The United Kingdom political system

Mg. Fernanda Gómez Alegría

Main political parties in the
UKThere are currently 11 political parties with seats in
the
House of Commons. Below is a brief overview of
each one.
1. C ONSERVATIVE PARTY
Also known as the Tory P arty, the Conservative P arty
was founded in 1834. It has been one of the dominant
forces in British politics since the 19th century. The party
has been in power since 2010 and currently holds 363
parliamentary seats in W estminster.
2. Labo ur
Party
The Labour Party is the current Official Opposition party in
the UK with 198 seats in parliament. It has had five periods
in power since 1923, the most recent being 1997-2010.
The party was founded in 1900 out of a coalition between
trade unionists and socialists.

3. Sc o ttish Natio nal

Party (SNP)
The SNP is a Scottish political party that campaigns on
a platform of Scottish independence. Although the SNP
lost the 2014 Scottish Referendum on independence, it is
the party with the most support in Scotland. It holds 45 of
the 59 parliamentary seats. This makes it the third biggest
party in
4. Liberal Demo c rat
Party
Commonly referred to as the Lib Dems, the Liberal
Democrats were founded in 1988 out of a merger
between the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic
Party – two parties that had been in an alliance since
1981.
5. Demo c ratic Unio nist
Party (DUP)
The DUP is an Irish political party that is the biggest party
in the Northern Ireland Assembly in terms of seats (27 out
of 90). It shares assembly leadership with Sinn Fein.
Founded in 1971, the party is unionist, loyalist, and socially
conservative, opposing things such as abortion and same-
sex marriage. It
6. Sinn
Fein
Sinn Fein (meaning “We Ourselves” in Irish) is an Irish
political party founded in 1905 when the whole of Ireland
was under British rule. It is active in both Northern Ireland
and the Republic of Ireland, with the current form of the
party in operation since 1970.

7.
Plaid
C ymr
u
8. Alba Par
tyThe Alba Party is a Scottish nationalist party founded in February
2021 and led by former SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland,
Alex Salmond. It has yet to contest any elections but has two seats
in Westminster on account of two SNP MPs defecting to the party.

9. Social Democratic & Labour

Party (SDLP
)
The SDLP is an Irish Republican party in Northern Ireland advocating Irish
nationalism, social democracy, and pro- European politics. It was founded
in 1970 and currently holds two seats in Westminster and 12 seats in the
Northern Ireland Assembly. The party leader is Colum Eastwood.
.
10. Alliance Par
ty The Alliance Party is a liberal party in
Northern Ireland affiliated with the
Liberal Democrats in Great Britain. It
was founded in 1970 and currently
has one MP in the UK parliament and
7 MPs in the Northern Ireland
Assembly. Its leader is Naomi Long.
11. Green Par
ty
The Green Party is a political party in England and Wales.
Similar to green political movements elsewhere, the
party is associated with environmentalism and
sustainability. In the UK, the party also supports social-
democratic economic policies, civil liberties, animal
rights, grassroots democratic
participation, and EU membership.
 Electoral
system in t h e
UK The UK uses different electoral systems for different types of elections. For
general elections, where MPs representing 650 regional constituencies
across the UK are elected to the House of Commons, the First-Past-The-
Post (FPTP) system is used. Each party can put one candidate forward in
each constituency (independents can also stand).

The party with the most winning candidates forms a majority government
if they win over 50% of the seats, otherwise, they can form a coalition
government with other parties to take them over 50% or form a
minority government. The leader of the winning party becomes Prime
Minister and appoints a Cabinet of Ministers to head the different
government departments (health, education, defense, etc.). There are
currently 23 ministerial departments and 20 non-ministerial departments.
Scottish and W elsh In addition t o Mayoral elections,
held in London
parliamentary
elections, held every UK and some parts
5 years, where
voters choose M P s elec tio
g eneral n of England,
where voters
using the Additional
M ember System (A
there
s,
elect a local
mayor using the
MS) form of
proportional are: Supplementary
Vote system.
representation.
Northern Ireland Local elections, held
Assembly elections, every 4 years,
held every 5 years, where voters elect
where voters elect local councillors.
assembly members England and W ales
using the Single use the FP TP
Transferable Vote (ST system, while
V) form of Scotland and
proportional Northern Ireland
representation. use STV.
Thank