Great British Political Parties

[Nitrus]

This is the place to discuss Great British political parties. Even if your from the US, you can still post here.

I may even make this a sticky so future UK members can post here and discuss.

-N

[Deacon]

So are your parties similar to ours? and who is in line after the Queen dies?

[Defender]

Can you list Britain's major politcal parties?

[Nitrus]

These are the three major UK political parties:

The Conservative Party - Currently the major opposition (left wing)

The Labour Party - Currently in Power (right wing)

The Liberal Democrats - The third most popular party (middle)


After the Queen dies, Prince Charles will be the next monarch. However noone wants him to be King, they all want his son William to be King, everyone reckons Prince Charles will abdocate.

[Deacon]

But the King and Queen don't rule the gov't anymore they are just "public figures" right?

[Nitrus]

Not quite, they don't "run" the country, but the Prime Minister has to get permission for most things, and has to report to her every week, for updates and plans for the country.

If she wanted she could topple the Gov'rnt and rule with all power.

-N

[tbl]

Not quite, they don't "run" the country, but the Prime Minister has to get permission for most things, and has to report to her every week, for updates and plans for the country.

If she wanted she could topple the Gov'rnt and rule with all power.

-N


Couldn't england have a referendum to become a republic? Like Australia?

[Nitrus]

They don't want one, I don't want one either. Especially looking at who might take over.

-N

[RedKnight]

These are the three major UK political parties:

The Conservative Party - Currently the major opposition (left wing)

The Labour Party - Currently in Power (right wing)

The Liberal Democrats - The third most popular party (middle)


After the Queen dies, Prince Charles will be the next monarch. However noone wants him to be King, they all want his son William to be King, everyone reckons Prince Charles will abdocate.
Isn't the labour party left of center, and the conservatives right of center.

[BoogyMan]

Hi Nitrus,

Can you give us some info about how all the different groups involved in the British Parliamentary system work together? Where does the house of lords come into the picture, or does it have any sway over government?

[Nitrus]

Right there is the House of Commons where new laws are discussed and finalised. Then they vote on the law, and if it passes by majority it moves onto the House of Lords (higher then the House of Commons), then if it is passed by the house of lords then it becomes law.

This is why there was so much trouble with the fox hunting bill, it took forever to amend so it would pass through the House of Lords, because so many of the Lords, enjoyed the sport.

Anything else you want to know?

-N

[firefox]

Is there a libertarian party in the UK? Canada and Austrailia have one I know that. Also NZ.

[instigator]

conservative, right wing, labour left wing. But the lines are blurred now and that really isn't the reality. Mostly they both hold the middle ground but that is not really the middle ground because well it's very complicated lets say. The house of Lords is also complicated but essentially acts as a second chamber. What sways the government are interest groups, money and popularity. But again that is very complicated also and not exactly as it appears, especially the popularity part. Having a queen and church of england protects us and our culture from becoming a european peasant socialist catholic society and all its implications. And from becoming like america. So basically both are worth their weight in gold and are being destroyed presently by interested parties.

[Harry01]

Why is the British labour party right wing when the term labour is ideoligically and politically known or meant to represent left wing?

[firefox]

They now have the power and want to defend it? All radical parties become conservative once they have political dominance.

[flaja]

Not quite, they don't "run" the country, but the Prime Minister has to get permission for most things, and has to report to her every week, for updates and plans for the country.

If she wanted she could topple the Gov'rnt and rule with all power.

-N


What happens if the crown refuses to give its permission to the PM- other than nothing? My understanding is that the crown has an absolute veto over bills that are approved by Parliament, but no monarch since George III has used it. And in everything else the monarch has to accept whatever the current government's policies are. Isn't it true that the ruling party writes the speech that the Queen gives at the state opening of Parliament? How much true control can the crown have?[hr]The older I get the more I admire the British parliamentary system. I am so fed up with the constant partisan bickering and inaction in D.C. that I cannot stand it. I realize that our Constitution was written in a way to insulate the government from public opinion, lest the government be stampeded into taking rash action that ends up doing more harm than good. But, because our government is so slow to act, more often than not problems are allowed to fester when quick and concerted action could have solved them.

I propose that the Congress consist of a Senate, which has 1 senator from each state chosen by the state legislatures and a House of Representatives chosen by popular vote (preferably on the basis of proportional representation with no-party and write-in candidates being allowed).

The president would be elected by popular vote as long as the winning candidate wins a majority of the vote in the entire country as well as a majority of the vote in a majority of the states or otherwise is chosen by the Congress with each state having one vote.

The president would have the power to propose legislation that the Congress must either pass or reject without amendments. The Senate would have no power to propose legislation or amend legislation that is approved by the House of Representatives.

The Congress would have the power to set the date on which the president is elected and the president would have the power to set the date on which the House of Representatives is elected and both will serve a term of no more than 7 years.

[bobbylien]

Come on guys, what about the BNP!?

[dgun]

I suggest this thread be moved to the new international politics forum.

See, 10 posts and I’m already "helping". What will the next 10 posts bring? Who knows.

It seems like only minutes ago that I was posting my introductory thread.

[heyjude]

Is Nitrus English? Doesn't sound like it. The last time I looked there was no Great Britian on the map. There is a United Kingdom.

I have read that the monarch is not allowed to make political comments at all. And the PM does write the speech that is read at the beginning of Parliment.

I could not bow to a man who is a low life whore. And his wife. Yech! At least we don't have to go there.

I like their system of government. If we had it, Bush would have been long gone. And I think, not positive, that the House of Lords is being phased out.

[Truth_and_Power]

What kind of campaign finance laws does G.B. have? Do you have the kind of massive Quid Pro Quo that we have in america?

[Malte]

These are the three major UK political parties:

The Conservative Party - Currently the major opposition (left wing)

The Labour Party - Currently in Power (right wing)

The Liberal Democrats - The third most popular party (middle)


After the Queen dies, Prince Charles will be the next monarch. However noone wants him to be King, they all want his son William to be King, everyone reckons Prince Charles will abdocate.
Isn't the labour party left of center, and the conservatives right of center.


The Labour Party used to be true to Democratic Socialism until the mid 1980s when they adapted that Third Way Centre Left stuff, though they still regard Democratic Socialism as their ideology. I'd call them Social Democrats leaning Neo-Liberal, even Tony Blair has called the Labour Party "Third Way".

I have a question on British political climate: does the British National Party have much power? Has it gained any power over it's local seats? If so, that's terribly bad news.[hr]Yes, I've just looked into the Conservative Party UK, it is in the opposition since 1997 when they lost to Tony Blair and the Labour Party. And the Conservative Party is fully named the Conservative and Unionist Party, for all who are interested. It's sort of obvious though, now that I look at it, since Gordon Brown is the Prime Minister and he's Labour.

[Matt W]

The BNP has a couple of council seats, but that's about it. It's too far beyond the pale for most far-righters, who instead tend to support whichever of the fragmenting Eurosceptic parties happen to be at the front at the time.

The Green Party has a fair bit more influence than the BNP - I can't actually recall if they've got an MP or not, but they certainly have more councillars.

By the way, heyjude, you'll find it's the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - 'Great Britain' is often used over here. And didn't you have Clinton? :thumbsup:

A thought on the general climate - Labour has moved to the centre - it's almost centre-right on a fair few positions - the Conservatives are kind of scrabbling around looking to regain it, and are trying to make their mind up about how far right they can go. The Liberals have pretty much taken the centre-left ground these days.

[el comandante]

This thread has really only given info on Englands major political parties. In Scotland the Scottish Nationalist party are the largest party, they have a minority government in the Scottish Parliament. There are also two socialist parties: Solidarity and the Scottish Socialist Party. They used to be the one party but they split and lost all their seats at the last election.

In Wales the nationalist movement is also quite strong, their party is Plaid Cymru. Northern Ireland obviously has the Irish Republican, Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party.

And since we are mentioning small parties like the BNP and Greens we should note that they are smaller than the Socialist Respect Party who have an MP and many councillors. And if we had a PR system they would have up to 30 seats. So they are undeniably of more importance than the BNP.

I will add that all these nationalist parties are not like the BNP or the far right nationalism that springs to mind. It is simply about independence from England. Though nationalism is inherently flawed, these parties are gaining power because Labour has abandoned the left and traditional voters need a place to go. The Labour party had lonmg been the party of Scotland and Wales but Blairs disregard for who put him in power has destroyed that.