The Labour Party.

The Labour Party’s origins go back to the last decade of the nineteenth century. The aim of the Labour Party is the creation of a free society in which the government protects individual liberty. To Labour, freedom is much more than the absence of restraint or the assertion of the rights of citizenship. Protection from coercion - by state, corporate or private power of any sort - is only the first step towards liberty. Unless men and women have the power to choose, the right to choose has no value.

The Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats, known as the Social and Liberal Democrats, were formed in 1988 following the merger of the Liberal Party, established in the 1850s (known as the Whigs), and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), established in 1981 by a group of politicians who had split from the Labour Party.

The Liberal Democrats stand for the right of individuals to have control over their own lives, individual liberty lies at the heart of their beliefs. They want men and women to develop their own talents to the full, free from the interference of government. The role of government is to guarantee this freedom, to create an enterprising, free-market economy, to provide services for those in need and to work for peace and prosperity across the planet.

The party which wins most seats, although not necessarily most votes, at a general election, or which has the support of a majority of members in the House of Commons, usually forms the Government. By tradition, the leader of the majority party is asked by the Sovereign to form a government. About 100 of its members in the House of Commons and the House of Lords receive ministerial appointments. The largest minority party becomes the official Opposition, with its own leader and “shadow cabinet”.

1 Give Ukrainian equivalents for the following words and expressions.

Government department, subject to, to return, at large, provisions (of a Parliamentary Act), to enfranchise, to stand, to endorse, origin, ownership, vulnerable members of the community, to regulate business, irrespective of creed, Statute law, statute, common law, conventions, Act of Parliament, legislative (organ, body), legislature, executive, judiciary, working of the Constitution, electorate, uniform franchise qualification, franchise, suffrage, constituency, county, borough, Shadow Cabinet.

2 Translate words and word combinations from Ukrainian into English and use them in your own sentences.

Реалізований (про проект закону), необхідний, відбуватися, розвиватися, частково збігатися, представляти політичний курс (на розгляд, схвалення), фактично, на ділі, вільне суспільство, основне завдання уряду, відсутність обмежень, захищати права громадян, примус / насильство, злиття / об'єднання, довільний, стійка ринкова економіка, за рекомендацією.

3 Comprehension questions.

1. What is the main difference between the British Constitution and the constitutions of most other countries?

2. What are the three main branches of power? What bodies represent them in Britain? Are they totally independent of each other?

3. How long has the current political party system been in place?

4. What positive changes did the Reform Acts of the 19^th century introduce?

5. What political parties were called the Whigs and the Tories?

6. Which of the current political parties is the oldest/the youngest?

7. How is the British Government formed?

8. What party is in power now? What is the name of the Prime Minister?

4 Translate into English paying attention to the active vocabulary.

Партійна система є невід'ємним елементом діючої конституції. Сучасна система заснована на існуванні організованих політичних партій, кожна з яких виносить свою політичну програму на суд електорату.

Партії офіційно не зареєстровані і не закріплені в законодавчому порядку, але на практиці більшість кандидатів, що беруть участь у виборах, і майже всі кандидати-переможці належать до однієї з основних партій. Починаючи з 1945 р. при владі поперемінно знаходяться консервативна партія, що утворилась у XVIII столітті, і лейбористська партія, що виникла в 90-х роках XIX століття.

У 1988 р. з'явилася нова партія – партія ліберал-демократів, що утворилася при злитті ліберальної партії, що веде свою історію з XVIII століття, і соціал-демократичної партії, утвореної в 1981 р.

5 Project Work. Work individually or in pairs to create your own political party. Follow the steps:

1. Design your own Political Party.

2. Create an aim for your Party.

3. Create policies based on the 3 most important key issues.

4. Create a ‘Party Political Broadcast’ to win voters. Present your Party Political Broadcast to the rest of the class.

6 Study the Chart. Place the ideologies on the spectrum, match the names of British political ideologies to their key ideas.

Ideologies: Liberalism, Socialism, Conservatism.

Left-right political spectrum in the UK

7 Study the Chart. Place the parties on the spectrum, match the names of British political parties to ideologies. Parties: Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats.