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**‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍United Kingdom Political Parties ** = Three Main Parties Dominate Political Life: Conservative, Labour , and Liberal Democrat  = = = =Current Coalition:The 2010 formal coaltion is the first one since World War I. The two parties converged and made an agreement based on eleven key areas to emphasize. The top priorities of the coaltion include huge spending cuts and even new tax measures and bank reform. When discussions took place, it was clear that the Labour Party and Liberal Democratic Party could not come together to form a coalition. Cameron made an "open, comprehensive offer" to the Liberal Democrats, and they accepted, allowing Cameron to then accept the Queen's invitation to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. = = =



**General Principles**: At the moment, the Conservative and Liberal Democratic Parties dominate politics in the United Kingdom due to a coalition government led by the current prime minister David Cameron. As the leader of the Conservative Party, Cameron emphasizes freedom, fairness, and responsibility of all citizens. The party focuses on the principles of unity that will help all people push toward a national goal or purpose. If the citizens work together then they can determine ultimate success of the government.

**Foreign Policy**: In regards to foreign policy, the party believes in being an active member in the global community and being involved in NATO and the Commonwealth to ultimately promote stability and security for themselves and other countries. For example, the government is currently pushing for peace in Israel.

**Internationa**l: Conservatives encourage a large role in the European Union to unite with other countries to face tough 21st century challenges such as global warming. Also, they want to have the European Union grow by allowing all candidates, who meet accession criteria, the chance to be apart of the group.

**Economy**: To repair the failed economy, Cameron and the conservatives plan to face the deficit head on by reducing spending, not increase taxes (jobs will not be taxed). New businesses will be promoted by banks lending new credit to small enterprises.

**Health**: The Conservative Party remains committed to giving all citizens free health care through the NHS. They plan to increase investment for the organization and develop and independent NHS Board responsible for allocating resources for various purposes and programs. Also, patients will gain more power in determining which health care providers they want and the treatments they wish to receive.

**Immigration**: The first limit on immigration has been put in place because public services were struggling with all the new people from abroad.The government is thankful of all the immigrants from the past because they diversified the UK society, but now, immigration needs to be put back under control.

**Education**: In terms of education, the Conservative Party wants to increase quality, discipline, and standards of all schools within the United Kingdom. They plan to review the National Curriculum and even develop Teaching Schools similar to teaching hospitals to improve the quality of the instructors.

**Environment**: The party believes that the environment needs to be protected for future generations. Farming needs to be supported to save biodiversity and wildlife. A new campaign has been started to plant new trees called the Big Tree Plant to renew many of the trees already taken from the environment.

**Democracy**: In regards to democracy and power, the Conservatives want to decentralize the government and give more autonomy to local regions. They believe the top down design of government needs to be abolished in order to grant communities and even neighborhoods greater freedom in determining minute rules, etc.



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=**‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Labour **=

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**General Principles:** Currently led by Ed Miliband, the Labour Party is a left-of-center political party that generally represents the interests of the labor class. Historically, the party drew in support from unions, though it has reduced the influence of leftist unions on policy making. Its basic ideology revolves around democratic socialism; however, the party has become more moderate in its views and no longer backs socialism as the ultimate goal.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Foreign Policy:** The Labour Party strongly supports keeping British forces in Afghanistan as part of the joint NATO force, but also supports a timeline outlining when British troops would leave the region. As part of a longstanding British alliance with the United States, the Labour Party strongly emphasizes the importance of maintaing a "special relationship" with the US.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**International:** The Labour Party favors the United Kingdom's involvement in the European Union and also promotes the enlargement of the EU to incorporate more nations, such as Turkey and Croatia. However, the party is neutral on whether the UK should become more economically integrated into the EU, which would eventually lead to the adoption of the euro.

**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Economy: **<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">With regards to the economic crisis, the Labour Party proposes heavier taxation of higher income individuals. Additionally, the party calls for a total reduction in government spending in areas such as social security, education, and defense.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Health:** In terms of health care, government funding should increase for the National Health Service. The Labour Party is neutral on whether the NHS should receive more operational independence from political, and it is also neutral on whether there should be an increased involvement of private firms in the provision of NHS services.

**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Immigration: **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">While the party opposes setting limits on net immigration into the United Kingdom, it strongly supports using ethnicity as a basis for determining who can enter and reside within the borders of the UK. Furthermore, the Labour Party supports decreasing the number of immigrants from new EU accession states.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Education:** The Labour Party wants to provide all students a full time state education until the age of 18, and the party aims for 50% of all school graduates to pursue higher education. However, the party believes that students should pay a slight part of their tuition for higher education.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Environment:** The Labour Party believes that human activity plays a large role in global warming. To reduce the harmful activities and effects of humans, the party supports increasing "green taxes" on car and air travel.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Democracy:** To streamline the government, the Labour Party plans to rebalance power between the legislature and executive, in favor of the legislature. It also supports the devolution of power from the central government to local governing authorities. But the party opposes the creation of elected mayors' offices in large English cities.



Liberal Democrats
**General Principles**: The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society. They believe that no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity and acknowledge and respect their right to freedom of conscience and their right to develop their talents to the full. Their main aim is to disperse power, to foster diversity, and to nurture creativity

**Foreign Policy**: Liberal Democrats believe that by working closely with allies, Britain will have more influence on tackling international problems like poverty, climate change and terrorism. They work effectively with the United Nations, the European Union, NATO and the WTO to tackle these problems. Liberal Democrats plan to reinforce the rule of as the hub of foreign policy. They believe that the country’s security first. They believe that their troops must be given everything they need to do their job effectively.

**International**: believe there should be a full and independent public inquiry into allegations of British government involvement in torture. They also want to impose tough rules on corruption and arms sales.

**Economy**: Liberal Democrats want to help the poor by getting wasteful government spending under control and cutting taxes for people from the bottom up. They also want to put restrictions on the big business and the super rich who exploit tax loopholes and do not pay their fair share. They wish to require the Bank of England to take house prices into account when setting interest rates as well as regulate the banking system to prevent irresponsible lending and business practices.

**Health**: Liberal Democrats believe in fairness with entitlements to healthcare guaranteed. They believe access to personal care should be based on need not the ability to pay and that patients are the number one priority.

**Education**: They aim to cut class sizes, set teachers free to spend more time in the classroom and raise standards in every school with more money for things like one to one tuition and classes in the evenings.

**Environment**: Liberal Democrats hope to create a more energy efficient nation while creating a sustainable low-carbon economy at the same time

**Democracy**: Liberal democrats set aside national sovereignty when necessary, and work with other countries towards an equitable and peaceful international order and a durable system of common security. Liberal Democrats affirm the values of federalism and integration and work for unity based on these principles.