MP = Member of parliaments

I. Introduction (Different categories of elections in the UK)

At general elections
citizens vote to choose their representatives at the parliament who seat in Westminster
 Different parts of the UK
 represented by the number of MPs
o depends on the number of inhabitants

England: 529 Mps

Wales: 40 Mps
Scotland: 72 MPs
Northern Ireland returns 80 MPs The total number of MPs
with a total of 659 MPs
 subject to changes
 reflect the increase of population

The last change occurred in 1997 from 651 to 659

Participation in general election (singular in English) is 76.5% since 1950

Local (government) elections

 choose local government
 Counsellors

As opposed to general elections the average of voters is smaller, around 42%

More recent election

EU elections
 choose the UK representatives
 who will be Members of the European parliament (MEPs)

Since 1973
UK
 represented by 84 MEPS
 The turnout is predictably very low: 34.7% on average

Elections take place in local regions (only the residents of

these regions vote) to elect the local MPs

May 1999
1. The representatives of Wales
- Wales and Scotland
 “Members of the Welsh Assembly”
July 1998
2. Scottish
- Northern Ireland
 “Members of the Scottish Parliament”

3. Northern Irish
 “Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly”.
 By-Election = élection
partielle

A by-election PM = ¨Prime Minister

held between one election and the other when a seat becomes vacant
a. Retirement
b. death
c. appointment to the House of Lords by the queen
d. of an MP

I. General elections in the UK

General elections serve a double purpose :

Double purpose
1. choose MPs who
a. will seat in the House of Commons
b. represent their voters

2. choose the party

a. will form the government and the MP ultimately
 Since the PM who will be appointed by the monarch
 leader of the party that scored the majority of seats in the house of
commons
 326 seats minimum to secure an overall majority
Specifity
Heart of the parlementeri systeme
 PM not elected directly and independently in a dinstinct election
1. PM is first elected to be an MP and the leader of the party
2. If the party is elected
3. The monarch makes him PM

Frequency
Since parliament act of 1991
 constitutional rule
 elections will take place every 5 years maximum (maximum duration of parliament)
 but there is no minimum
 British parliament is a no fixed-term parliament
 lasts as long as the PM does not call one

The usual inter-votes period has been 4 years only in case of exceptional circumstances, the maximum
time is used
EX : 5 years duration between two elections
1979
- Margaret Thatcher became PM following a general
election won by the conservative party
- She was very popular (notably because a winning on the Falklans war
against Argentina in 1982)
- 1983 called an election -> won again
- 1987 same
- Labour Party -> ideological difficulties
- her refusal to hear a dissident position in her own party as
well as her authoritarian way of governing led to her
dismissal in November 1990

John Major
 succeeded her (the new leader automatically becomes the new PM)
 did not call an election in 1991
a. took time to take over from Margaret Thatcher
b. his party had also lost its popularity
c. the Gulf War ending in 1991 made the international scene unready
for that.
 waited until 1992 (5 years) to call for a new election
1. the conservative won
2. 1996 could have called new election
3. he delayed doing it
4. certain that they would loose

1997
- conservative lost
- Labour party won under Tony Bair’s situation (very popular)
- Tony Blair called general election in 2001 and then in 2005
 The next election can happen whenever he wants as long as before
2010.

EX :
2 elections held the same year

1974 Harold Wilson

- 2 general elections were called

 needed to increase the number of seats to have the
majority at the commons
(cause after February, he had the greatest number of seats but not enough to have the
absolute majority)
- had to negotiate alliances
- successful at that time due to his achievements
- won again (october) with more seats and the majority in the
Commons
The choice of the General Election Day
1. 1st day (Monday) of the week
a. not bother the inhabitants
b. put them away from their religious duties
2. winter and summer are avoided
 May, June are big favourites sometimes October

Since 1965
 every adult can vote by secret ballot
 each voter costs one vote
 voting is not compulsory

A constituency
a. geographical area whose voter elects a representative who will seat at the parliament
b. 659 constituencies (now) which return a single MP
 made up of ± 60 000 voters (for equitability purposes)
c. 4 boundary commissions have been set up to review the constituencies and possibly suggest
changes

Safe Constituency
 safe seat/constituency
a. seat elected with a very large majority
b. unlikely to change in the near future
 Over 80 % of the constituencies are safe either
a. Labour Party (Northern industrial areas like Manchester and Liverpool)
b. Conservative Party (South of England, and especially the South east all around London) for many
years.

Marginal Constituency
 constituencies whose MPs are elected with difficulties
 places where the opinion changes quite easily
 unpredicatble results
 MEP =
Member of European Parliament

II. Voting systems in use in GB

Elections
 happen in the UK
 system used is the most simple straightforward
 the winner is the candidate who has obtained the greatest number of votes
 But there is now a demand for proportional representation (ask for more parties)

The relative majority system (so far traditionally used in the vast majority of elections)
FPTP
 “the First Past The Post” system (le système du premier qui a franchi le poteau)
 British use simple expressions understandable by all
 The first with most votes win
 Majority voter
 Each voter cast one vote

Advantage
1. Simple
 voters simply choose one candidate
2. Quick
 only one ballot
3. Cheaper
 as only one ballot
 no need to organize a second one
 no money required for a second campaign

The Drawback
1. unfair system
2. magnify the advance in terms of seats of the winning party
 the second party’s number of seats is reduced
3. system is totally inadequate in a country where there are more than 2 parties (which starts to be the
case in the UK)

- 40% for party A

- 24 % for B
- 36 % for C
 A wins
60 % of the voters did not want him

FPTP
 alright in a two-party system
 it was great for many centuries
 since the 80s and the 90s century
a. Labour
b. Conservative Parties
c. another party
 The Liberal Democrats has difficulty because of the safes seats as there are
not concentrated in one constituency but spread over the territory
2005
1. new Labour Party won
 around 55% of the seats in the House of Commons
 with only 35 % of the votes

2. Conservative Party won

 around 37.5 of the seats
 with 32.3 % of the votes

3. Liberal Democrat won

 around 9.6% seats
 with 22% of the votes

Proportional representation
 used to elect
 MEPs
 the regional legislative bodies in
a. Wales
b. Scotland
c. Northern Ireland
1. give your vote in order of preference
2. names of candidates appear in alphabetical order on the ballot paper
 along with their photographs
 their party emblem

Results of the last EU elections

 Out of the 84 MEPs returned
1. Conservative 36
2. Labour 29
3. LD 10
4. the rest for minor parties

IV. Hung Parliaments and coalition governments

Hung parliaments
 No single political party that either
a. win a majority in the house of commons
b. Has a overal control of the house

2010
Conservativ came first 36% of the vote 47,2% of the seats
Labour came second 29% votes 39,8 seats
LD 33% votes 8.8% seats
Show difference betwen the % of votes and seats
FPTP maximise the supremacy of the 2 first party and minimises the third
If no party has a majority, is there no Government?
No majority
PM in power before the general election stays in power
 given the first chance to create a government

Decide
1. to negotiate with another party or parties to build a coalition
2. to try and govern with a minority of Members of Parliament
3. to resign (usually after failing to negotiate a coalition)
 recommend that the leader of the largest opposition party be invited to form a
government

They may decide

 form a coalition
 Or govern as a minority government

Does the party with the most seats form a Government?

Party with the most seats
 usual asked to form a Government
 most likely to have a majority

Government
 must be able to command a majority in the House of Commons on votes of confidence and
supply
a. majority can be all of one party
b. or include support from other political parties (even if there is no formal coalition arrangement)

If they cannot
 PM must ask the monarch to invite someone else to form a government

Prime Minister
Does the Prime Minister have to resign?
 PM who does not have the confidence of the House
 stays in office only until they are able to recommend a successor to the monarch

Confidence issues
1. failed to make a deal with other parties
2. lose a confidence motion in the House of Commons
 The first test of a government in a new Parliament would be the vote on the Queen's
Speech

SUPPLY AND CONFIDENCE AGREEMENT

political practice
 in a parliamentary system
 a political party represented in parliament places
confidence in the government but is not part of it
 allow a minority government to form and stay in power
 Has there been a situation of no overall control before?

2017 1923
1. General Election resulted in a hung 1. Conservative party lost their majority at the
Parliament general election

2. no party winning an overall majority 2. unable to form a coalition

3. The Conservative Party
4. won the largest number of seats and
votes
 formed a minority administration after
negotiating a 'confidence and supply'
agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party
3. The party, led by Stanley Baldwin, lost a vote on
the King's speech in January 1924
The Labour party under Ramsay MacDonald then took
office and governed as a minority administration until
October of that year

1974
the incumbent Conservative administration lost its majority
Edward Heath remained PM for a few days while he tried
to form a coalition
2017
1. Conservative Government lost its majority
2. entered into a supply and confidence agreement
 with the Democratic Unionist Party.

The General Election was held on a Thursday

By Monday Edward Heath had failed to form a coalition

and resigned as PM 2010
General Election produced a hung
a. 2d general election that year Parliament
b. Labour was returned with an overall majority of
three The Labour Government remained until a
majority government could be formed
By 1977-78
1. Labour Government had to draw on the support of A coalition government was formed on the
the Liberal Party 12 May 2010 between
2. They formed a Lib-Lab pact which lasted until
May 1978.  the Conservatives
 and Liberal Democrats.

7 May and 12 May 2010

1. general election,
2. failed to produce an overall majority for any of the country's two main political
parties
 resulted in the first hung parliament in the UK in 36 years
 sparking a series of negotiations
 form the second coalition government since the Second World
War

The governing Labour administration (Gordon Brown)

 defeated in the election
 lost its overall majority after 13 years in office
 continued in office in an acting capacity until a government could be formed

The opposition Conservative Party led (David Cameron)

a. won the largest number of seats in the new Parliament
b. but fell short of the number required to secure an overall majority

Senior figures from both parties embarked on a series of make-or-break meetings with
representatives from the Liberal Democrats led by Nick Clegg
 aimed at forming a coalition government
Coalition government
 government formed jointly by more than one political party
 usually because no party has an absolute majority
 Parties may decide to form a coalition government
 if there is a hung parliament
 where no single party has a clear working majority in the House of
Commons following a General Election

Occurs
 2 or more political parties enter into a formal agreement to cooperate
 with a view to achieving a majority in parliament
 form a government

The parties that agree to govern in coalition

share
 similar philosophies
 Policies
 otherwise coalitions would not work.

Prime Minister
1. belongs to the main party
2. the party that won the most seats
3. The deputy PM is from the junior partner

V. The 2015 general election

1. Conservative
a. 1st
b. 6,9% votes
c. 0,9% seats 331 MP
d. Overall majority of 6 seats
2. Labour
a. 2d
b. 30,4 votes
c. 35,7% seats
3. LD
a. 3rd
b. 7,9 votes
c. 1,9 seats
 Unproportionnal results (FPTP)
Advantes
First winner
Advantage
domination in seats / votes

Second winner
Majority 63% did not want the conservative candidate

Negative impact of the Coalition government

On the LD
 Agreed on the coalition deal
 (Hoping) increase their political credibility
 Show themseleves as an alternative Political parties
 Capable of governing the country
 Bring in Changes
1. New proportionnal voting systeme
2. Démocratic second chamber replace the house of lords
3. Better public services
4. More efficient educative systeme

 None of this reforms were achieved

 Lib Dib Contradicted their ideologie and principles
1. They Increase tuition fees for university students
2. They were supposed to abolish them
3. Reforme on the national health service
 Dissapointed the Lib Dib supporters voters
 Loss of supports in the 2015 general election
 17,8 vote 20 MP in the HOC

New parties emerge

1. Scottish National Party
a. Arrived third in number of MP
b. 56/59 vote
c. 4,7% vote at national level

 Indicate 2 phénomena
a. Scottish voters feel complitely alieneted from Conservative and Labour
b. The conservatire not populare (traditional approach)
c. Do not trust labours as they used too

2. UKIP
VII. Referendums
Referendun
1. part of the democratic process
2. Allow voters to express their opinion on policies
3. did not used to be traditional in the UK as parliament was supposed to represent voters
4. Politicians use referendum on the counts of parlements
 Parlements represent voters
 Debate among MP is sufficient on voters opinion
 Referendum use is recent

Conservative party
1. very attached to constitutional tradition
2. opposed to referendum
3. refuse to use it in regions
 Concerve autonomy
4. John Major refused to use the referendum before the Maastricht treaty was signed at the time
a. only referendums that have taken place so far have been called by the Labor party
governments

EX :
5th of June 1975
 national referendum
 ask whether British wished to remain members of the EU community
 majority of people voted in favour so that settled the question.

GB entered the EU 2 years before because of the conservative

without consulting the citizens
different opinions on that question in the public and in the parties

1979
 Local referendum
 James Callaghan
 called two regional referendums in
a. Wales
b. Scotland
× consult the inhabitants about their opinion on Devolution
 Referendum failed as the threshold (seuil) of at least 40 % of the electorate had to vote, despite
a slight majority in favour of Devolution in Scotland

After 18 years of conservative government

1997
 labour came back into office
 propose these 2 referendums on devolution in Wales and Scotland
 majority of yes (in favour of devolution) with a Turnout that was sufficient
2014
1. Referendum SNP
2. About independance
3. Turnout high
4. Result no 55% vote
VIII. Local elections
Organisations of local authorities
 Complex
Councels
1. two tiers
 two level of authority

2. Unitary
 One councel
 Regroups all competences

Local elections
 Every 4 years
 Held different ways depend on the area

Council
 Number of councel
 Depends on the type of councils
 Number of people in the area
 Various voting system full or semi

Responsabilities
All the councels are responsable for services :
1. Education
2. Transport
3. Planning
4. Social care
5. Waste managelent
6. Trading standards
7. Rubish collection
8. Council tax

IX. Vote

Who can vote

1. Person
2. registered
3. 18
4. britsh
5. Common wealth

Who can’t
1. Royal familily
2. house of lords member
3. Europen person
4. Convicted person
5. Guilty of corrupt or illegal practices in election