British Politics For Dummies, 2nd Edition

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The Liberal Party formed a government in 1868 and then alternated with the Conservative Party as the party of government throughout the late-nineteenth century and early-twentieth century. Asymmetrical powers are also granted to the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland within the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Parliament, and the Northern Ireland Assembly. Membership of British political parties is around 1% of the British electorate, [67] which is lower than in all European countries except for Poland and Latvia.

Also in the wake of the referendum, Lamont stood down as Scottish Labour leader and Jim Murphy was elected to replace her. The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) won its first seat in the Scottish Parliament in the 1999 Scottish Parliament election. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom serves as the highest court of appeal for civil cases under Scots law.

The Labour Party won the second-largest number of seats in the House of Commons at the 2019 general election, with 202 seats overall, 60 seats less than 2017. The Green Party of England and Wales has had a single MP, Caroline Lucas, since 2010 and re-elected at the 2019 general election (the party previously had an MP in 1992; Cynog Dafis, Ceredigion, who was elected on a joint Plaid Cymru/Green Party ticket). Tribunal NDPBs are part of the justice system and have jurisdiction over a specific area of law - for example, the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Recent constitutional changes saw a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom come into being in October 2009 that took on the appeal functions of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords. However, the early 2010s saw the BNP's support collapse and became fractured, resulting in them losing all elected representation by 2018.

Anarchists believe that the state and forms of compulsory government are harmful or unnecessary to people’s lives. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, devolved administrations are responsible for many domestic policy issues, and their Parliaments/Assemblies have law-making powers for those areas. Strategic cross-party alliances have been initiated, including a " progressive alliance" and a "Patriotic Alliance", [49] [50] as proposed by UKIP donor Arron Banks. As of the 2010 general election there are 650 constituencies (there were 646 before that year's general election). Sheriff courts deal with most civil and criminal cases including conducting criminal trials with a jury, known that as Sheriff solemn Court, or with a Sheriff and no jury, known as (Sheriff summary Court).

The Courts of England and Wales are headed by the Senior Courts of England and Wales, consisting of the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown Court (for criminal cases). The politics of the United Kingdom functions within a constitutional monarchy where executive power is delegated by legislation and social conventions to a unitary parliamentary democracy. The single transferrable vote is a form of proportional representation; the strength of a party in parliament is equal to the number of votes they received during a general election. Founded in 1971 by Ian Paisley, it has grown to become the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. The Welsh Government and Senedd have more limited powers than those devolved to Scotland, [10] although following the passing of the Government of Wales Act 2006 and the 2011 Welsh devolution referendum, the Senedd can now legislate in some areas through an Act of Senedd Cymru.