation of about 8 per cent since1945

If an MP resigns, dies or is made a peer during thelifetime of a Parliament, a by - election must be held


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Electoral systems used in the UK:First Past the Post (FPTP)

- used for the election of MPs- "winner takes all"

The Additional Member System

-elections to the Scottish Parliament, theNational Assembly for Wales(Welsh Assembly) and London Assembly


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The supplementary vote- used to elect directly-elected mayors in

England, including the mayor of London The party-list proportionalrepresentation

-system is used for European Parliamentelections in England, Scotland andWales


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Party system of UK


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The UK political system is a multi-partysystem2 major parties : the Labour Party and Conservative Party 3rd party : the Liberal Democrats


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centre-right political party

its support tends to lie with the wealthierclasses, receiving much money from majorbusiness and financial institutions

importance of law and order, and themaintenance of strong armed forces toprotect British interests


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General elections 2010The Conservative party won the elections,but didn t achieve the 326 seats needed foran overall majority - 20 seats short Hung parliament

The Conservative party /led by DavidCameron/ entered in formal coalition with theLiberal Democrats /led by Nick Clegg/

= the first postwar coalition government


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Their position in 2013the most powerful party in the UnitedKingdom

the largest single party in the House ofCommons with 306 MPs,the largest party in local government

with 9,391 councillors,the largest British party in the EuropeanParliament with 25 MEPs


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centre-left political partyparty of social justice, though itsemphasis is less on equality than on theachievement of well being andopportunity for all members of societylast in national government between1997 and 2010 under Tony Blair andGordon Brown


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forms the Official Opposition in theParliament of the United Kingdomhas a minority government in the Welsh

Assembly, is the main opposition party in theScottish Parliament and has 13 MEPs inthe European Parliament.


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Was founded in 1988 Attracts voters of the middle ground

between Labour and the Conservatives Is the party keenest on constitution and

electoral reform

less tied to either capitalist or unioninterest, free to offer more radical policies


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Voting behaviour

Voting behaviour is the way in which peopletend to vote. Voting is influenced by anumber of different factors. The mostimportant are:

- Social class- Age, gender, ethnicity- Geography- Issue Voting- Media


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Social class

the most important factorElectorate divided into:

-A - upper class-B - middle class-C1 - upper working class= Conservatives voters-C2 - lower working class-D/E - temporarily or long-term unemployed= Labour voters


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Age : 18- 35 Labour45- 65 Conservative

Ethnicity : Black and Asian voters tendto be Labour supporters

Gender : Women tend to vote

Conservative


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Regional factors

Labour : Industrial towns in North ofEngland, Scotland and Wales

Conservatives : London, South Eastsuburbia, rural communities in England

Liberal Democrats : evenly spreadsupport


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Issue Voting

Parties traditionally focuses on certainpolicy areas

Labour : Health and educationConservatives : taxes, economy, lawLib. Democrats : environment


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Media

The media is the means whereby votersform opinions on the ability of politicalleaders and whether the government isdoing a good job or not


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political system of the uk present

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