British Politics: The Basics

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Having a copy sitting on the edge of one’s desk will be a considerable source of information, a useful prompt to do some reading and an occasional cure for insomnia.

This readable and comprehensive introduction will be of key interest to A-level students, undergraduates and those new to the study of British politics. Rather like a Haynescar manual they often adeptly explain how the machine operates without considering the impact of whoever is driving it. This means that the monarch (in the UK's case, the Queen) is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government.

Laws are passed through the House of Commons and then the House of Lords - both houses vote on laws to pass them or delay them or to dissolve them - we can go into that in more detail later. The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The House of Lords was previously a largely hereditary aristocratic chamber, although including life peers, and Lords Spiritual. Politics is a fascinating subject and it plays a huge part in our daily lives; from the amount of tax we pay (and what it gets spent on) to more minor things like what type of eggs we're allowed to make an omelette with (yes, really!

One would not expect a medical student to Google a patient’s symptoms, and similarly a politics student confused about the single transferable vote or the nature of multiculturalism would do well to reach for a good dictionary of politics rather than their mobile phone. Most are designed as broad introductions to British government and politics and cover broadly the same ground.They’re involved with behind-the-scenes work to help their politicians achieve their campaign goals and represent their constituents effectively. Executive power – the power to implement and enforce laws – is controlled by the British government, which works on behalf of the Queen, as well as the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales and the Northern Ireland Executive.