Referat Political parties in the UK

_{Political parties in the UK}

_{Results of the elections for House of Commons}

SNP DU UU Con UKU PC

LDEM SDLP Lab

The most important parties

The Conservative Party is one of the oldest. Its native members were called Tories, since 1762 most Prime Ministers were of this party. Today this party is European-sceptically and stands for old values, they are opposed to great changes in society, they uphold

private enterprise, freedom from state control ,and order and authority. The new leader of them is William Hague.

The formerly Whigs changed their name in the 1 ^th century into Liberal

Democrats. They have been one of the two main parties, after Worldwar II. they melted to a much smaller one, but they are still the third largest, although on low level. It's more left, but pragmatically. Labour was founded in about 1900. It developed in some years into one of the biggest parties. It believes actively in the pursuit of greater social and economic equality, it's foreignpolicy is pro-European, they prefer international solutions. There was a great reform within the party and now it presents itself asNew Labour, its Leader is Tony Blair.

There are many other parties who are presented in the House of other parties

Commons, many of them exist only in parts of the country. There are special Scottish, Welsh and especially Irish parties e.g. Sinn Fein,

the Ulster Unionists.

The development of the political landscape is similar to Germany, but without influence of small parties.