General Election May 2017 The presentation can only be copied or altered for non-commercial personal or educational use. © Citizenship Foundation Charity Reg No 801360 Author: M. Heath Date: 28/04/2017 www.gogivers.org

KS2 ELECTION COMPETITION Come and stand on our soapbox! Share your views!

Why are we having an election? Theresa May became prime minister after David Cameron resigned. She has not won her own election. To start with she said she would wait until 2020, but after Easter she announced that she had changed her mind, and that there would be an election on 8 June 2017. Mrs May only had a tiny majority of Conservative MPs, and if they sided with the opposition: the Labour Party, the Scottish National Party, and members of the House of Lords. She suggests that they could have blocked her plans and made the government look weak to other EU leaders.

People have many different priorities when it comes to making a decision about how to vote in an election. Responsible citizens find out where their local candidates and the political parties stand on the issues they care most about.

Here are some matters that all governments have to consider We have suggested some questions that you might like to research, but there may be others that are more important to you.

Housing TAXES Health and social care EDUCATION Environment DEFENCE The economy & jobs Environment DEFENCE Housing TAXES BREXIT Which of these issues interest you? Click on the labels to find out more

The European Union (EU) is a partnership of 28 European countries The European Union (EU) is a partnership of 28 European countries. The EU was created after World War Two to encourage countries to trade together instead of going to war with each other. Since then it has become a ‘single market’. Goods and people can move around as if its member states were just one country. It has its own currency, the euro (used in 19 countries), and its own parliament. On 29th March 2017 Theresa May wrote a letter to the EU confirming that the people of Britain had chosen to leave the EU. The UK has two years to negotiate its withdrawal. This will be the biggest job of the next prime minister and his/her government.

Some issues after Brexit Should families from the EU be allowed to stay in the UK? Should we continue to allow EU citizens to come here to work in return for a good trade deal with EU countries? Should the government cancel all the laws made by the EU (including environmental and human rights laws)? How should the government spend the money we will no longer have to pay to the EU (about £200 for every person)? Should the British people be asked (in a referendum) whether to accept or turn down the Brexit deal? Back to soapbox

The economy and jobs The United Kingdom has one of the world’s largest economies. An economy is the way a country manages money and resources to produce, buy, and sell goods, or products, as well as work or services done for others. While the U.K. is one of the wealthiest nations on the globe, its economy has gone through ups and downs. Good news: the unemployment rate has fallen to a low point, 4.7% of the people who are eligible to work. However, wages have hardly gone up at all over the last few years. The Living Wage (the minimum wage) is based on what workers and their families need to live, but some say it’s not enough. Many jobs that pay higher salaries require specific training and skills, for example software development and computer network security.

Some economic issues Are there enough good training opportunities for British people to learn new skills? Should the government give incentives (e.g. grants) to encourage companies to set up in areas where there are most unemployed people? Should the living wage be raised? Should zero hours contracts be banned? Do benefit payments discourage people from looking for work? Could more be done to help people with disabilities get good jobs? Back to soapbox

The environment One of the greatest challenges facing the world at the moment is how to protect the environment. Climate change is causing problems across the globe, threatening everything from animals’ habitats to humans’ food supply. Our government needs to keep the UK’s air and water clean and work with other countries to combat climate change. It also needs to ensure that businesses are making decisions that benefit, rather than damage, our planet. 

Some environmental issues Should vehicles with diesel engines (the most polluting vehicles) be scrapped? Should the government spend more to help us insulate our homes so there is less energy wastage? Should the government tighten up the laws on factory emissions? Should we return more farmland to woodland? Should the government spend more on renewable energy, e.g. solar or wave power? Power stations: is nuclear better than gas or other fuels? Should the government spend more on developing technology, e.g. electric cars? Back to soapbox

Education Education is an important issue for children and families. This is because a good education usually leads to better jobs and higher pay. The U.K. needs well-educated citizens in order to compete in the global economy. At this time British schoolchildren are not doing as well as students in Singapore, Canada, Japan, South Korea and several other countries. Taxpayers contribute more than £86 billion a year to educate young British people, but experts say that the amount schools receive is likely to fall by 6.5% over the next five years. Since 1998 young people who go to university have been faced with rising tuition costs, and many of them leave university with a large amount of debt from student loans.

Some education issues Should schools receive more money in their budgets? Should there be more grammar schools and free schools? Should children learn more about mental health? Are there ways in which schools could better prepare young people for work and adult life? Should student tuition fees be lowered or abolished? Back to soapbox

Defence All political parties recognise the importance of improving our security and keeping Britain safe , especially at a time when we are confronting ISIS and other terrorist groups. The UK defence budget is the biggest in Europe, the second largest (after the United States) in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. All NATO countries have agreed to defend each other against attack. However, budget cuts and difficulty in recruiting have resulted in lower troop numbers which have dwindled by 4,500 in the last five years. MPs have voted to replace the Trident nuclear missile system. This is likely to cost 3.7 billion per year over the next 15 years. People who want to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, think the money could be better spent.

Some Defence and Security issues Is it important to keep spending a lot of money on the military when there a lot of other things to spend money on? Should we be spending billions to replace Trident? Should we spend more on surveillance etc. to protect us against terrorism? Could criminals be punished in different ways so fewer go to prison (which costs a lot of money)? Back to soapbox

Health and social care The population of the UK is growing and ageing, and more people are living with lots of different health problems that require a range of health and social care services. Rising costs together with new treatments that need investment, mean that the NHS will be £30 billion in debt by 2020. More people are going to A&E departments. Some visit because they can’t get a GP appointment. One way of improving quality and keeping costs down is to bring together our health and care services, but there is little money for social care. If people are not given the support they need in the community, they can end up in hospital, and if care is not available when they are ready to leave, they have to stay on the wards, where they take up beds needed by others.

Some health & social care issues Should workers be asked to pay higher taxes to pay for the increasing cost of the health service and care of the sick and elderly? Should pensions continue to rise every year when many workers aren’t getting pay rises? Should more money be spent on mental health? Nurses have been awarded a pay rise of 1%. Should they get more? Many people who work in the NHS and social care come from EU countries. Should we allow them to stay, and others to come here after Brexit? Should people have to pay a fine if they miss a doctor’s appointment? Back to soapbox

Taxes The main way that the government pays for the services it provides is through taxes. Taxes are money the government collects from citizens to cover the costs of running the country—from fixing roads to funding schools to keeping people safe. Taxes are also a big issue for voters in an election. The candidates share their plans about how to make sure people pay their share of taxes, and how to spend that money fairly and effectively. The choices are difficult and their plans are very different, but they are all about balancing the needs of individual taxpayers with the greater good of the country. At this time the country is in a recession. The government has to spend less so that it can reduce the money we owe.

Some tax issues How much money should people be able to earn before they start paying tax? Should the richest people pay more tax to help pay for all the things we need? Should we raise the tax that is paid when people die? Should big international companies like Google and Starbucks pay more tax to the UK? Should we halt expensive projects like HS2? Back to soapbox

Housing On average, house prices in the UK are now almost seven times people’s incomes. No matter how hard they work, it’s becoming more and more difficult for young people to save up and buy a home of their own. We will only solve the housing crisis by building more good and affordable homes. At the moment, we're building around half the amount of homes we need every year. To solve the housing shortage we should be building 250,000 homes a year. If we don’t reach this figure rents and house prices will just keep on rising; and more and more people will become homeless.

Some housing issues Should we be prepared to build homes in our countryside where building has previously not been allowed? Should we continue to sell council homes, or keep them for people who need homes to rent? Should we make it more difficult for people from other countries to buy houses and flats that are needed for UK residents? Should the government do more to stop rents rising? Back to soapbox