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An Introduction to the British Political SceneThe British political scene has become quite complicated in recent years with the advent of devolution. Whereas ten years ago, Britain, apart from Northern Ireland, was dominated by three major parties and the rest, if they were lucky, might win the odd seat or two, now the situation is much more complicated. We now must think in terms of Great Britain as a whole and Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales separately. That isn't, I know, very clear, but bare with me: all will be revealed! The General Election, which we will have on 7th June, elects the parliament of Great Britain, which sits at Westminster. However certain substantial powers have been devolved in NI, Scotland and Wales, and each has its own elected assembly or parliament. In the General Election, the main parties are Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat. Only two of these are likely to be gain sufficient votes to form a government, and the third, the LibDems, could hold the balance of power, if the margin between Labour and Conservative is small. All three parties are centrist, although they have differences of emphasis. Twenty years ago there were very big differences between the parties. Labour, a socialist party, was on the left wing, the Liberals (out of which the LibDems grew) were the centre party, and the Conservatives (also known as Tories) were on the right. In essence Labour (now New Labour) abandoned socialism around five years ago and, moving to the right, positioned itself as a slightly left of centre party. The Tories, under Margaret Thatcher, made a major swing to the right, then moved back to a more centrist postion under John Major, and now seem to be moving rightwards again. The LibDems have positioned themselves as a radical centre party. These are the major national parties, but others will be standing in the election:
There are numerous other parties, many single-issue groups, which will field candidates in a few constituencies. In addition there are independent candidates who will stand in the occasional constituency. The smaller parties and the independents traditionally fare badly in elections and usually lose their deposits (I'll explain that later!). However at the 1997 election TV journalist Martin Bell stood in the Tatton constuituency of Liverpool on an anti-sleaze platform and won. Northern Ireland has its own parties, mainly divided on religious grounds. There are the nationalist parties, which tend to be supported by the minority catholic population and are in favour of union with Eire, and the unionist parties, primarily protestant and in favour of the continuing union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Nationalist parties consist of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), a moderate left of centre group, and Sinn Fein, usually regarded as the political wing of the IRA, whose main platform is the dissolution of the union. There are two main unionist parties. The larger is the Ulster Unionist Party, which is the majority party in the province, and the Democratic Unionist Party, which is said to have links with the unionist paramilitaries. There are, inevitably, smaller groups, usually of a more extreme nature, although some strive to unite the two communities. The majority party in Scotland is the Labour Party, although the Scottish LibDems and the Scottish National Party (SNP) also have seats at Westminster. In fact, the SNP is the second party in the Scottish Parliament. There is a Scottish Conservative Party, but it lost all its seats at the last general election. In Wales, where both Labour and the Liberals (in West Wales, a any rate) have always been strong, the majority party is, again, the Labour Party, although Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, has a strong contingent in the Welsh Assembly. Both the SNP and Plaid Cymru (pronounced Plide Kumree, by the way) advocate total independence. And that business of losing deposits? Anyone (with some exceptions) can stand for parliament in a general election, as long as they have eight local voters prepared to sign their nomination papers and can put up a deposit of £1000. They lose that deposit if they fail to get 5% of the vote. The Conservative Party Articles Indices: |
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