The General Election The General Election Part 1

The General Election

The General Election Part 1 What is a general election? 2 © Young Citizens

In the UK there is a separation of power between: Parliament The Legislature makes and changes laws 3 © Young Citizens The Government The Executive – puts laws into practice and makes policy The Justice System The Judiciary upholds the law

The UK is split into 650 different areas called constituencies. During a general election the public is asked to vote for which candidate they would like to represent them in Parliament for the constituency they live in. Several candidates compete for votes in each constituency. 4 © Young Citizens

Most candidates stand for a specific political party, although people can also stand as an independent candidate. Find out about your constituency and MP at https: //members. parliament. uk/con stituencies 5 © Young Citizens

The General Election How are candidates elected? Candidates are elected using the First Past the Post system. Each eligible person votes once. The candidate with the most votes in a constituency is chosen as its MP, and will be entitled to take a seat in the House of Commons. 6 © Young Citizens

The First Past the Post system means that a candidate can win even if they don't get the majority of votes. For example: Candidate 1 27% 7 © Young Citizens Candidate 2 23% Candidate 3 26% Candidate 4 24%

And the winner is … Candidate 1 27% 8 © Young Citizens

Once each constituency has announced its results the leader of the party with the most MPs becomes Prime Minister and creates a government to run the country. 9 © Young Citizens

What do MPs do? MPs are elected to represent the people in their constituency. An MP’s main role is to hold the Government to account, and to approve or reject legislation proposed by the Government. The party with the second most MPs becomes the Official Opposition. They can oppose the Government and be ready to form an alternative government if the chance arises. 10 © Young Citizens

The General Election The logistics Elections traditionally take place on a Thursday. People attend their local polling station to vote in person, usually between 7 am and 10 pm. Alternatively they can choose to vote by post, or by proxy. 11 © Young Citizens

The General Election The results After 10 pm, all ballot boxes from the polling stations are brought to a central location e. g. town hall, and are counted. Most constituencies declare their results in the early hours of the morning. It is usually clear who has won by the time everyone wakes up on Friday. 12 © Young Citizens

The General Election How often do they happen? General Elections take place every five years, unless Parliament decides to hold one earlier. Since 1950 we have had 19 general elections. That works out at one every 3. 5 years. 13 © Young Citizens

The General Election Calling an early general election One of the following must occur: • A two thirds majority vote in the House of Commons in favour of a general election. • A vote of no confidence in the current Government. • The passing of a new law which states that a general election is to be held on a specific date. 14 © Young Citizens

The General Election Who’s eligible to vote? To vote you must: ü Be registered to vote; ü Be 18 or over on the day of the election; ü Be a British, Irish or qualifying Commonwealth citizen; ü Be resident at an address in the UK (or a British citizen living abroad who has been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years); ü Not be legally excluded from voting. 15 © Young Citizens

The General Election So who can’t vote? • Under 18 s • Anyone in prison • Non-British, non-Irish or non-qualifying Commonwealth citizens 16 © Young Citizens

The General Election Part 2 Why now? 17 © Young Citizens

Normally every five years, so why now? We had a General Election in 2015, and another one in 2017. We aren’t due another one until 2022 So WHY 18 © Young Citizens would we have a General Election NOW?

7 th May 2015 General Election 29 th March 2019 Original date UK was due to leave the EU 7 th June 2019 May resigns as Prime Minister 19 © Young Citizens 23 rd June 2016 13 th July 2016 The EU referendum Theresa May becomes Prime Minister 8 th June 2017 29 th March 2017 General Election May triggers Article 50 24 th July 2019 Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister 31 st October 2019 Date UK was due to leave the EU 12 th December 2019 General Election EU agrees Brexit extension to st 31 January 2020

The General Election The 2017 election candidates • 3, 304 candidates • 29. 4% of candidates were female • 661 former MPs sought re-election • 638 Conservative Party candidates • 631 Labour Party candidates 20 © Young Citizens

The General Election 2017 election results • 32% of MPs were female • 8% of MPs were from black and minority-ethnic groups • 29% of MPs had been privately educated • 89% of MPs were graduates • The youngest MP was 22 21 © Young Citizens

2017 Election Results 318 262 35 12 10 7 4 1 1 22 Conservatives Labour Scottish Nationalists Liberal Democrats Democratic Unionists Sinn Fein Plaid Cymru Green Other © Young Citizens

The General Election And the winner was … The Conservatives with 318 seats. However, they did not secure a majority as they only held 49% of seats. They have governed with the support of the Democratic Unionist Party, meaning they could command a majority in Parliament. Q: How important is it for the Government to have a majority in Parliament? 23 © Young Citizens

The General Election What has happened since the election… Some MPs have left the parties that they were elected to because they have disagreed with the policies of that party – often about Brexit (although not always). There are currently only 288 Conservative MPs (44%). Even with the 10 Democratic Unionist MPs, this isn’t a majority. 24 © Young Citizens

The General Election What’s a majority and why is it important? Whenever the Government wants to pass a new law or change an existing law this has to be voted on in Parliament. To get the law passed more than half of MPs must vote in favour. 25 © Young Citizens

The General Election What’s a majority and why is it important? Prime Minister Boris Johnson currently does not hold a majority in Parliament. This makes it extremely difficult for him to pass new legislation. Johnson would like a general election to try to get a majority in the House of Commons 26 © Young Citizens Other 18% Labour 38% Conservative 44%

The General Election Part 3 What are the parties saying? 27 © Young Citizens

Who do these logos belong to? 28 © Young Citizens

Researching different parties Manifestos News items 29 © Young Citizens Party websites Social media Friends and family

Spend some time researching the key messages from the main political parties. If you could, who would you vote for? 30 © Young Citizens

Useful websites: • https: //www. parliament. uk/about/mps-andlords/members/parties/ • https: //www. theyworkforyou. com/ • https: //www. mysociety. org/wehelpyou/find-out-how-your-mpvoted/ • https: //www. bbc. co. uk/news/politics • https: //members. parliament. uk/constituencies 31 © Young Citizens