Great Britain

The aims of the lesson 1. Educational aim: To enable pupils to discuss and compare the political system and political parties In Great Britain 2. Developing aim: To practice listening and reading for specific information 3. Upbringing aim: To introduce cultural information about Great Britain

Political Parties in Uzbekistan and Great Britain Activity 1a Work in pairs. Answer the questions. 1 How many political parties are there in Great Britain? 2 What are they? 3 What electoral system does Great Britain have?

Let’s listen! CD script Presenter: Hello. This is Radio 4. Welcome to Today in Politics. Today we have a special guest from Uzbekistan, Mr Zakirov, a member of the Oliy Majlis. Did I say it right? Mr Zakirov: Yes… P: Mr Zakirov … could you tell us what is the Oliy Majlis? Z: ... Well ... it’s like the parliament in Great Britain… you’ve got a parliament, we’ve got the Oliy Majlis. P: Oh… I see … our electoral system makes two parties, the Conservatives and the Labour party powerful… other smaller parties are not happy about this… What about your country? How does the system work? Z: We have a system of proportional representation … so, the number of members a party has in the Oliy Majlis is based on the number of people who vote for a party…

P: Could you tell us about political parties in Uzbekistan? Z: … erm … we have four main political parties… they’re The People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan … Progress for Motherland … JusticeSocialist Democratic Party … the National Renaissance Democratic Party…and Uzbekistan Liberal Democratic Party. P: What party do you belong to? Z: I’m a member of the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan. Our party is the oldest … it was established in 1991. P: Which party do you think is the most popular in Uzbekistan? Z: … erm … I think our party is the most popular. We have about 420,000 members and … we have 48 members in the Oliy Majlis.

Political Parties in Uzbekistan and Great Britain Activity 2a 2a Read the text Every five years, British people over the age of 18 can vote in a general election. People vote for the candidate they want in their region. The candidate who wins becomes their MP (Member of Parliament) in the house of Commons, even if he or she gets only one vote more than the candidate who is second. This is called the first-past-the-post system. The first-past-the-post electoral system in Britain usually makes two parties powerful, while smaller parties do not have many MPs.

Since the 1920s, the two main parties have been the left-wing Labour Party and the right-wing Conservative Party. The liberal Democratic party is not happy with the first-past-the-post electoral system. This is because it is a party which does not win many seats in Parliament, but comes second in many regions. it would prefer a system of proportional representation where the number of MPs is based on the number of people who vote for the party in the whole of the country.

Votes

What party has the highest percentage of votes? Activity 2a Answer the questions What party has the highest percentage of votes?

Labour Party has the highest percentage of Votes. 41%

What party is higher percentage of votes than Liberal Democrats Party? Activity 2a Answer the questions What party is higher percentage of votes than Liberal Democrats Party?

Conservative Party is higher percentage of Votes than Liberal Democratic Party. 35%