General Election

Read the Top Ten reasons for Christians to vote

Over many centuries the British political system has evolved to its current state. Unlike most other countries there were no great moments of revolution, unification or independence that forced the political system to be entirely redesigned. Rather a series of gradual changes have gently inched British rule away from autocratic monarchy and to the representative democracy present today. And it took about 700 years.

This process of change helps explain the anomalies that remain scattered across our political system. The Queen is still the Head of State and has to give her approval to all new laws, but no King or Queen has refused to do that in nearly 300 years.  These laws have to be passed by the two Houses of Parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords.  Until 1911 the two Houses had equal power but since then the House of Commons has been able to overrule the Lords.

The UK is divided in 646 constituencies and each elects one Member of Parliament (MP). To get elected the winning candidate must simply get more votes than any other and voters have one vote for their candidate of choice. While maybe not your choice, the elected MP is meant, but not forced, to represent the views of their constituency in Parliament. The laws that MPs pass effect the whole country, and therefore the interests of one local area need to be balanced with the best interests of the wider population.

The role of Prime Minister is another aspect that has evolved over time.  There are no direct elections to this post, and technically the Queen can appoint anyone to this post.  However, the strict convention is to appoint someone who commands the support of Parliament, in practise the leader of the party with the most MPs. 

For a Government to pass the legislation that it wants to it helps if they have more than 50% of the seats in the House of Commons.  If they are still the biggest party with less than that they might be able to form a 'minority government' in what is referred to as a 'hung parliament'. 

For voters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland many policy areas are decided by the national assembly or parliament, but all MPs vote on all issues, even if they only apply to England.  So for example, the Scottish Parliament decides education policy for Scotland, but MPs elected for Scottish constituencies have no say in Scottish education policy but do have a role in deciding English education policy.