2015 General Election

Today voters will go to the polls to vote for their party of their choice. But how does it actually work?

Firstly,: How many political parties can you name Can you also name the leaders as well? Conservative – David Cameron Labour – Ed Miliband Liberal Democrats -Nick Clegg Green – Natalie Bennett UKIP – Nigel Farage SNP – Nicola Sturgeon Plaid Cymru – Leanne Wood

The country is divided into 650 individual parts. These are called Constituencies. In each constituency there is an election between the candidates to see who will become that Member of Parliament (MP). For example: The Constituency of Kingston and Surbiton (2010) Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat 28, 428 votes Helen Whatley, Conservative, 20, 868 votes Max Freedman, Labour, 5, 337 votes Jonathon Greensted, UKIP, 1,450 votes Chris Walker, Green, 555 votes Therefore Ed Davey received the most votes and so was elected as MP for Kingston and Surbiton.

There are 650 seats in the House of Commons. 1 MP = 1 seat in the House of Commons The magic number political parties aim for is 326. Why do you think this is? If a political Party, such as Labour, gained 326 seats then they will have over half the amount of seats and so will be able to form the government. This would make it easier for the Labour Party to pass laws they want, because they could rely on their MP’s to support them in the House of Commons.

‘The most important election in a generation’. This election has been called the most important election in a generation. This is because the result is to close to call. These are the current predictions for the election result: Conservatives – 273 seats Labour – 268 seats Liberal Democrats– 28 seats UKIP - 2 seats SNP – 56 seats Green – 1 seat Other – 22 seats What can you see by these results? (Think about the magic number) So what do you think might happen as a result? As you can see no party is predicted to get the needed 326 seats to form a majority government. This will result in what is called a hung parliament. Therefore several parties will need to join together into a coalition. Have a look at the predicted number of seats for each party. Which parties do you think will be able to join together into a coalition and reach 326 seats?

Friday 8 th May Election Result Discussion C6, 13:00 If you are interested in politics and the upcoming election then come along to C6 to discuss with Mr Buckman what the result possibly means and who may form the next government.