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An Overview of Political Parties
Political Parties are formed by groups of people who have similar ideas on how the Country should be governed and get together to achieve that view. In the last general election 75 political parties had candidates standing for election.
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Major UK parties
The United Kingdom has 3 major political parties, Labour, Conservative and the Liberal Democrats. In the 2001 General Election
over 90% of the votes went to these parties.
The Labour Party was established in 1900 to fight for representation for the Labour movement - trade unions and socialist societies - in Parliament.
The origins of the Conservative Party can be traced back to the 17th century, though a modern history of the party begins
with the era of Benjamin Disraeli in the 1860's.
The history of Liberal politics stretches back 150 years to the formation of
the Liberal Party in 1859.
The current Liberal Democrat Party was formed when the Social Democrat Party and Liberal Party joined together in March 1988.
The main political parties are
- The Labour Party Visit official website >>
- The Conservative Party Visit official website >>
- The Liberal Democrat Party Visit official website >>
but there are others. Political parties and candidates are often concerned about the same issues (education, crime, health) but their ideas or “policies” are usually different. Before elections, the political parties and individual candidates will set out what their policies are, what they believe in and how they think things should be done in a document called a manifesto. This will help people voting in the elections (the electorate), decide who to vote for.
Who can be a candidate?
To be a candidate in a local election a person must be 21 years old on the day of the election – this is called polling day. They must be a British citizen, a citizen of the Irish Republic, the Commonwealth or another member state of the European Union and they must have lived or worked in the local authority’s area for the last 12 months.
Some people are not allowed to be a candidate – these include people who work for the local authority and people who have been in prison for 3 months or more in the last 5 years or declared bankrupt.
Who can vote in a local election?
To vote you must be 18 years old or over; a British, other Commonwealth, Irish or other European Union Citizen and be listed on the electoral register for the area.
What is the electoral register?
The electoral register is the list of everyone who is registered to vote. The list is kept up to date by the district Councils who send a form to every house in their area every year on which the owner of the house has to list all the people who live there who are 18 or over. People who do not return the form can be fined.
