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For electoral proposes the United Kingdom is divided into constituences, each one of which elects a Member of Parliament to sit in the House of Commons. To ensure equitable representations four permanent Boundary Commissions (for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), make periodic reviews to adjust electoral boundaries and redistribute seats.
Today there are 650 seats in the Commons, one seat on average for every 66,000 electors.
All British citizens (including citizens of the Irish Republic resident in the UK) may vote, provided they are aged eighteen or over, are registered, and are not disqualified by insanity, membership of the House of Lords or being sentenced prisoners.
Voting is not compulsary, and a general election normally attracts about 75 % of the electorate, a decline in participation of about 8 % since 1945.
The canditate in a constitutuency who gains most votes is returned as Member to the Commons. In this "first-past-the-post" system, other canditates, even if they come close to the winner, will not get a seat in Parliament.
If a Member of Parliament (MP) resigns, dies or is made a peer during the lifetime of a Parliament, a by-election must be held in his or her old constituency to elect a new member. No candidate requires the backing of a political party in order to stand for election, but today no independent candidates succeed in being elected. MPs are normally chosen by the constituency branch of the party, from a list of suitable candidates issued by the party head-
quarters. Where the winning party of an election only just gains the greatest proportion of national vote, this can lead to a substantial ditortion of democratic will in actual represen-
tation in the Commons.
The 1987 election results clearly reveal the problem:
Party % of vote % of Mps
Conservatives 42.2 57.7
Labour 30.8 35.2
Alliance (Liberal/SPD) 22.6 3.4
The political party system has evolved since the 18th century, and since the first half of the 19th century has been essentially a two-party system.
Today, this two-party system contest is between the Conservative Party (still known by their previous nickname, the "Tories") and the Labour Party, which emerged at the end of the 19th century as a result of the introduction of universal male suffrage and the decline of the Liberal Party.
The Conservative Party is the party of the Right, identified with the idea of economic freedom and until 1979 with the idea of resistance to change. It has successfully portrayed itself as the party of patriotism. As in the 19th century, it appeals to a "property-owning democracy", and as a result ist support tends to lie if the wealthier classes, receiving much money from major buisness and financial institutions. It puts emphasis on the importance og law and order, and the maintenance of strong armed forces to protect British interests.
It is highly disciplined and accepts the direction of the Prime Minister, Conservatives tend to be reluctant to express dissent from the leadership publicly.
The Labour Party is less disciplined but possibly more democratic, with more open disagreements between the leadership and other party members, Labour is the Party of social justice, though its emphasis is less on equality than on achievement of wellbeing of society above individual freedom, in the economic sphere at any rate.
Traditionally it has been committed to puplic ownership of major industries, and to economic planning. The trade union movement, which founded the Labour Party, remains influential in the evolution of party policy. Each union executive is able to cast the vote of his entire membership, with the result that some party resolutions are to some extent a contest between the larger unions.
The Liberal Party, which traces ist origins to the 18th century "Whigs", merged with the new Social Democratic Party in 1988 to become the Liberal Democrats, after fighting the 1987 election unsuccessfully as an alliance of both parties. It seeks to attract opponents of the Conservatives, dominant in the south of England, and opponents of the Labour Party, dominant in the north.
Since 1945 the Conservatives have formed seven governments and Labour six, although in practic during the period 1945 to 1990 the Conservatives have governed for 28 years and Labour for only 17 years. Since 1979 the domination of the Commons by the Conservatives reveals the strength and weakness of the first-past-the-post electoral system. They have enjoyed a large majority in the Commons although at the elections of 1979, 1983 and 1987 more people voted against the Conservative Party than for it.
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