
Instructions
Preparation
Leaders and parties
The Prime Minister is the head of government in Britain and the queen (or king) is the head of state. British people vote in elections for Members of Parliament (MPs) to represent them. There are lots of political parties in the UK but the big three are the Labour Party (the main left-wing party), the Liberal Democrats (the main centre party) and the Conservatives (the main right-wing party). There are also parties representing different parts of the UK, such as the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru in Wales.
Voting
The UK voting system operates on a majority vote system. The political party that wins the most votes wins the election. For a political party in the UK to form a government, they need an overall majority. This means that the ruling party needs to have more Members of Parliament than all the other parties put together. If the winning party does not have an overall majority then there is a hung parliament.
Coalition government
What often happens in the case of a hung parliament is that one large party will join up with a smaller party to form a coalition. By doing this, they exclude the main opposition and still have power – although it is now shared between the two coalition parties.
Young people and politics
All British citizens over the age of 18 can vote in general elections. Some people think that young people in Britain are apathetic and don't care about politics. About 43% of 18- to 24-year-olds voted in the 2015 general election. The overall turnout is usually around 65% of the population.
This is what some young people said about British politics.
I can’t relate to any of the politicians. They all seem fairly similar and rarely listen to young people. If politicians really listened to the voters, I think more young people would vote.
Fiona, 20, from London
I didn’t vote in the last election but I do care about my country. Thousands of people protested on the streets against the government's plans to cut financial help with university fees earlier this year. Only rich people will be able to go to university if we have to pay thousands of pounds to study! I was at the protest and so were most of my friends at uni. I’ll vote in the next election if things don’t change.
Sean, 19, from Leeds
Politicians need to start listening to us. We would get engaged in mainstream politics if we felt that our opinions were respected
William, 24, from Sheffield
Of course I voted in the last election. Everyone should vote! Young people need to start voting in general elections. If we don't vote, we won't change anything
Pippa, 23, from Fleet
General elections are held approximately every five years. Will more young people decide to vote in the next election? We'll have to wait and see.
Worksheets and downloads
Discussion
Are you interested in politics? Would you like to be a politician?
Comments
Yes, I am interested in politics. I often watch news to catch up with what is going on in my country. However, I think I am not proper person to become politician. I am too shy and frightened of crowd, which doesn't make me good speaker. Although, the main thing that preserves me from becoming politician is, that I don't even know if my ideas are right-winged or left-winged, because i don't differentiate it.
Please,can anybody tell me what's the differnece between Uk and Great Britain?I'm looking forward to seeing your explanation.
Good question! I wanted to know the difference, too!
Hold on… I think Uk stands for 'Ukulele'.., oh no, United Kingdom which includes four kingdoms (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) and I learned Great Britain was named in contrast to saying 'Little Britain' (Brittany in France) for geological reason… Is that right? Anyone?
Hi Ken! I would like to be friends ,because you look so friendly. Can you tell me more about you,please?I'm from Albania.
Hello sona,
My name is Ken. People call me Ken as it is. I live in Malyaia now but I'm from Japan. Do I look so friendly? How did you know that?
☝( ◠‿◠ )☝
I have a question, please. As for the second statement of "Check your understanding", I don't think it correct. In the second paragraph it says "If the winning party does not have an overall majority then there is a hung parliament.". I think it means there has been a winning party that does not have an overall majority. It also shows that a party withour an overall majority can also win the election, they just need a hung parliament. But the statement says"A political party needs an overall majority to win a General Election" How to explain this? Thank you!
Hi DoctorHiStreet! You're right, there was a mistake in the question. It's quite a complicated situation and we got confused. I've corrected it now so it reads: 'A political party needs an overall majority to form a government'. Thanks for letting us know :)
Jonathan (LearnEnglish Teens Team)
One more thing, I’m a Chinese user. So why the website is too slow to open these day? It used to be very convenient. What happened? But I don’t think the nationality can make any difference. I am looking forward to your explaination. Thank you
I'm not sure why it's going slowly for you, I'm afraid. It is working at normal speed for me.
Let me ask our other users: is the website going slower than usual? Please let us know. Thanks :)
Jonathan (LearnEnglish Teens Team)
I'm not very interested in politics. I don't like to be a politician
I am strongly involved in politics, and aim to become a politician.
Am I able to use the quotes you used for my project?
Hi heyryy,
Yes, you can use the quotes in your project. They are based on opinions of real people that our writer spoke to but we did change the names, so they are not 100% authentic. If they are still useful to you, you can use them, but please say that you took them from our website and add the link.
Best wishes, Jo (LearnEnglish Teens Team)
politic isn't interesting things for me. I only saw many politicians in my country was corrupted. sometimes I thought that my country had the weirdest government in the world. but now I'm sure that my country isn't the one of the corrupting country
Most of the people abroad seem to hate my country and its people because of our politics. But if I was a president, I'd change everything, and I'd fight against the stupid stereotypes about my country!
I don't like politics. As a politition, u gotta be serious and it's something I can't do and stand!
I'm not interested in politics and I don't like this job.
I dont like politics,in my country all the politicians are corrupted and dont run the goverment as they are sopuse to !!
I like politics! Sometimes that is my favourite topic to talk about! I would like to be a politician, beacuse I think I could do a lot for my country :)
When I was 6 I used to listen to politician every single day! And I liked it! :)) So...I think it's cool :)
hi every one
really i do not like to become a polition because most of people when they get the any seat they start cheating and do not listen to those people that who make him to win. Before election they promise with people but after wining their seat they forgot people and making money for them self . I like just few leader who just does have wish to bring change for their people . but this is very rare case seen in some countries other in most countries mostly polition are crrup.
u know its hard to choose the right way in different situations! its really hard. i dont like this job.
u wont be free to do anything u want if u become a politican no more fun!!! and u turn to a serious and boring freak!!!!
political things? such of boring.
yes i'm interested in politics and i would like to be a politician because i see in my country that politician are more respected and they have there place and they are much paid so why not me
I don't like politic but i admire ANGELA MERKEL. She is a great politican
Yes , I will really like to be a politican , but fiirst of all I'll be a programmer )))))
I'm not very interested in politics ,, but after the Egyptian revolution Everybody talks in politics because they don't want to have a bad regulation like the one we had before along the 60 last years , I'm not looking forward to be a politician but I have to know many information about politics to be able to deal with political conversations ,, :)
No, but I really want to be a lawyer...
I quite like politics, I like reading about politics in particular countries. I'm glad about politics in Poland, we are in European Union. Now I can't vote because I'm only 13, but I'll definitely vote when I'll be 18 years old. It is a hard work, being a politician - everybody knows everything about you, they are talking about you... Brrrrr! Being a politician is the last thing that I want to do!
I like hearing about them, they're fun to hear. But I don't think I'd like to be that serious like them, I'd like to be weird and funny like one direction!:) :D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In Spain for example the politics are very bad and we want other politics!!!
i dont like t\o be a politican,,, is very stresfull
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