The house of commons and the electoral system

The House of Commons is made up of 650 elected members, known as Members of Parliament (abbreviated to MPs), each of whom represents an area (or constituency) of the United Kingdom. They are elected either at a general election or at a by-election following the death or retirement of an MP. The election campaign usually lasts about three weeks. Everyone over the age of 18 can vote in an election which is decided on a simple majority — the candidate with the most votes wins.

Under this system an MP who wins by a small number of votes may have more votes against him (that is for the other candidates) than for him. This is a very simple system, but many people think that it is unfair because the wishes of those who voted for the unsuccessful candidates are not represented at all. Parliamentary elections must be held every five years at the latest, but the Prime Minister can decide on the exact date within those five years. Service departments are called the Ministry of Defence, the Treasury and the Home Office respectively. They are staffed by civil servants who are politically neutral and who therefore do not change if the Government changes. The leader of the Opposition also chooses MPs to take responsibility for opposing the Government in these areas. They

are known as the “Shadow Cabinet”. The Parliamentary Parties. The Conservative and Liberal parties are the oldest, and until the last years of the 19th century they were the only parties elected to the House of Commons. Once working-class men were given the vote however Socialist MPs were elected, but it was not until 1945 that Britain had its first Labour Government. At this election the number of Liberal MPs was greatly reduced and since then Governments have been formed by either the Labour or the Conservative party. Usually they have had clear majorities — that is, one party has had more MPs than all the

others combined.

The Conservative Party can broadly be described as the party of the middle and upper classes although it does receive some working-class support. Most of its voters live in rural areas, small towns and the suburbs of large cities. Much of its financial support comes from large industrial companies. The Labour Party, on the other hand, has always had strong links with the trade unions and receives financial support from them. While many Labour voters an middle-class or intellectuals, the tradition; Labour Party support is still strongest in industrial areas. In 1981 some MPs left the Labour Party and formed a new “left-of-centre” party — the Soc Democratic Party (SDP) — which they hoped would win enough support to break the two-party system of the previous forty years. They fought the 1983 election in an alliance with the Liberals, but only a small number of their MPs were elected. In 1988 the majority of SDP and Liberal MPs and party members decided to form permanent single party, to be called the Social, Democratic and Liberal Party or the Social and Liberal Democrats. However some SDP MPs and party members disagreed with the idea, and so the SDP still exists as a separate parry. They (and other small minority parties in the House of Commons) would like to change the electoral system; they want MPs to be elected by proportional representation. Under this system, the number of MPs from each party would correspond to the total number of votes each party receives in the election.