Government
- Devolved powers
- Elections
- Political parties
- The government
- The work of Parliament
- The monarchy
- Local government
Laws in the UK are passed by Parliament. Parliament is made up of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The House of Commons is fully elected; the House of Lords is made up of people who have been selected by the parliamentary parties and those who have inherited the right.
Devolved powers
Devolution allows decisions in certain subject areas to be made locally rather than at a national level. Scotland has its own Parliament, Wales a Senedd, and Northern Ireland an Executive.
- Devolution of powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
- Scottish Parliament
- Welsh Parliament
- Northern Ireland Executive
Elections
Elections for the national government take place every five years. These are known as general elections. In the UK, almost all citizens over the age of 18 can vote in elections. At a general election, voters elect a Member of Parliament (MP) to represent them in the House of Commons. Most citizens can stand for election too.
If you become eligible to vote, you must complete forms to be included in the electoral register. These will be posted to you annually to keep the register up to date. Once on the register, you’ll be sent a card at election time to tell you where to vote. The location is known as a polling station and it might be a school or community hall. Your vote is always secret.
Political parties
Most candidates in general elections represent a political party.
MPs don’t need to belong to a political party though – they can be ‘independent’. This type of MP usually represents an issue that is important to their constituency.
As an individual, you can join a political party if you want to support its work.
The government
The political party with the most MPs in the House of Commons forms the government. If no party has an overall majority (more than half of the elected MPs), parties may need to join together to form a coalition government. The leader of the party which forms the government becomes the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister appoints the cabinet. This is the inner group of Ministers who are responsible for government policy.
The Opposition is made up of the MPs belonging to the political parties who did not win in the general election. The leader of the biggest party appoints the ‘shadow cabinet’ to challenge the government and hold it to account.
The work of Parliament
The main work of Parliament is to look carefully at laws that are being proposed and to pass them once they’ve been agreed. Until they’ve been accepted by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, these draft laws are called Bills. Each Bill is carefully drafted to avoid confusion when it becomes law.
The monarchy
The UK has a constitutional monarchy in which the Queen is the head of the state. As part of her duties, she gives advice to the government but doesn’t make political decisions. The government is elected by the people, but after an election, the new Prime Minister will go to see the Queen to be sworn in.
The monarch must sign off every law that’s passed before it’s finalised.
Local government
Councils
In the UK we vote for councillors to run local government. Every area across the country elects a councillor to parish or town councils, district councils and county councils.
Most councillors have full-time jobs so they can’t run all the council services as well. A chief executive is appointed to take responsibility for this. In each department, people who are experts in their field are employed to make sure it all runs smoothly. In some places, the leader of the council is known as the mayor.
What does the council do?
Your local council is responsible for a range of local services for your community, such as schools, social services and refuse collection. The money to pay for local services comes from a mix of sources. Some comes from central government, and some from council tax and business rates.