Finance          Automotive          Computers          Health          Shopping          Sports         News          Reference           Print Facts in English - BCUZ.COMlos hechos en Español

Politics of the United Kingdom



[

Parliamentary parties

The Respect party, a left-wing group that came out of the anti-war movement has one MP, George Galloway, and a small number of seats on local councils across the country.

United Kingdom Independence Party has as of yet not won a single House of Commons seat at an election, but on 22 April 2008 welcomed the defection of Bob Spink MP for Castle Point, to date its only MP. The party also has two Lords in the House of Lords who defected from the Conservative Party and has the third largest British block of MEPs in the European Parliament. . Two UKIP members were elected to the London Assembly in 2000, but they subsequently quit the party and now sit as One London members.

[

Non-Parliamentary political parties

The Green Party has seats in the European Parliament and also have two seats in the London Assembly; Veritas has one Member of the European Parliament (MEP), its founder and former leader Robert Kilroy Silk, though he was elected for UKIP (which he later left). The Scottish National Party has formed a minority government in the Scottish Parliament, and Plaid Cymru have seats in the Welsh Assembly, as well as each having a number of council seats. A number of other parties have local councillors including the British National Party (BNP), the Liberal Party (in Liverpool, Peterborough and elsewhere), Mebyon Kernow (Cornish nationalist party) in Cornwall, and the Communist Left Alliance (in Fife). There is also the Democratic Unity Party, which is only recently founded and is yet to have any candidates.

[

Regional/National parties

Other political parties contest elections in constituent parts of the United Kingdom, seeking autonomy or independence, for example:

The SNP and Plaid Cymru work as a single parliamentary group in the UK and European parliaments.

Several local parties contest only within a specific area, a single county, borough or district. Examples include the Better Bedford Independent Party, one of the dominant parties in Bedford Borough Council, led by Bedford's current Mayor, Frank Branston. The most notable local party is Health Concern, which controls a single seat in the UK Parliament.

[

The far-left and far-right

Other minor UK political parties exist, but generally do not succeed in returning MPs to Parliament. There is a tendency on the far left and right for a proliferation of tiny groups (also known by the French term 'groupuscules'), sometimes characterized by extremely rigid ideologies or built around personalities. The largest of these groups probably is the Socialist Workers Party with a few thousand members.

[

Independents

There are also a few independent politicians with no party allegiance. This normally occurs only when an MP decides to break with his party in mid-session. Since 1950 only two MPs have been elected as genuine independents, though others have been elected after breaking away from their party:

  • Martin Bell represented the Tatton constituency in Cheshire between 1997 and 2001. He was elected following a "sleaze" scandal involving the sitting Conservative MP, Neil Hamilton -- Bell, a BBC journalist, stood as an anticorruption independent candidate, and the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties withdrew their candidates from the election.
  • Dr. Richard Taylor MP was elected for the Wyre Forest constituency in the 2001 on a platform opposing the closure of Kidderminster hospital. He later established Health Concern, the party under which he ran in 2005.

[

Local Government

Main articles: Local government in England, Local government in Scotland, Local government in Wales, and Local government in Northern Ireland

The UK is divided into a variety of different types of Local Authorities, with different functions and responsibilities.

England has a mix of two-tier and single-tier councils in different parts of the country. In Greater London, a unique two-tier system exists, with power shared between the London borough councils, and the Greater London Authority which is headed by an elected mayor.

Unitary Authorities are used throughout Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

[

European Union

 This section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling.
You can assist by editing it now. A how-to guide is available. (April 2008)

The United Kingdom is a member of the European Union (EU). As such, UK citizens elect Members of the European Parliament to represent them in the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg. The UK elects 78 MEPs.

In recent years, there have been divisions in both major parties as to whether the UK should form greater ties within the EU, leave things as they are, or reduce the EU's supranational powers. Opponents of greater European integration are known as Eurosceptics, supporters Europhiles. Divisions over Europe run deep in both major parties, and though the Conservative Party is seen to split over this issue, whilst in Government up to 1997 and today in opposition. The Labour Party also faces conflicting views within Cabinet over UK adoption of the euro, and on ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon.

UK nationalists have long campaigned against EU integration. The strong showing of the eurosceptic United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) in the 2004 European Parliament elections has shifted the debate over UK relations with the EU.

British lawmakers rejected calls March 5, 2008 to give the public a vote on adopting the Treaty of Lisbon, sealed December 18, 2007.[14]

[

International organization participation

[

See also

[

Notes

  1. ^ General Election results through time, 1945–2001. BBC News. Retrieved on 2006-05-19.
  2. ^ Constitutional Reform. Liberal Democrats election change proposals. Retrieved on 2006-05-19.
  3. ^ As argued by the 19th century British constitutional author Walter Bagehot
  4. ^ The formal request from the monarch is either to (a) form a government capable of surviving in the House of Commons (which by implication does not require a majority behind it, given that skilled minority governments can and do survive for long periods); or (b) form a government capable of commanding a majority in the Commons, which by implication requires a majority behind it
  5. ^ Jones, George (2006-01-17). Baker seeks end to West Lothian question. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved on 2006-05-16.
  6. ^ No English parliament — Falconer. BBC (2006-03-10). Retrieved on 2006-05-16.
  7. ^ BBC News 2001 - Blair gets Cornish assembly call
  8. ^ BBC news 2003 - Prescott pressed on Cornish Assembly poll
  9. ^ including The Campaign for an English Parliament
  10. ^ The Celtic League. Retrieved on 2006-05-20.
  11. ^ "Welsh firmly back Britain's Union", BBC News, 2007-01-16. Retrieved on 2007-02-05. 
  12. ^ 41% of Scots back the break-up of the union Sunday Herald, April 13th, 2008
  13. ^ Oxford English Dictionary (Second Edition 1989). Whig n.2, whiggamore, and tory 1. a.
  14. ^ UK rebel lawmakers beaten on EU vote. CNN (2008-03-05). Retrieved on 2008-03-05.

[

External links

v • d • e
Politics of Europe
Sovereign
states
Dependencies,
autonomies,
other territories

Abkhazia 2 · Adjara1 · Akrotiri and Dhekelia · Åland · Azores · Crimea · Faroe Islands · Gagauzia · Gibraltar · Greenland7 · Guernsey · Jan Mayen · Jersey · Kosovo · Isle of Man · Madeira8 · Nagorno-Karabakh1 · Nakhchivan1 · Northern Cyprus1 · South Ossetia 2 · Svalbard · Transnistria
Italics indicates an unrecognised or partially recognised country. 1 Entirely in Southwest Asia.  2 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the border definitions.  3 / 4 / 5 / 6 Has part of its territory in Asia / North America / South America / Africa.  7 / 8 Entirely on the North American Plate / African Plate.



BCUZ.com FACTS Encyclopedia content is licensed under the GFDL as approved by Wikipedia.
For more information review our copyright contact and privacy policy.
© 1996 - BCUZ.COM - We have all the FACTS you need about Small Business Financing, Behavior Disorder, Having Too Many Bills, Needing Cash Fast, Structured Settlements, Frequent Flier Programs, Top Steak Houses, The Mayan Indians, Norfolk and Suffolk England, Growing Longer Hair and a full reference English Encyclopedia and Spanish Encyclopedia.Privacy Policy