2. • The United Kingdom is a parliamentary democracy
based on universal suffrage
• The Queen is the head of the executive and plays
an integral part in legislature
• General elections are held
every five years
• People over the age of 18
can vote
• Anyone over the age of 21
can stand for election as a
member of parliament
• Voting is not compulsory
3. UK is divided into constituencies where voting takes
place
Each area is represented by one Member of Parliament
Political parties appoint candidates to compete for a
seat in Parliament
Several parties fight for one seat, the candidate who
gets the largest number of votes in a constituency wins
The party with the most seats in the House of
Commons is in power and forms the Government
There is usually an one party
Government
The second largest party becomes
the Opposition and forms the
Shadow Cabinet
4. The UK is administered from the Palace of
Westminster
5. Elected by the British public through the first-past-the-post
system
The 659 members are called Members of Parliament
All new laws are first discussed and debated in the Commons
6. Members are not elected
Presided over by the Lord Chancellor
Today there are 746 members
• After passing
through the House of
Commons, all bills
are debated in the
House of Lords and
after that, signed by
the Queen
7. The leader of the winning party in elections
automatically becomes Prime Minister and has the
right to appoint his Government, called the Cabinet
The Cabinet includes a selection of MPs
It works as a team and is collectively
responsible for its decisions
The Cabinet is responsible to
Parliament
The most important ministers are
Prime Minister, Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Foreign Secretary,
Home Secretary
8. Political parties
The Labour Party
Roots in the 19th c
Supported by less-wealthy groups of society
Re-elected in 2007
The Conservative Party
•Dates back to the 18th c.
•Mainly supported by wealthier people
•Has lost its popularity since the 1980s
The Liberal Democratic Party
•Third largest party
•Pro-Europe
•Their politics are somewhere between the
• Labour and Conservative parties
9. Sir Winston Churchill is
considered to have been the
most briliant politician of the
Conservative Party in the 20th
century
Prime Minister during most of
WW II
Led Britain successfully through
the war
Famous for his speeches in
which he encouraged people to
believe that they would
eventually win
