2. What is Politics ?
The activities associated with the governance of a country
or area, especially the debate between parties having
power
The activities of governments concerning the
political relations between states: in the
conduct of global politics, economic status
must be backed by military capacity
4. How Does it All Work?
• The UK is a ‘constitutional monarchy’ -
‘monarchy’ basically means we have a queen,
but 'constitutional’ means her power is
limited by a constitution (agreement) that says
that the government - a group of people
elected by us - runs the country, so the queen
is a kind of figurehead.
5. How do Politian's get elected
• The country is divided up into 650 sections
(constituencies) each of which is represented by an
Member of Parliament, or 'MP’. The MP is the person
who gets the most votes in their constituency. Which
party gets to run the country is decided on the number
of MPs they have elected, not votes. The party with a
majority - wins.
• The winning party will then make a 'cabinet’ - a group
of MPs who will lead certain areas of policy and
decision making. But decisions are made more than
just once every 4 years, in order to make something
happen - make it law or policy - it has to pass through
the Houses of Parliament.
6. MPs and Councillors - their job. MPs and
Councillors are there to represent their voters.
They are voted for both on their own stances,
and that of a party that they might belong to.
We never vote for the prime minister (unless
you live in their constituency) as they are
always chosen by the party and sometimes
affiliated bodies (for example because Labour
was made with the unions, certain union
members get a union as well as a party vote).
MPs and Councillors are your voice in the
houses of parliament and local government.
So if you don’t like the idea of a new law or
decision that you hear about you can email
them and ask them to vote against it, they
have to respond as long as you put on an
address in their area. You just need to put your
postcode in at http://theyworkforyou.com and
you can see what your MP has previously
voted on, and write to them directly.
7. How are Laws Made ?
• There are two main Houses of Parliament - the Commons and the
Lords - this is left over from ages ago when Lords were seen as way
more important than regular people; 'commoners’. Then the country
was run by the Lords - so no one was really elected. Now the Houses
of Commons is elected, but the Lords is still made up of people who
were given their titles, not voted for. Some people think this should
change*, but having a second house is important to make sure the
decisions of the first are double checked.
To make something happen, an MP will propose a law, bill, or policy, and it will get
discussed, changed if necessary, and then voted on. It needs to get a majority of votes in
both 'houses’ in order to go through. Your MP will be voting on things every week, and
they don’t always have to do what their party says. This means you can write to them
('lobby’ them) or go and meet them to ask them to vote in a certain way.
There are also governments for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland who get a certain
budget and can make some independent decisions