Devolution Term
the transfer or delegation of power to a lower level (state or local) especially used by centralized/unitary government
Devolution Examples
Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
House of Commons
- 650 MPs
- Single Member District (SMD)
- FPP (single winner)
- 5 yr election cycle, not fixed
General Election - “Polling Day”
4-6 week campaign cycle for MPs
- Sovereign dissolves parliament ahead of election (asked by PM
MP Information
- do not have to live in their constituent districts
- run in safe districts
- “sacrificial lambs”
SNAP! Elections
- an election that is called earlier than the scheduled one
- designed to INCREASE a party’s majority
- feature of parliamentary electoral systems
- allow for greater popular sovereignty
VOTER TURNOUT
~70%+
Brexit and its impact?
Brexit called for multiple snap elections (2017+2019), which lead to less participatory voters and a disturbance in party balance in the parliament
UK 2015 Election
- SCHEDULED; 66% Turnout
- only general election held under the Fixed Term Parliament Act of 2011
- last general election before BREXIT
- huge win for SND (Scottish)
- Huge loss for liberal democrats
UK 2017 Election
- SNAP! Election
- PM Theresa May wanted to strengthen her party for Brexit negotiations
- Backfired against the conservatives, labour picked up seats
UK 2019 Election
-SNAP! Election
- PM Boris Johnson wanted to wrap up Brexit
- landslide for conservative (highest percentage since 1979 and seat gain since 1987)
Party Roles
- party determines who runs where
- party members are expected to support leadership
- party ID important, not the individual MP
- We need to know the numbers, if a snap is called (or vote of no confidence) they need to be sure they are definitely on the party {motivation for voting party line}
Multi-Party System of UK
Conservatives and Labour
Conservative Party
- right/center right
- “Tories”
- free markets; deregulation of business, lower tax rates
- critical of devolution
- traditional social conservative
- 172,000+ members
Labour Party
- left/center left
- welfare state; taxation as a means of wealth distribution
- more moderate now than originally
- 399,000+ members
Liberal Democrats
- wants PR, not FPP
- more socially liberal than Labour
- opposed to military interventionism
SNP (Scottish National Party)
- favors Scottish independence and acceptance into the EU
- no members in the House of Lords (they oppose it)
