Politics of the United Kingdom

Politics in the United Kingdom is based on a limited democracy. Neither the head of
state, the prime minister, members of the government or members of the house of
peers (the upper house) can be elected to these positions by British citizens. However,
a general election is held (usually every 5 years) where British citizens elect candidates
to become members of parliament (the lower house) to represent their constituency.
The United Kingdom is a unitary governed within the framework of aconstitutional
monarchy, in which the Monarch is the head of state and thePrime Minister of the
United Kingdom is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by Her
Majesty's Government, on behalf of and by the consent of the Monarch, as well as by
the devolved Governments ofScotland and Wales, and the Northern
Ireland Executive. Legislative poweris vested in the two chambers of the Parliament of
the United Kingdom, theHouse of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as in
the Scottish parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies. The judiciary is
independent of the executive and the legislature. The highest court is theSupreme Court
of the United Kingdom.
According to the non re-appealed and non-revoked British Bill of Rights andMagna
Carta Charter, a British Subjects inherent and inalienable birth right and freedom
includes a liberty to leave, join or form any society they individually decide. This is true
democracy and a liberty expected to be upheld by all those in Oath to Queen and
Country. The choice of which society a British Subject may join is normally decided on
behalf of British Subject by their mothers and fathers immediately after their birth. The
popular choice since 1801 has been the UK Society and its 750 'statute' rules. So
British Subjects are, without much consideration, registered as members of this society
and referred to as 'UK Citizens'. To renounce (leave) the 1801 UK Society (and prevent
its 'statute' rules from having the force and effect of law upon a British Subject), the
Briton must undergo the process of 'renouncing' citizenship.[1]
The UK political system is a multi-party system. Since the 1920s, the two largest
political participation have been theConservative Party and the Labour Party. Before the
Labour Party rose in British politics, the Liberal Party was the other major political party
along with the Conservatives. Though coalition and minority governments have been an
occasional feature of parliamentary politics, the first-past-the-post electoral system used
for general elections tends to maintain the dominance of these two parties, though each
has in the past century relied upon a third party such as the Liberal Democrats to deliver
a working majority in Parliament. A Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government
held office from 2010 until 2015, the first coalition since 1945.[2] The coalition ended
following Parliamentary elections on May 7, 2015, in which the Conservative Party won

an outright majority of 330 seats in the House of Commons, while their coalition
partners lost all but eight seats.[3]
With the partition of Ireland, Northern Ireland received home rule in 1920, though civil
unrest meant direct rule was restored in 1972. Support for nationalist parties in Scotland
and Wales led to proposals for devolution in the 1970s though only in the 1990s did
devolution actually happen. Today, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each possess
a legislature and executive, with devolution in Northern Ireland being conditional on
participation in certain all-Ireland institutions. The United Kingdom remains responsible
for non-devolved matters and, in the case of Northern Ireland, co-operates with
the Republic of Ireland.
It is a matter of dispute as to whether increased autonomy and devolution of executive
and legislative powers has contributed to the increase in support for independence. The
principal pro-independence party, the Scottish National Party, became a minority
government in 2007 and then went on to win an overall majority of MSPs at the 2011
Scottish parliament elections and forms the Scottish Government administration. A 2014
referendum on independence led to a rejection of the proposal, but with 45% voting to
secede. In Northern Ireland, the largest Pro-Belfast Agreement party, Sinn Fin, not
only advocates Northern Ireland's unification with the Republic of Ireland, but also
abstains from taking their elected seats in the Westminster government, as this would
entail taking a pledge of allegiance to the British monarch.
The constitution of the United Kingdom is uncodified, being made up of constitutional
conventions, statutes and other elements such as EU law. This system of government,
known as the Westminster system, has been adopted by other countries, especially
those that were formerly parts of the British Empire.
The United Kingdom is also responsible for several dependencies, which fall into two
categories: the Crown dependencies, in the immediate vicinity of the UK, and British
Overseas Territories, which originated as colonies of theBritish Empire.

The Crown[edit]
Main article: Monarchy of the United Kingdom
The British Monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, is the Chief of State of the United
Kingdom. Though she takes little direct part in government, the Crown remains the fount
in which ultimate executive power over Government lies. These powers are known
as Royal Prerogative and can be used for a vast amount of things, such as the issue or
withdrawal of passports, to the dismissal of the Prime Minister or even the Declaration

of War. The powers are delegated from the Monarch personally, in the name of the
Crown, and can be handed to various ministers, or other Officers of the Crown, and can
purposely bypass the consent of Parliament.
The head of Her Majesty's Government; the Prime Minister, also has weekly meetings
with the sovereign, where she may express her feelings, warn, or advise the Prime
Minister in the Government's work.[4]
According to the uncodified constitution of the United Kingdom, the monarch has the
following powers:[5]
Domestic Powers

The power to dismiss and appoint a Prime Minister

The power to dismiss and appoint other ministers

The power to summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament
The power to grant or refuse Royal Assent to bills (making them valid and law)
The power to commission officers in the Armed Forces
The power to command the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom
The power to appoint members to the Queen's Council
The power to issue and withdraw passports
The power to grant Prerogative of mercy (though Capital Punishment is abolished,
this power is still used to remedy errors in sentence calculation)
The power to grant honours
The power to create corporations via Royal Charter

Foreign Powers

The power to ratify and make treaties

The power to declare War and Peace
The power to deploy the Armed Forces overseas
The power to recognize states

The power to credit and receive diplomats

Executive[edit]
Executive power in the United Kingdom is exercised by the Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth
II, via Her Majesty's Governmentand the devolved national authorities - the Scottish
Government, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Executive.
The United Kingdom Government[edit]

The monarch appoints a Prime Minister as the head of Her Majesty's Government in the
United Kingdom, guided by the strict convention that the Prime Minister should be the
member of the House of Commons most likely to be able to form a Government with the
support of that House. In practice, this means that the leader of the political party with
an absolute majority of seats in the House of Commons is chosen to be the Prime
Minister. If no party has an absolute majority, the leader of the largest party is given the
first opportunity to form a coalition. The Prime Minister then selects the
otherMinisters which make up the Government and act as political heads of the
various Government Departments. About twenty of the most senior government
ministers make up the Cabinet and approximately 100 ministers in total comprise the
government. In accordance with constitutional convention, all ministers within the
government are either Members of Parliament or peers in the House of Lords.
As in some other parliamentary systems of government (especially those based upon
the Westminster System), the executive (called "the government") is drawn from and is
answerable to Parliament - a successful vote of no confidencewill force the government
either to resign or to seek a parliamentary dissolution and a general election. In
practice, members of parliament of all major parties are strictly controlled by whips who
try to ensure they vote according to party policy. If the government has a large majority,
then they are very unlikely to lose enough votes to be unable to pass legislation.
The Prime Minister and the Cabinet[edit]
The Prime Minister is the most senior minister in the Cabinet. He or she is responsible
for chairing Cabinet meetings, selecting Cabinet ministers (and all other positions in Her
Majesty's government), and formulating government policy. The Prime Minister being
the de facto leader of the UK, he or she exercises executive functions that are nominally
vested in the sovereign (by way of the Royal Prerogatives). Historically, the British
monarch was the sole source of executive powers in the government. However,
following the lead of the Hanoverian monarchs, an arrangement of a "Prime Minister"
chairing and leading the Cabinet began to emerge. Over time, this arrangement became
the effective executive branch of government, as it assumed the day-to-day functioning
of the British government away from the sovereign.
Theoretically, the Prime Minister is primus inter pares (,i.e. Latin for "first among
equals") among their Cabinet colleagues. While the Prime Minister is the senior Cabinet
Minister, they are theoretically bound to make executive decisions in a collective fashion
with the other Cabinet ministers. The Cabinet, along with the PM, consists of
Secretaries of State from the various government departments, the Lord High
Chancellor, the Lord Privy Seal, the President of the Board of Trade, the Chancellor of

the Duchy of Lancaster and Ministers without portfolio. Cabinet meetings are typically
held weekly, while Parliament is in session.
Government departments and the Civil Service[edit]
The Government of the United Kingdom contains a number of ministries known mainly,
though not exclusively as departments, e.g., Department for Education. These are
politically led by a Government Minister who is often a Secretary of State and member
of the Cabinet. He or she may also be supported by a number of junior Ministers. In
practice, several government departments and Ministers have responsibilities that cover
England alone, with devolved bodies having responsibility for Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland, (for example - the Department of Health), or responsibilities that
mainly focus on England (such as the Department for Education).
Implementation of the Minister's decisions is carried out by a permanent politically
neutral organisation known as the civil service. Its constitutional role is to support the
Government of the day regardless of which political party is in power. Unlike some other
democracies, senior civil servants remain in post upon a change of Government.
Administrative management of the Department is led by a head civil servant known in
most Departments as a Permanent Secretary. The majority of the civil service staff in
fact work in executive agencies, which are separate operational organisations reporting
to Departments of State.
"Whitehall" is often used as a metonym for the central core of the Civil Service. This is
because most Government Departments have headquarters in and around the former
Royal Palace Whitehall.
Devolved national administrations[edit]

Scottish Government[edit]
Main article: Scottish Government
The Scottish Government is responsible for all issues that are not explicitly reserved to
the United Kingdom Parliament atWestminster, by the Scotland Act; including NHS
Scotland, education, justice, rural affairs, and transport. It manages an annual budget of
more than 25 billion.[6] The government is led by the First Minister, assisted by various
Ministers with individual portfolios and remits. The Scottish Parliament nominates a
Member to be appointed as First Minister by theQueen. The First Minister then appoints
their Ministers (now known as Cabinet Secretaries) and junior Ministers, subject to
approval by the Parliament. The First Minister, the Ministers (but not junior ministers),
the Lord Advocate and Solicitor General are the Members of the 'Scottish Executive', as
set out in the Scotland Act 1998. They are collectively known as "the Scottish
Ministers".
Welsh Government[edit]

Main article: Welsh Government

The Welsh Government and the National Assembly for Wales have more limited powers
than those devolved to Scotland,[7] although following the passing of the Government of
Wales Act 2006 and the Welsh devolution referendum, 2011, the Assembly can now
legislate in some areas through an Act of the National Assembly for Wales. Following
the2011 election, Welsh Labour held exactly half of the seats in the Assembly, falling
just short of an overall majority. A Welsh Labour Government was subsequently formed
headed by Carwyn Jones.
Northern Ireland Executive[edit]
Main article: Northern Ireland Executive
The Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly have powers closer to those already
devolved to Scotland. The Northern Ireland Executive is led by a diarchy, currently First
Minister Arlene Foster (Democratic Unionist Party) and deputy First Minister Martin
McGuinness (Sinn Fin).[8]
Legislatures[edit]
The UK Parliament is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom (i.e., there
is parliamentary sovereignty), and Government is drawn from and answerable to it.
Parliament is bicameral, consisting of the House of Commons and theHouse of Lords.
There is also a devolved Scottish Parliament and devolved Assemblies in Wales and
Northern Ireland, with varying degrees of legislative authority.
UK Parliament[edit]
House of Commons[edit]

Parliament meets at the Palace of Westminster

Main article: British House of Commons

The Countries of the United Kingdom are divided into parliamentaryconstituencies of
broadly equal population by the four Boundary Commissions. Each constituency elects
a Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons at General Elections and, if
required, at by-elections. As of 2010 there are 650 constituencies (there were 646
before that year's general election). Of the 650 MPs, all but one - Lady Sylvia Hermon belong to a political party.
In modern times, all Prime Ministers and Leaders of the Opposition have been drawn
from the Commons, not the Lords. Alec Douglas-Home resigned from his peerages
days after becoming Prime Minister in 1963, and the last Prime Minister before him from
the Lords left in 1902 (the Marquess of Salisbury).
One party usually has a majority in Parliament, because of the use of the First Past the
Post electoral system, which has been conducive in creating the currenttwo party
system. The monarch normally asks a person commissioned to form a government
simply whether it can survive in the House of Commons, something which majority
governments are expected to be able to do. In exceptional circumstances the monarch
asks someone to 'form a government' with a parliamentary minority[9] which in the event
of no party having a majority requires the formation of a coalition government. This
option is only ever taken at a time of national emergency, such as war-time. It was given
in 1916 to Andrew Bonar Law, and when he declined, to David Lloyd George and in
1940 to Winston Churchill. A government is not formed by a vote of the House of
Commons, it is a commission from the monarch. The House of Commons gets its first
chance to indicate confidence in the new government when it votes on the Speech from
the Throne (the legislative programme proposed by the new government).
House of Lords[edit]
Main article: House of Lords
The House of Lords was previously a largely hereditary aristocratic chamber, although
including life peers, and Lords Spiritual. It is currently mid-way through extensive
reforms, the most recent of these being enacted in the House of Lords Act 1999. The
house consists of two very different types of member, the Lords Temporal and Lords
Spiritual. Lords Temporal include appointed members (life peers with no hereditary right
for their descendants to sit in the house) and ninety-two remaining hereditary peers,
elected from among, and by, the holders of titles which previously gave a seat in the
House of Lords. The Lords Spiritual represent the established Church of England and
number twenty-six: the Five Ancient Sees (Canterbury, York, London, Winchester and
Durham), and the 21 next-most senior bishops.

The House of Lords currently acts to review legislation initiated by the House of
Commons, with the power to propose amendments, and can exercise a suspensive
veto. This allows it to delay legislation if it does not approve it for twelve months.
However, the use of vetoes is limited by convention and by the operation of
the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949: the Lords may not veto the "money bills" or major
manifesto promises (see Salisbury convention). Persistent use of the veto can also be
overturned by the Commons, under a provision of the Parliament Act 1911. Often
governments will accept changes in legislation in order to avoid both the time delay, and
the negative publicity of being seen to clash with the Lords. However the Lords still
retain a full veto in acts which would extend the life of Parliament beyond the 5-year
term limit introduced by the Parliament Act 1911.
The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 outlined plans for a Supreme Court of the United
Kingdom to replace the role of the Law Lords.
The House of Lords was replaced as the final court of appeal on civil cases within the
United Kingdom on 1 October 2009, by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
Devolved national legislatures[edit]
Main article: Devolution in the United Kingdom
Though the UK parliament remains the sovereign parliament, Scotland has a parliament
and Wales and Northern Irelandhave assemblies. De jure, each could have its powers
broadened, narrowed or changed by an Act of the UK Parliament. The UK is a unitary
state with a devolved system of government. This contrasts with a federal system, in
which sub-parliaments or state parliaments and assemblies have a clearly defined
constitutional right to exist and a right to exercise certain constitutionally guaranteed
and defined functions and cannot be unilaterally abolished by Acts of the central
parliament.
All three devolved institutions are elected by proportional representation: the Additional
Member System is used in Scotland and Wales, and Single Transferable Vote is used in
Northern Ireland.
England, therefore, is the only country in the UK not to have its own devolved
parliament. However, senior politicians of all main parties have voiced concerns in
regard to the West Lothian Question,[10][11] which is raised where certain policies for
England are set by MPs from all four constituent nations whereas similar policies for
Scotland or Wales might be decided in the devolved assemblies by legislators from
those countries alone. Alternative proposals for English regionalgovernment have
stalled, following a poorly received referendum on devolved government for the North
East of England, which had hitherto been considered the region most in favour of the

idea, with the exception of Cornwall, where there is widespread support for a Cornish
Assembly, including all five Cornish MPs.[12][13] England is therefore governed according
to the balance of parties across the whole of the United Kingdom.
The government has no plans to establish an English parliament or assembly although
several pressure groups[14] are calling for one. One of their main arguments is that MPs
(and thus voters) from different parts of the UK have inconsistent powers. Currently an
MP from Scotland can vote on legislation which affects only England but MPs from
England (or indeed Scotland) cannot vote on matters devolved to the Scottish
parliament. Indeed, the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is an MP for a
Scottish constituency, introduced some laws that only affect England and not his own
constituency. This anomaly is known as the West Lothian question.
The policy of the UK Government in England was to establish elected regional
assemblies with no legislative powers. TheLondon Assembly was the first of these,
established in 2000, following a referendum in 1998, but further plans were abandoned
following rejection of a proposal for an elected assembly in North East England in
a referendum in 2004. Unelected regional assemblies remain in place in eight regions of
England.
Scottish Parliament[edit]
Main article: Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament Building inHolyrood, Edinburgh, seat of the Scottish

Parliament.

The debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Parliament is the national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in
the Holyrood area of the capital Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as
"Holyrood"[15] (cf. "Westminster"), is ademocratically elected body comprising 129
members who are known asMembers of the Scottish Parliament, or MSPs. Members
are elected for four-year terms under the mixed member proportional
representationsystem. As a result, 73 MSPs represent individual
geographicalconstituencies elected by the plurality ("first past the post") system, with a
further 56 returned from eight additional member regions, each electing seven MSPs.[16]
The current Scottish Parliament was established by the Scotland Act 1998and its first
meeting as a devolved legislature was on 12 May 1999. The parliament has the power
to pass laws and has limited tax-varying capability. Another of its roles is to hold
the Scottish Government to account. The "devolved matters" over which it has
responsibility include education, health, agriculture, andjustice. A degree of domestic
authority, and all foreign policy, remains with the UK Parliament in Westminster.
The public take part in Parliament in a way that is not the case at Westminster through
Cross-Party Groups on policy topics which the interested public join and attend
meetings of alongside Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs).
The resurgence in Celtic language and identity, as well as 'regional' politics and
development, has contributed to forces pulling against the unity of the state.[17] This was
clearly demonstrated when - although some argue it was influenced by general public
dillusionment with Labour - the Scottish National Party (SNP) became the largest party
in the Scottish Parliament by one seat.
Alex Salmond (leader of SNP) has since made history by becoming the first First
Minister of Scotland from a party other than Labour. The SNP governed as a minority
administration at Holyrood following the 2007 Scottish Parliament election. Nationalism
(support for breaking up the UK) has experienced a dramatic rise in popularity in recent
years, with a pivotal moment coming at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election where the
SNP capitalised on the collapse of the Liberal Democrat support to improve on their
2007 performance to win the first ever outright majority at Holyrood (despite the voting
system being specifically designed to prevent majorities), with Labour remaining the
largest opposition party.
This election result prompted the leader of the three main opposition parties to resign.
Iain Gray was succeeded as Scottish Labour leader by Johann Lamont, Scottish
Conservative and Unionist leader, Annabel Goldie was replaced by Ruth Davidson, and
Tavish Scott, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats was replaced by Willie Rennie.

A major SNP manifesto pledge was to hold a referendum on Scottish Independence,

which was duly granted by the UK Government and held on the 18th September 2014.
When the nationalists came to power in 2011, opinion polls placed support for
independence at around 31%, but in 2014, 45% voted to leave the union. In the wake of
the referendum defeat, membership of the SNP surged to over 100,000, overtaking the
Liberal Democrats as the third largest political party in the UK by membership, and in
the general election of May 2015 the SNP swept the board and took 56 of the 59
Westminster constituencies in Scotland (far surpassing their previous best of 11 seats in
the late 1970s) and winning more than 50% of the Scottish vote.
Alex Salmond resigned as First Minister of Scotland and leader of the SNP following the
country's rejection of independence in September 2014, and was succeeded in both
roles by the deputy First Minister and deputy leader of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon. Also
in the wake of the referendum, Scottish Labour leader, Johann Lamont, stood down and
Jim Murphy was elected to replace her. As Mr. Murphy is not currently an MSP, the
Labour group in the Scottish Parliament is led by their deputy leader in Scotland, Kezia
Dugdale.
National Assembly for Wales[edit]
Main article: National Assembly for Wales

The Senedd - The Welsh Assembly Building

The National Assembly for Wales is the devolved assembly with power to make
legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known
asAssembly Members, or AMs (Welsh: Aelod y Cynulliad). Members are elected for
four-year terms under an additional members system, where 40 AMs represent
geographical constituencies elected by the plurality system, and 20 AMs from five
electoral regions using the d'Hondt method of proportional representation.

The Siambr - The debating chamber of the Welsh Assembly

The Assembly was created by theGovernment of Wales Act 1998, which followed
a referendum in 1997. On its creation, most of the powers of the Welsh
Office and Secretary of State for Wales were transferred to it. The Assembly had no
powers to initiate primary legislation until limited law-making powers were gained
through the Government of Wales Act 2006. Its primary law-making powers were
enhanced following a Yes vote in the referendum on 3 March 2011, making it possible
for it to legislate without having to consult the UK parliament, nor the Secretary of State
for Wales in the 20 areas that are devolved.[18]
Northern Ireland Assembly[edit]
Main article: Northern Ireland Assembly

Parliament Buildings in Stormont, Belfast, seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The government of Northern Ireland was established as a result of the 1998Good Friday
Agreement. This created the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Assembly is
a unicameral body consisting of 108 members elected under the Single Transferable
Vote form of proportional representation. The Assembly is based on the principle of
power-sharing, in order to ensure that both communities in Northern
Ireland, unionist and nationalist, participate in governing the region. It has power to
legislate in a wide range of areas and to elect the Northern Ireland Executive (cabinet).
It sits at Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast.

The Assembly has authority to legislate in a field of competences known as "transferred

matters". These matters are not explicitly enumerated in theNorthern Ireland Act
1998 but instead include any competence not explicitly retained by the Parliament at
Westminster. Powers reserved by Westminster are divided into "excepted matters",
which it retains indefinitely, and "reserved matters", which may be transferred to the
competence of the Northern Ireland Assembly at a future date. Health, criminal law and
education are "transferred" while royal relations are all "excepted".
While the Assembly was in suspension, due to issues involving the main parties and
the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), its legislative powers were exercised by the
UK government, which effectively had power to legislate by decree. Laws that would
normally be within the competence of the Assembly were passed by the UK government
in the form of Orders-in-Council rather than legislative acts.
There has been a significant decrease in violence over the last twenty years, though the
situation remains tense, with the more hard-line parties such as Sinn Fin and
the Democratic Unionist Party now holding the most parliamentary seats
(see Demographics and politics of Northern Ireland).
Judiciary[edit]
See also: Courts of the United Kingdom and Law of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom does not have a single legal system due to it being created by the
political union of previously independent countries with the terms of the Treaty of
Union guaranteeing the continued existence of Scotland's separate legal system. Today
the UK has three distinct systems of law: English law, Northern Ireland law and Scots
law. Recent constitutional changes saw a new Supreme Court of the United
Kingdom come into being in October 2009 that took on the appeal functions of the
Appellate Committee of the House of Lords.[19] The Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council, comprising the same members as the Supreme Court, is the highest court of
appeal for several independent Commonwealth countries, the UK overseas territories,
and the British crown dependencies.
England, Wales and Northern Ireland[edit]
Main articles: English law and Northern Ireland law
Both English law, which applies in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland law are
based on common-law principles. The essence of common-law is that law is made
by judges sitting in courts, applying their common sense and knowledge of legal
precedent (stare decisis) to the facts before them. The Courts of England and
Wales are headed by the Senior Courts of England and Wales, consisting of the Court

of Appeal, the High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown Court (for criminal
cases). The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the highest court in the land for
both criminal and civil cases in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland and any decision
it makes is binding on every other court in the hierarchy.
Scotland[edit]
Main article: Scots law
Scots law, a hybrid system based on both common-law and civil-law principles, applies
in Scotland. The chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases, and the High
Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
serves as the highest court of appeal for civil cases under Scots law. Sheriff courts deal
with most civil and criminal cases including conducting criminal trials with a jury, known
that as Sheriff solemn Court, or with a Sheriff and no jury, known as (Sheriff summary
Court). The Sheriff courts provide a local court service with 49 Sheriff courts organised
across six Sheriffdoms.
Electoral systems[edit]
Main article: Elections in the United Kingdom
Various electoral systems are used in the UK:

The first-past-the-post system is used for general elections to the House of

Commons, and also for some local government elections in England and Wales.
The plurality-at-large voting (the bloc vote) is also used for some local government
elections in England and Wales.
The additional member system is used for elections to the Scottish Parliament,
the National Assembly for Wales(Welsh Assembly) and London Assembly. The
system is implemented differently in each of the three locations.
The single transferable vote system is used in Northern Ireland to elect the Northern
Ireland Assembly, local councils, and Members of the European Parliament, and in
Scotland to elect local councils.
The alternative vote system is used for by-elections in Scottish local councils.
The D'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation is used for European
Parliament elections in England, Scotland and Wales.
The supplementary vote is used to elect directly elected mayors in England,
including the mayor of London.

The use of the first-past-the-post to elect members of Parliament is unusual among

European nations. The use of the system means that when three or more candidates
receive a significant share of the vote, MPs are often elected from individual

constituencies with a plurality (receiving more votes than any other candidate), but not
an absolute majority (50 percent plus one vote).
Elections and political parties in the United Kingdom are affected by Duverger's law,
the political science principle which states that plurality voting systems, such as firstpast-the-post, tend to lead to the development of two-party systems. The UK, like
several other states, has sometimes been called a "two-and-a-half" party system,
because parliamentary politics is dominated by the Labour Party and Conservative
Party, with the Liberal Democrats holding a significant number of seats (but still
substantially less than Labour and the Conservatives), and several small parties (some
of them regional or nationalist) trailing far behind in number of seats.
In the last few general elections, voter mandates for Westminster in the 3040% ranges
have been swung into 60% parliamentary majorities. No single party has won a majority
of the popular vote since the Third National Government ofStanley Baldwin in 1935. On
two occasions since World War II 1951 and February 1974 a party that came in
second in the popular vote actually came out with the larger number of seats.
Electoral reform for parliamentary elections have been proposed many times.
The Jenkins Commission report in October 1998 suggested implementing
the Alternative Vote Top-up (also called alternative vote plus or AV+) in parliamentary
elections. Under this proposal, most MPs would be directly elected from constituencies
by the alternative vote, with a number of additional members elected from "top-up lists."
However, no action was taken by the Labour government at the time. There are a
number of groups in the UK campaigning for electoral reform, including the Electoral
Reform Society, Make Votes Count Coalition and Fairshare.
The 2010 general election resulted in a hung parliament (no single party being able to
command a majority in the House of Commons). This was only the second general
election since World War II to return a hung parliament, the first being the February
1974 election. The Conservatives gained the most seats (ending 13 years of Labour
government) and the largest percentage of the popular vote, but fell 20 seats short of a
majority.
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats entered into a new coalition
government, headed by David Cameron. Under the terms of the coalition agreement the
government committed itself to hold a referendum in May 2011 on whether to change
parliamentary elections from first-past-the-post to AV. Electoral reform was a major
priority for the Liberal Democrats, who favour proportional representation but were able
to negotiate only a referendum on AV with the Conservatives. The coalition partners
campaigned on opposite sides, with the Liberal Democrats supporting AV and the

Conservatives opposing it. The referendum resulted in the Conservative's favour and
the first-past-the-post system was maintained.
Political parties[edit]

2005 election results by age group: voters for Conservative (blue), Labour (red), Lib
Dem (yellow), other parties (green); and those not voting (grey).
There are two main parties in the United Kingdom: the Conservative Party, and the
Labour Party. The Scottish National Party is the third party in terms of representatives
elected and party membership.[20]
The modern Conservative Party was founded in 1834 and is an outgrowth of
the Tory movement or party, which began in 1678. Today it is still colloquially referred to
as the Tory Party and its members as Tories. The Liberal Democrats were formed in
1988 by a merger of the Liberal Party and theSocial Democratic Party (SDP), a Labour
breakaway formed in 1981. The Liberals and SDP had contested elections together as
the SDPLiberal Alliance for seven years before. The modern Liberal Party had been
founded in 1859 as an outgrowth of the Whig movement or party (which began at the
same time as the Tory party and was its historical rival) as well as
the Radical and Peelite tendencies.
The Liberal Party was one of the two dominant parties (along with the Conservatives)
from its founding until the 1920s, when it rapidly declined and was supplanted on
the left by the Labour Party, which was founded in 1900 and formed its first government
in 1924. Since that time, the Labour and Conservatives parties have been dominant,
with the Liberals (later Liberal Democrats) being the third largest party until 2015, when
they lost 48 of their 57 seats, while the Scottish National Party went from 6 seats to 56.
Founded in 1934, the SNP advocates for Scottish independence and has had
continuous representation in Parliament since 1967. The SNP currently leads a minority
government in the Scottish Parliament.
Minor parties also hold seats in parliament:

Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, has had continuous representation in
Parliament since 1974. Plaid has the third-largest number of seats in the National
Assembly for Wales, after Welsh Labour and the Welsh Conservative & Unionist
Party, and participated with the former in the coalition agreement in the Assembly
before the 2011 election.
In Northern Ireland, all 18 MPs are from parties that only contest elections in
Northern Ireland (except for Sinn Fin, which contests elections in both Northern
Ireland and the Republic of Ireland). The unionist Democratic Unionist Party(DUP),
the republican Sinn Fin, the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour
Party (SDLP), and the nonsectarianAlliance Party of Northern Ireland all gained
seats in Parliament in the 2010 election, the Alliance Party for the first time. Sinn
Fin has a policy of abstentionism and so its MPs refuse to take their seats in
Parliament. DUP, Sinn Fin, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), and the SDLP are
considered the four major parties in Northern Ireland, holding the most seats in
the Northern Ireland Assembly.

In the most recent general election in 2015, the Conservatives, who in the previous
parliament had led a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, gained a majority of seats
and went on to form the government.
Conservatives (Tories)[edit]
Main article: Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party won the largest number of seats at the 2015 general election,
returning 330 MPs (plus the Speaker's seat, uncontested, bringing the total MPs to
331), enough to make an overall majority, and went on to form the government.
The Conservative party can trace its origin back to 1662, with the Court Party and the
Country Party being formed in the aftermath of the English Civil War. The Court Party
soon became known as the Tories, a name that has stuck despite the official name
being 'Conservative'. The term "Tory" originates from the Exclusion Bill crisis of 16781681 - the Whigs were those who supported the exclusion of the Roman Catholic Duke
of York from the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland, and the Tories were those
who opposed it. Both names were originally insults: a "whiggamore" was a horse drover
(See Whiggamore Raid), and a "tory" (Traidhe) was an Irish term for an outlaw, later
applied to Irish Confederates and Irish Royalists, during the Wars of the Three
Kingdoms.[21]
Generally, the Tories were associated with lesser gentry and the Church of England,
while Whigs were more associated with trade, money, larger land holders (or "land
magnates"), expansion and tolerance of Catholicism.

The Rochdale Radicals were a group of more extreme reformists who were also heavily
involved in the cooperative movement. They sought to bring about a more equal
society, and are considered by modern standards to be left-wing.
After becoming associated with repression of popular discontent in the years after 1815,
the Tories underwent a fundamental transformation under the influence of Robert Peel,
himself an industrialist rather than a landowner, who in his 1834 "Tamworth Manifesto"
outlined a new "Conservative" philosophy of reforming ills while conserving the good.
Though Peel's supporters subsequently split from their colleagues over the issue of free
trade in 1846, ultimately joining the Whigs and the Radicals to form what would become
the Liberal Party, Peel's version of the party's underlying outlook was retained by the
remaining Tories, who adopted his label of Conservative as the official name of their
party.
The Conservatives enjoyed 18 years of Government between 1979 and 1997, first
under the country's only ever female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and then
under John Major. The crushing defeat of the 1997 election saw the Conservative Party
lose over half their seats from 1992 and saw the party re-align with public perceptions of
them.
In 2008, the Conservative Party formed a pact with the Ulster Unionist Party to select
joint candidates for European and House of Commons elections; this angered the DUP
as by splitting the Unionist vote, republican parties will be elected in some areas. [22]
After thirteen years as the official opposition, the Party returned to power as part of a
coalition with the Liberal Democrats in 2010, going on to form a majority government in
2015.
Historically, the party has been the mainland party most pre-occupied by British
Unionism, as attested to by the party's full name, the Conservative & Unionist Party.
This resulted in the merger between the Conservatives and Joseph
Chamberlain's Liberal Unionist Party, composed of former Liberals who opposed Irish
home rule. The unionist tendency is still in evidence today, manifesting sometimes as a
scepticism or opposition to devolution, firm support for the continued existence of the
United Kingdom in the face of movements advocating independence from the UK, and a
historic link with the cultural unionism of Northern Ireland.
Labour[edit]
Main article: Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party won the second largest number of seats in the House of Commons at
the 2015 general election, with 232 MPs.

The history of the Labour party goes back to 1900 when a Labour Representation
Committee was established which changed its name to "The Labour Party" in 1906.
After the First World War, this led to the demise of the Liberal Party as the main
reformist force in British politics. The existence of the Labour Party on the left of British
politics led to a slow waning of energy from the Liberal Party, which has consequently
assumed third place in national politics. After performing poorly in the elections of 1922,
1923 and 1924, the Liberal Party was superseded by the Labour Party as the party of
the left.
Following two brief spells in minority governments in 1924 and 19291931, the Labour
Party had its first true victory afterWorld War II in the 1945 "khaki election". Throughout
the rest of the twentieth century, Labour governments alternated with Conservative
governments. The Labour Party suffered the "wilderness years" of 1951-1964 (three
straight General Election defeats) and 1979-1997 (four straight General Election
defeats).
During this second period, Margaret Thatcher, who became leader of the Conservative
party in 1975, made a fundamental change to Conservative policies, turning the
Conservative Party into an economic neoliberal party. In theGeneral Election of
1979 she defeated James Callaghan's troubled Labour government after the winter of
discontent.
For most of the 1980s and the 1990s, Conservative governments under Thatcher and
her successor John Majorpursued policies of privatization, anti-trade-unionism, and, for
a time, monetarism, now known collectively asThatcherism.
The Labour Party elected left-winger Michael Foot as their leader after their 1979
election defeat, and he responded to dissatisfaction with the Labour Party by pursuing a
number of radical policies developed by its grass-roots members. In 1981 several rightwing Labour MPs formed a breakaway group called the Social Democratic Party (SDP),
a move which split Labour and is widely believed to have made Labour unelectable for a
decade. The SDP formed an alliance with the Liberal Party which contested
the 1983 and 1987 general elections as a centrist alternative to Labour and the
Conservatives. After some initial success, the SDP did not prosper (partly due to its
unfavourable distribution of votes in the FPTP electoral system), and was accused by
some of splitting the anti-Conservative vote.
The SDP eventually merged with the Liberal Party to form the Liberal Democrats in
1988. Support for the new party has increased since then, and the Liberal Democrats
(often referred to as LibDems) in 1997 and 2001 gained an increased number of seats
in the House of Commons.

The Labour Party was badly defeated in the Conservative landslide of the 1983 general
election, and Michael Foot was replaced shortly thereafter by Neil Kinnock as leader.
Kinnock progressively expelled members of Militant, a far left group which
practised entryist, and moderated many of the party's policies. Despite these changes,
and because of Kinnock's negative media image, Labour was defeated in the 1987
and 1992 general elections, and he was succeeded by John Smith .
Tony Blair became leader of the Labour party after John Smith's sudden death from a
heart attack in 1994. He continued to move the Labour Party towards the 'centre' by
loosening links with the unions and embracing many of Margaret Thatcher's liberal
economic policies. This, coupled with the professionalising of the party machine's
approach to the media, helped Labour win a historic landslide in the 1997 General
Election, after 18 years of Conservative government. Some observers say the Labour
Party had by then morphed from a democratic socialist party to a social
democraticparty, a process which delivered three general election victories but
alienated some of its core base - leading to the formation of the Socialist Labour Party
(UK).[citation needed]
A subset of Labour MPs stand as joint Labour and Co-operative candidates due to a
long-standing electoral alliancebetween the Labour Party and the Co-op Party - the
political arm of the British co-operative movement. In the 2015 general election 42
candidates stood using the Labour and Co-operative Party description,[23] of which 24
were elected.[24]
Scottish National Party[edit]
Main article: Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party won the third largest number of seats in the House of
Commons at the 2015 general election, winning 56 MPs from the 59 constituencies in
Scotland having won 50% of the popular vote. This was an increase of 50 MPs on the
result achieved in 2010.
The SNP has enjoyed parliamentary representation continuously since 1967. Following
the 2007 Scottish parliament elections, the SNP emerged as the largest party with 47
MSPs and formed a minority government with Alex Salmond theFirst Minister. After the
2011 Scottish election, the SNP won enough seats to form a majority government.
Members of the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru work together as a single
parliamentary group[25] following a formal pact signed in 1986. This group currently has
59 MPs.
Liberal Democrats[edit]
Main article: Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats won the joint-fourth largest number of seats at the 2015 general
election, returning 8 MPs.
The Liberal Democrats were formed in 1988 by a merger of the Liberal Party with the
Social Democratic Party, but can trace their origin back to the Whigs and the Rochdale
Radicals who evolved into the Liberal Party. The term 'Liberal Party' was first used
officially in 1868, though it had been in use colloquially for decades beforehand. The
Liberal Party formed a government in 1868 and then alternated with the Conservative
Party as the party of government throughout the late 19th century and early 20th
century.
The Liberal Democrats are heavily a party on Constitutional and Political Reforms,
including changing the voting system for General Elections (UK Alternative Vote
referendum, 2011), abolishing the House of Lords and replacing it with a 300-member
elected Senate, introducing Fixed Five Year Parliaments, and introducing a National
Register of Lobbyists. They also support what they see as greater fairness and social
mobility. In government the party promoted legislation introducing a pupil premium funding for schools directed at the poorest students to give them an equal chance in life.
They also supported same sex marriage and increasing the income tax threshold to
10,000, a pre-election manifesto commitment.
Northern Ireland parties[edit]
Main article: List of political parties in Northern Ireland
The Democratic Unionist Party had 8 MPs elected at the 2015 election. Founded in
1971 by Ian Paisley, it has grown to become the larger of the two main unionist political
parties in Northern Ireland. Other Northern Ireland parties represented at Westminster
include the Social Democratic and Labour Party (3 MPs), the Ulster Unionist Party,
theAlliance Party of Northern Ireland (1 MP) and Sinn Fin (4 MPs). Sinn Fin MPs
refuse to take their seats and sit in a 'foreign' parliament.
Plaid Cymru[edit]
Main article: Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru has enjoyed parliamentary representation continuously since 1974 and had
3 MPs elected at the 2015 election. Following the 2007 Welsh Assembly elections, they
joined Labour as the junior partner in a coalition government, but have fallen down to
the third largest party in the Assembly after the 2011 Assembly elections, and have
become an opposition party.
Other parliamentary parties[edit]
The Green Party of England and Wales kept its only MP, Caroline Lucas, in the 2015
General Election (it had previously had an MP in 1992; Cynog Dafis, Ceredigion, who

was elected on a joint Plaid Cymru/Green Party ticket). It also has seats in
the European Parliament, two seats on the London Assembly and around 120 local
councillors.
The UK Independence Party (UKIP) has 1 MP and 24 seats in the European
Parliament as well as seats in the House of Lords and a number of local councillors.
UKIP also has a MLA in the Northern Ireland Assembly. UKIP has become an emerging
alternative party among some voters, gaining the third largest share of the vote in
the 2015 General Electionand the largest share of the vote of any party (27%) in
the 2014 European elections. In 2014 UKIP gained its first MP following the defection
and re-election of Douglas Carswell in the 2014 Clacton by-election. They campaign
mainly on issues such as reducing immigration and EU withdrawal.
The Respect party, a left-wing group that came out of the anti-war movement had one
MP, George Galloway between 2010 and 2015. It also has a small number of seats on
local councils across the country.
There are usually a small number of Independent politicians in parliament with no party
allegiance. In modern times, this has usually occurred when a sitting member leaves
their party, and some such MPs have been re-elected as independents. The only
current Independent MP is Lady Hermon, previously of the Ulster Unionist Party.
However, since 1950 only two new members have been elected as independents
without having ever stood for a major 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 HamiltonBell, 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.
Non-Parliamentary political parties[edit]
Other UK political parties exist, but generally do not succeed in returning MPs to
Parliament.
The Scottish Green Party has 2 MSPs in the Scottish Parliament and a number of local
councillors.
The Green Party (Ireland) has one MLAs in the Northern Ireland Assembly as well as
local councillors.

The British National Party (BNP) won two seats in the European Parliament in the 2009
European Elections, but currently has none. It also has a number of councillors.
The Libertarian Party was founded in 2008 and has contested several local elections
and parliamentary constituencies, gaining some local councillors.
The English Democrats, which wants a parliament for England, has some local
councillors and had its candidate elected mayor of Doncaster in 2009. [26]
Other parties include: the Socialist Labour Party (UK), the Free England Party,
the Communist Party of Britain, theSocialist Party (England and Wales), the Socialist
Workers Party, the Scottish Socialist Party, the Liberal Party, Mebyon Kernow (a
Cornish nationalist party) in Cornwall, Veritas, the Communist Left Alliance (in Fife) and
the Pirate Party UK.
Several local parties contest only within a specific area, a single county, borough or
district. Examples include the Better Bedford Independent Party, which was one of the
dominant parties in Bedford Borough Council and led by Bedford's former Mayor, Frank
Branston. The most notable local party is Health Concern, which controlled a single seat
in the UK Parliament from 2001 to 2010.
The Jury Team, launched in March 2009 and described as a "non-party party", is an
umbrella organisation seeking to increase the number of independent members of both
domestic and European members of Parliament in Great Britain.[27]
The Official Monster Raving Loony Party was founded in 1983. The OMRLP are
distinguished by having a deliberately bizarre manifesto, which contains things that
seem to be impossible or too absurd to implement usually to highlight what they see
as real-life absurdities. In spite of (or perhaps because of) a reputation more satirical
than serious, they have routinely been successful in local elections.
Current political landscape[edit]
Since winning the largest number of seats and votes in the 2015 general election, the
Conservatives under David Cameron remain ahead of the Labour Party, now led
by Jeremy Corbyn. The SNP has maintained its position in Scotland, with opinion polls
predicting it will again achieve an overall majority at the Scottish parliamentary elections
in May 2016.
Membership[edit]
All political parties have membership schemes that allow members of the public to
actively influence the policy and direction of the party to varying degrees, though
particularly at a local level. Membership of British political parties is around 1% of the
British electorate,[28] which is lower than in all European countries except for Poland and

Latvia.[29]Overall membership to a political party has been in decline since the

1950s.[30] In 1951, the Conservative Party had 2.2 million members, and a year later in
1952 the Labour Party reached their peak of 1 million members (of an electorate of
around 34 million).[31]
The table below details the membership numbers of political parties that have more
than 5,000 members.
Party

Conservative

Members

Date

174,000[32] 29 July 2014

Green Party of England and Wales 60,000[33]

29 April 2015

Labour

370,658[34] 8 October 2015

Liberal Democrats

61,456[35]

2 April 2014

Plaid Cymru

7,863[36]

27 January 2012

Scottish Green Party

9,000 +[37]

9 June 2015

Scottish National Party

114,221[38] 16 October 2015

UK Independence Party

39,143[39]

28 August 2014

No data could be collected for the four parties of Northern Ireland: the DUP, UUP,
SDLP, and Sinn Fin. However, in January 1997, it was estimated that the UUP had 1012,000 members, and the DUP had 5,000 members.[40]
Local government[edit]

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[edit]

Nigel Farage leader of the UK Independence Party.

Further information: European Movement UK, Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom,
and Members of the European Parliament from the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom first joined the European Economic Community in January 1973,
and has remained a member of the European Union (EU) that it evolved into; UK
citizens, and other EU citizens resident in the UK, elect 73 members to represent them
in the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg.
The UK's membership in the Union has been objected to over questions of
sovereignty,[41] and in recent years there have been divisions in both major parties over
whether the UK should form greater ties within the EU, or reduce the EU's supranational

powers. Opponents of greater European integration are known as "Eurosceptics", while

supporters are known as "Europhiles". Division over Europe is prevalent in both major
parties, although the Conservative Party is seen as most divided over the issue, both
whilst in Government up to 1997 and after 2010, and between those dates as the
opposition. However, the Labour Party is also divided, with conflicting views over UK
adoption of the euro whilst in Government (19972010), although the party is largely in
favour of further integration where in the country's interest.[citation needed]
UK nationalists have long campaigned against European integration. The strong
showing of the eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP) since the 2004 European
Parliament elections has shifted the debate over UK relations with the EU.
In March 2008, Parliament decided to not hold a referendum on the ratification of
the Treaty of Lisbon, signed in December 2007.[42] This was despite the Labour
government promising in 2004 to hold a referendum on the previously
proposed Constitution for Europe.
International organization participation[edit]

African Development Bank

Asian Development Bank

Australia Group

Bank for International Settlements

Commonwealth of Nations
Caribbean Development Bank (non-regional)
Council of Europe
CERN
Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
European Investment Bank
European Space Agency
European Union
Food and Agriculture Organization
G5, G6, G7, G8
G10
Inmarsat
Inter-American Development Bank
International Atomic Energy Agency
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

International Civil Aviation Organization

International Chamber of Commerce
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
International Criminal Court
International Criminal Police Organization - Interpol
International Development Association
International Energy Agency
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
International Finance Corporation
International Fund for Agricultural Development

International Hydrographic Organization

International Labour Organization

International Maritime Organization
International Monetary Fund
International Olympic Committee (IOC)
International Organization for Migration (IOM) (observer)
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
International Telecommunications Satellite Organization(Intelsat)

International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

International Whaling Commission
MONUC
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) (guest)
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA)
Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe(OSCE)
Organization of American States (OAS) (observer)
Permanent Court of Arbitration
Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC)
UNESCO
United Nations
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development(UNCTAD)
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa(associate)

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR)
United Nations Industrial Development Organization(UNIDO)
United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo(UNMIK)
United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission(UNIKOM)
United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina(UNMIBH)
United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL)
United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG)

United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus(UNFICYP)

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near
East (UNRWA)
United Nations Security Council (permanent member)
Universal Postal Union (UPU)
UNTAET
Western European Union
World Confederation of Labour
World Customs Organization

World Health Organization

World Intellectual Property Organization
World Meteorological Organization
World Trade Organization
Zangger Committee

See also[edit]
British politics portal

British political scandals

British Polling Council

List of British political defections
Parliament in the Making
Parliament Week
Pressure groups in the United Kingdom
Referendums in the United Kingdom
History of taxation in the United Kingdom