Guía básica sobre las elecciones generales en Reino Unido

A Beginner’s Guide to Politics in the United Kingdom and the General Election 2015

By Oliver Lofthouse – 3^rd and final year Forensic Science student

As you may or may not know, there is a general election in the United Kingdom on May 5^th 2015, and this general election could be the most important one in a generation! The reason why this general election is so important is because our current government (The Conservative Party) have reduced government spending on public services, such as the police, local councils and the fire service and much more! If the Conservative Party are re-elected again in May, many people believe they will continue to reduce government spending across the UK which could cause many people to lose their jobs. At the moment, the Conservative Party and their opposition, the Labour Party have an equal rating in relation to polls that are constantly being published in national newspapers and the media.

However, the Scottish National Party (known as the SNP) are becoming more popular in Scotland because they want Scotland to become an independent country and want to break up the United Kingdom. The SNP also want to scrap our nuclear defences which could save billions of pounds. The SNP want to spend the savings made from the nuclear defences on other things such as the National Health Service (NHS) and more money to create jobs. The SNP are becoming more popular because a few weeks ago there was a television debate in the UK which featured all 7 main political parties in the UK answer questions from an audience and debated their answers amongst each other . Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the SNP was viewed as the best performer amongst this debate although some people say Nigel Farage of the United Kingdom Independence Party, David Cameron of the Conservative Party and Ed Miliband of the Labour Party performed the best. There is another television debate amongst five political parties in the UK which features: Plaid Cymru of Wales, United Kingdom Independence Party, The Green Party, the SNP and the Labour Party tonight! If you have any spare – time feel free to watch the debate on the BBC.

Here in the United Kingdom, general elections take place every 5 years. The Conservative Party – led by Prime Minster David Cameron, won the last election in 2010. However the last election involved the Liberal Democrats – led by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, to enter a coalition with the Conservative Party. A coalition is where two political parties run the government together. Normally, if a political party wants to run the government by themselves, they must have approximately 320 ‘seats’ in the House of Commons. A seat is an area of the United Kingdom where one Member of Parliament (MP) represents. Each MP may represent a different party and the more MPs that represent the UK, the more power they have when a general election takes place. The reason why the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrat Party are running the government together at the moment is because the Conservative party did not have enough MPs in the House of Commons to run a government alone and so they needed a few more MPs to be able to form a government. People believe this will happen again this year. The Labour Party or the Conservative Party may form a government with another political party so that they have enough MPs in the House of Commons to form a government.

The main parties involved in the general election next month are:

The Scottish National Party (SNP). As mentioned above, they want Scotland to become an independent country. The SNP are not very popular in England because the SNP want to take more powers away from England to Scotland.

The Liberal Democrat Party. Led by Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, they are not very popular in the UK because in the last general election in 2010, they promised to reduce tuition fees, but instead they raised university tuition fees to £9000 a year! Many students are still very angry about this and will certainly not be voting for the Liberal Democrats!

The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). Led by Nigel Farage, UKIP are becoming more popular in the UK. UKIP want the UK to break away from the European Union ( EU ) so that we can control our own border forces and reduce , if not stop , immigration altogether . Many people support this but many people believe they are racist.

The Conservative Party. Led by Prime Minister David Cameron, the Conservative Party are popular amongst the rich but are not popular amongst the poorer people. Many people believe they support the rich as they cut taxes for millionaires. Many people believe David Cameron is arrogant as he was educated at Oxford University and is out – of – touch with the public. They may be re – elected next month but the Conservatives are loved and hated by a lot of people still.

Finally, the Labour Party. The Labour Party are the biggest threat to the Conservative Party and either David Cameron or Ed Miliband will win the next general election in May. Many people believe the Labour Party are responsible for causing the UK to go into debt and starting the war in Iraq when Tony Blair was Prime Minister. The Labour Party want to spend more money on the economy and to stop these government cuts planned by the Conservative Party. The Labour Party want to increase the national minimum wage to £8 an hour too. The leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband, is not seen as a good leader compared to David Cameron though. It is tricky. The Labour Party are perhaps slightly more popular than the Conservative Party, but David Cameron is seen as a better leader than Ed Miliband. This is why this general election on the 5^th of May is perhaps the biggest election in a generation. Will the UK continue with government cuts, or will the Labour Party reverse the cuts if they win the election?

I hope you have enjoyed this blog. If you want to know anything else about politics in the UK please give me feedback and I will write another blog. Thank you for taking your time to read this blog. Buenos Dias Colombia!

Finally, I would like to thank my good friend, Alejandro Rodriguez for making this blog possible!

By Oliver Lofthouse – 3^rd and final year Forensic Science student