Political Parties

Read the text and say what party is ruling now.

The House of Commons consists of 646 deputies from ten parties. But there are only three main powers – three parties: the Labor Party with Gordon Brown as the head, the Conservative Party with David Cameron and the Liberal Democrats, headed by Nick Clegg.

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. The Labour Party was last in government between 1997 and 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Having won 258 seats in the 2010 general election, the Labours have become the Official Opposition. Historically the party was for socialism. The Labor party supports socialist policies such as public ownership of key industries, government intervention in the economy, increased rights for workers, publicly-funded healthcare and education. 

As for the Conservative party, it is s a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom, which is the ruling party from 2010. The Conservative Party emerged in 1834 out of the old Tory Party. It supports the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. One of the Conservatives' key policy areas of 2010, was to reduce the amount of people in the UK claiming state benefits, and increase the amount of people in the workforce. In education, the Conservatives introduce the English Baccalaureate.

The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties. The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party. The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty.

Task 1. Find the definition of the word.

Deputy a) an occasion when people vote for someone

Socialism b) something that is in worth, measured especially in

money

Election c) an elected member of Parliament

Healthcare d) a political system that wants to create society

where all people are equal

Unionism e) a system used for collecting money from people in

the form of taxes

Workforce f) the services that looked after people’s health

Taxation g) the belief that Northern Ireland should remain part

of the UK

value h) the total number of people who work

Task 2. Paraphrase the sentences using a synonym from the text:

4. The House of Commons includes ten parties.

5. The Labor Party has increased rights of employees.

6. The Conservative Party is for reducing number of people claiming state benefits.

7. The Liberal Democrats were organized as a result of amalgamation of two parties.

8. All parties protect civil rights.

Task 3.Translate these word combinations into English: :

Состоять из, левоцентристский, официальная оппозиция, партия поддерживает социалистические взгляды, здравоохранение, появиться, увеличить права рабочих, культурный либерализм, равенство, быть порабощенным бедностью.

Task 4. Give names for each passage. Then find key-words. After that make a retelling of the text.