The Student Room Group

UK politics?

Hi
I’ve recently moved to the uk and I want to learn more about the uk politics
Any help?

Reply 3

The first thing is to buy a dictionary of insults, so that you can understand broadcasts from Westminster. Then watch yes minister, a sitcom from the 1970s.

Reply 4

Original post by michaelhw
The first thing is to buy a dictionary of insults, so that you can understand broadcasts from Westminster. Then watch yes minister, a sitcom from the 1970s.

😭😭😭real

Reply 5

so labour won the general election
is this a good thing?

Reply 6

Original post by handsome-gypsy
so labour won the general election
is this a good thing?

You must wait and see. It is a little early to pass judgment on performance

Reply 7

Original post by michaelhw
You must wait and see. It is a little early to pass judgment on performance

ohhh okok

Reply 8

Original post by handsome-gypsy
Hi
I’ve recently moved to the uk and I want to learn more about the uk politics
Any help?

Hi! How are you finding the move so far? I can't imagine it's been easy, and I hope you're settling in well. Welcome to the UK!

We have quite a few parties. In terms of parties that have representation in the House of Commons (we have the House of Commons, which are elected MPs, and the arguably outdated House of Lords), there are about a dozen. They are as follows:

The Labour Party (which has a pact with Co-operative Party). There's 411 Labour MPs in the House of Commons, out of 650 total MPS in the House of Commons. They're Centre-Left and believe in social democracy (this is what is stated online. This is what they believe in theory, not necessarily in practice. Please take all of this post with a grain of salt). Their leader is Keir Starmer, our new Prime Minister.

The Conservative Party (formally known as the Conservative and Unionist Party, informally known as the Tories) are Centre-Right to Right Wing, and there's 121 Conservative MPs in the House of Commons, out of 650 total MPs. Their alleged beliefs are Conservatism, economic liberalism and British unionism. Their leader was Rishi Sunak, but he's just resigned. I think it'll be sorted who's in charge of the Tories in September, as the House of Commons are about to go on a month-long break for the summer.


The Liberal Democrats are allegedly Centre to Centre Left, although I would honestly say they're more Centre Left than Centrists, if you ask me. They have 72 MPs in the House of Commons, out of 650 total. Their stated beliefs are social liberalism and liberalism. Their leader is Ed Davey.

The Scottish National Party (the SNP) have 9 seats in the House of Commons out of 650 total. They believe in Scottish nationalism, Scottish independence and social democracy, they say, and they're Centre-Left. Their leader is John Swinney.


Sinn Fein (there's an accent over the e that my laptop won't let me do) believes in Irish republicanism, democratic socialism and left-wing nationalism. They're centre-left to left-wing and have 7 out of 650 seats in the House of Commons. They're lead by Michelle O' Neill.


Reform UK are right-wing, but I would say they are kinda far-right. They have 5 seats and are lead by Nigel Farage. They believe in right-wing populism and Euroscepticism; they're generally pretty anti-immigration.


The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) are right-wing. They have 5 seats and are lead by Gavin Robinson. They believe in British unionism, British nationalism, right-wing populism and Euroscepticism. I'm pretty sure they're also anti-immigration and pretty far-right, to my knowledge. I could be wrong, though.


The Green Party of England and Wales, or the Greens, are left-wing. They hold 4 seats. Their beliefs are Green politics and progressivism. They are co-lead by Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsey.


Plaid Cymru is Centre-left to left-wing. They're have 4 seats in the House of Commons. They believe in Welsh nationalism, Welsh independence, democratic socialism and social democracy. Their leader is Rhun ap Iorweth.


The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) are centre-left, believing in social democracy and Irish nationalism. It is lead by Colum Eastwood, and they have 2 seats in the House of Commons.


The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland are centre to centre-left, believing in liberalism and nonsectarianism. They have one seat and are headed by Naomi Long. They hold 1 seat.


The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) are centre-right, believing in British unionism and conservatism. They hold 1 seat. Doug Beattie is in charge of the party.


The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) are right-wing. They have 1 seat and believe in British unionism, national conservatism, social conservatism and Euroscepticism, with Jim Allister in charge.


There's three parties that are not represented in the House of Commons, but are represented elsewhere in government. These are:

The Scottish Greens. They're centre-left to left-wing and believe in Green politics, Scottish independence, and Scottish republicanism. The leaders are Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater.


The Alba Party believe in Scottish nationalism and Scottish independence. They're allegedly centre-left and lead by Alex Salmond. They claim to be more left-wing than the SNP, but have received scepticism about this.


People Before Profit (PBP) are left to far left. They believe in socialism, Trotskyism, anti-capitalism and Irish reunification, headed by Eamon Mccann.


The main parties are the Conservative Party or Tories, who have just massively lost the recent elections. Many people think they messed up the country for the past 14 years they were in charge, and the Labour Party, who have just been elected. They are not as right-wing as the Tories and go between being Centrists and occasionally left-wing. It's a bit of a two-party system in the House of Commons, but in local government, there's more variety, I would say, although not massively.

The parties people talk about or know more about other than the Tories and Labour, from my experience, are the Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems), Reform UK, SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party. If you don't know some of the terms used, I would recommend doing research into them and the belief systems that come with them. Additionally, if you Google a party name and manifesto or policies, their should be a document detailing the policies they would set out if in charge, which shows people what they believe in.

You can use TheyWorkforYou to put in your address, see who your local MP is and you can email them or send a letter about issues that happen to you, local to your area or otherwise. You can see old speeches by MPs and how they voted, too. You can also talk to your local council and councillors, which will have differing political stances. You can set up and sign petitions and donate to organisations. If registered, you can vote in general elections (like the one that just happened) and in local elections (in your area). You can peacefully protest in theory, but police do crack down hard on protesters due to changes in the law under the Tories and due to institutional issues similar to those in the US, and I dare say throughout a lot of the world. The UK isn't as democratic as is made out sometimes, in my opinion, but we are allowed freedom of speech to a significant extent, which is good. The country is kind of in shambles right now ( the NHS, National Health Service is under significant burden, especially post-COVID, there's a cost of living crisis, a lot of child poverty, problems with the education system, and a lot more) but there's always hope for the future, in my opinion.

If you'd like, I can link you some websites, articles and books which you can use for your own political research. We aren't educated about politics at school really, and I think that's wrong. I think educating young people, at the very least 14-16-year-olds about politics is massively important. That way, they are given time to research based off what they've learnt at school, and base their opinions on that. Being politically informed is important due to the prevalence of brainwashing and propaganda. That applies anywhere. But yeah, I hope you like it here, and I hope this helps as a basic overview! If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask me! I'm no expert, but I do know a few things.

All the best,

L x

Reply 9

Original post by Heathersrocks
Hi! How are you finding the move so far? I can't imagine it's been easy, and I hope you're settling in well. Welcome to the UK!
We have quite a few parties. In terms of parties that have representation in the House of Commons (we have the House of Commons, which are elected MPs, and the arguably outdated House of Lords), there are about a dozen. They are as follows:

The Labour Party (which has a pact with Co-operative Party). There's 411 Labour MPs in the House of Commons, out of 650 total MPS in the House of Commons. They're Centre-Left and believe in social democracy (this is what is stated online. This is what they believe in theory, not necessarily in practice. Please take all of this post with a grain of salt). Their leader is Keir Starmer, our new Prime Minister.

The Conservative Party (formally known as the Conservative and Unionist Party, informally known as the Tories) are Centre-Right to Right Wing, and there's 121 Conservative MPs in the House of Commons, out of 650 total MPs. Their alleged beliefs are Conservatism, economic liberalism and British unionism. Their leader was Rishi Sunak, but he's just resigned. I think it'll be sorted who's in charge of the Tories in September, as the House of Commons are about to go on a month-long break for the summer.


The Liberal Democrats are allegedly Centre to Centre Left, although I would honestly say they're more Centre Left than Centrists, if you ask me. They have 72 MPs in the House of Commons, out of 650 total. Their stated beliefs are social liberalism and liberalism. Their leader is Ed Davey.

The Scottish National Party (the SNP) have 9 seats in the House of Commons out of 650 total. They believe in Scottish nationalism, Scottish independence and social democracy, they say, and they're Centre-Left. Their leader is John Swinney.


Sinn Fein (there's an accent over the e that my laptop won't let me do) believes in Irish republicanism, democratic socialism and left-wing nationalism. They're centre-left to left-wing and have 7 out of 650 seats in the House of Commons. They're lead by Michelle O' Neill.


Reform UK are right-wing, but I would say they are kinda far-right. They have 5 seats and are lead by Nigel Farage. They believe in right-wing populism and Euroscepticism; they're generally pretty anti-immigration.


The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) are right-wing. They have 5 seats and are lead by Gavin Robinson. They believe in British unionism, British nationalism, right-wing populism and Euroscepticism. I'm pretty sure they're also anti-immigration and pretty far-right, to my knowledge. I could be wrong, though.


The Green Party of England and Wales, or the Greens, are left-wing. They hold 4 seats. Their beliefs are Green politics and progressivism. They are co-lead by Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsey.


Plaid Cymru is Centre-left to left-wing. They're have 4 seats in the House of Commons. They believe in Welsh nationalism, Welsh independence, democratic socialism and social democracy. Their leader is Rhun ap Iorweth.


The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) are centre-left, believing in social democracy and Irish nationalism. It is lead by Colum Eastwood, and they have 2 seats in the House of Commons.


The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland are centre to centre-left, believing in liberalism and nonsectarianism. They have one seat and are headed by Naomi Long. They hold 1 seat.


The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) are centre-right, believing in British unionism and conservatism. They hold 1 seat. Doug Beattie is in charge of the party.


The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) are right-wing. They have 1 seat and believe in British unionism, national conservatism, social conservatism and Euroscepticism, with Jim Allister in charge.


There's three parties that are not represented in the House of Commons, but are represented elsewhere in government. These are:

The Scottish Greens. They're centre-left to left-wing and believe in Green politics, Scottish independence, and Scottish republicanism. The leaders are Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater.


The Alba Party believe in Scottish nationalism and Scottish independence. They're allegedly centre-left and lead by Alex Salmond. They claim to be more left-wing than the SNP, but have received scepticism about this.


People Before Profit (PBP) are left to far left. They believe in socialism, Trotskyism, anti-capitalism and Irish reunification, headed by Eamon Mccann.


The main parties are the Conservative Party or Tories, who have just massively lost the recent elections. Many people think they messed up the country for the past 14 years they were in charge, and the Labour Party, who have just been elected. They are not as right-wing as the Tories and go between being Centrists and occasionally left-wing. It's a bit of a two-party system in the House of Commons, but in local government, there's more variety, I would say, although not massively.
The parties people talk about or know more about other than the Tories and Labour, from my experience, are the Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems), Reform UK, SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party. If you don't know some of the terms used, I would recommend doing research into them and the belief systems that come with them. Additionally, if you Google a party name and manifesto or policies, their should be a document detailing the policies they would set out if in charge, which shows people what they believe in.
You can use TheyWorkforYou to put in your address, see who your local MP is and you can email them or send a letter about issues that happen to you, local to your area or otherwise. You can see old speeches by MPs and how they voted, too. You can also talk to your local council and councillors, which will have differing political stances. You can set up and sign petitions and donate to organisations. If registered, you can vote in general elections (like the one that just happened) and in local elections (in your area). You can peacefully protest in theory, but police do crack down hard on protesters due to changes in the law under the Tories and due to institutional issues similar to those in the US, and I dare say throughout a lot of the world. The UK isn't as democratic as is made out sometimes, in my opinion, but we are allowed freedom of speech to a significant extent, which is good. The country is kind of in shambles right now ( the NHS, National Health Service is under significant burden, especially post-COVID, there's a cost of living crisis, a lot of child poverty, problems with the education system, and a lot more) but there's always hope for the future, in my opinion.
If you'd like, I can link you some websites, articles and books which you can use for your own political research. We aren't educated about politics at school really, and I think that's wrong. I think educating young people, at the very least 14-16-year-olds about politics is massively important. That way, they are given time to research based off what they've learnt at school, and base their opinions on that. Being politically informed is important due to the prevalence of brainwashing and propaganda. That applies anywhere. But yeah, I hope you like it here, and I hope this helps as a basic overview! If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask me! I'm no expert, but I do know a few things.
All the best,
L x

wow thats amazing
thank you so much for this
ive learned lots

Reply 10

Original post by Heathersrocks
Hi! How are you finding the move so far? I can't imagine it's been easy, and I hope you're settling in well. Welcome to the UK!
We have quite a few parties. In terms of parties that have representation in the House of Commons (we have the House of Commons, which are elected MPs, and the arguably outdated House of Lords), there are about a dozen. They are as follows:

The Labour Party (which has a pact with Co-operative Party). There's 411 Labour MPs in the House of Commons, out of 650 total MPS in the House of Commons. They're Centre-Left and believe in social democracy (this is what is stated online. This is what they believe in theory, not necessarily in practice. Please take all of this post with a grain of salt). Their leader is Keir Starmer, our new Prime Minister.

The Conservative Party (formally known as the Conservative and Unionist Party, informally known as the Tories) are Centre-Right to Right Wing, and there's 121 Conservative MPs in the House of Commons, out of 650 total MPs. Their alleged beliefs are Conservatism, economic liberalism and British unionism. Their leader was Rishi Sunak, but he's just resigned. I think it'll be sorted who's in charge of the Tories in September, as the House of Commons are about to go on a month-long break for the summer.


The Liberal Democrats are allegedly Centre to Centre Left, although I would honestly say they're more Centre Left than Centrists, if you ask me. They have 72 MPs in the House of Commons, out of 650 total. Their stated beliefs are social liberalism and liberalism. Their leader is Ed Davey.

The Scottish National Party (the SNP) have 9 seats in the House of Commons out of 650 total. They believe in Scottish nationalism, Scottish independence and social democracy, they say, and they're Centre-Left. Their leader is John Swinney.


Sinn Fein (there's an accent over the e that my laptop won't let me do) believes in Irish republicanism, democratic socialism and left-wing nationalism. They're centre-left to left-wing and have 7 out of 650 seats in the House of Commons. They're lead by Michelle O' Neill.


Reform UK are right-wing, but I would say they are kinda far-right. They have 5 seats and are lead by Nigel Farage. They believe in right-wing populism and Euroscepticism; they're generally pretty anti-immigration.


The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) are right-wing. They have 5 seats and are lead by Gavin Robinson. They believe in British unionism, British nationalism, right-wing populism and Euroscepticism. I'm pretty sure they're also anti-immigration and pretty far-right, to my knowledge. I could be wrong, though.


The Green Party of England and Wales, or the Greens, are left-wing. They hold 4 seats. Their beliefs are Green politics and progressivism. They are co-lead by Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsey.


Plaid Cymru is Centre-left to left-wing. They're have 4 seats in the House of Commons. They believe in Welsh nationalism, Welsh independence, democratic socialism and social democracy. Their leader is Rhun ap Iorweth.


The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) are centre-left, believing in social democracy and Irish nationalism. It is lead by Colum Eastwood, and they have 2 seats in the House of Commons.


The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland are centre to centre-left, believing in liberalism and nonsectarianism. They have one seat and are headed by Naomi Long. They hold 1 seat.


The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) are centre-right, believing in British unionism and conservatism. They hold 1 seat. Doug Beattie is in charge of the party.


The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) are right-wing. They have 1 seat and believe in British unionism, national conservatism, social conservatism and Euroscepticism, with Jim Allister in charge.


There's three parties that are not represented in the House of Commons, but are represented elsewhere in government. These are:

The Scottish Greens. They're centre-left to left-wing and believe in Green politics, Scottish independence, and Scottish republicanism. The leaders are Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater.


The Alba Party believe in Scottish nationalism and Scottish independence. They're allegedly centre-left and lead by Alex Salmond. They claim to be more left-wing than the SNP, but have received scepticism about this.


People Before Profit (PBP) are left to far left. They believe in socialism, Trotskyism, anti-capitalism and Irish reunification, headed by Eamon Mccann.


The main parties are the Conservative Party or Tories, who have just massively lost the recent elections. Many people think they messed up the country for the past 14 years they were in charge, and the Labour Party, who have just been elected. They are not as right-wing as the Tories and go between being Centrists and occasionally left-wing. It's a bit of a two-party system in the House of Commons, but in local government, there's more variety, I would say, although not massively.
The parties people talk about or know more about other than the Tories and Labour, from my experience, are the Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems), Reform UK, SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party. If you don't know some of the terms used, I would recommend doing research into them and the belief systems that come with them. Additionally, if you Google a party name and manifesto or policies, their should be a document detailing the policies they would set out if in charge, which shows people what they believe in.
You can use TheyWorkforYou to put in your address, see who your local MP is and you can email them or send a letter about issues that happen to you, local to your area or otherwise. You can see old speeches by MPs and how they voted, too. You can also talk to your local council and councillors, which will have differing political stances. You can set up and sign petitions and donate to organisations. If registered, you can vote in general elections (like the one that just happened) and in local elections (in your area). You can peacefully protest in theory, but police do crack down hard on protesters due to changes in the law under the Tories and due to institutional issues similar to those in the US, and I dare say throughout a lot of the world. The UK isn't as democratic as is made out sometimes, in my opinion, but we are allowed freedom of speech to a significant extent, which is good. The country is kind of in shambles right now ( the NHS, National Health Service is under significant burden, especially post-COVID, there's a cost of living crisis, a lot of child poverty, problems with the education system, and a lot more) but there's always hope for the future, in my opinion.
If you'd like, I can link you some websites, articles and books which you can use for your own political research. We aren't educated about politics at school really, and I think that's wrong. I think educating young people, at the very least 14-16-year-olds about politics is massively important. That way, they are given time to research based off what they've learnt at school, and base their opinions on that. Being politically informed is important due to the prevalence of brainwashing and propaganda. That applies anywhere. But yeah, I hope you like it here, and I hope this helps as a basic overview! If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask me! I'm no expert, but I do know a few things.
All the best,
L x

can i ask another question
whats going on with junior doctors on strike or something?

Reply 11

Original post by handsome-gypsy
wow thats amazing
thank you so much for this
ive learned lots

You're welcome! I'm glad to hear that! 🩵

Reply 12

Original post by handsome-gypsy
can i ask another question
whats going on with junior doctors on strike or something?

That's due to them being overworked and underpaid compared to more qualified doctors. It's about working conditions as well as pay.

Reply 13

Original post by Heathersrocks
That's due to them being overworked and underpaid compared to more qualified doctors. It's about working conditions as well as pay.

ohhh i see
thanks ❤️

Reply 14

Original post by handsome-gypsy
ohhh i see
thanks ❤️

No problem! Let us know if you have any other questions!

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