Government
The Government of the UK is a body of ministers who are responsible for the administration of national affairs. The ministers are the leading members of the political party which wins a majority of seats in Parliament. The party which wins the second largest number of seats in Parliament becomes the official Opposition.
The Prime Minister, the leader of the party with a majority, is appointed by the Queen. (The Queen appoints, but does not select the Prime Minister. She has no choice.) A1l other Ministers are appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The majority of ministers are members of the Commons, although the Government is also fully represented by ministers in the Lords. The Lord Chancellor is always a member of the House of Lords,
The Cabinet. The most senior Ministers (usually about 20 in number) compose the Cabinet, which meets regularly (once or twice a week) under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister to decide government policy on major issues, exercise supreme control of government and coordinate government departments.
Ministers are responsible collectively to Parliament for all Cabinet decisions; individual ministers are responsible to Parliament for the work of their departments.
The "Shadow Cabinet". The Opposition party, which is not currently in power, under the direction of its leader forms a "Shadow Cabinet". The ministers in the Shadow Cabinet deal with the same matters as the Cabinet of Ministers in the current government, debating with the actual Cabinet ministers from the Government side.
The people elect MPs.
After an election a Government is formed.
The Prime Minister is appointed by the Queen.
The Prime Minister selects his Ministers.
The Ministers form the Cabinet.
The Cabinet decides Government policies.
The Parliament agrees to support or reject Government policies and laws.
Elections
Britain is a democracy. Men and women over 18 have a vote. They have the right to elect a representative to Parliament. Voting is not compulsory.
The simple majority system of voting is used in parliamentary elections in Britain. This means that the candidate with the largest number of votes in each constituency is elected, although he or she may not necessarily have received more than half the votes cast.
A candidate is elected if he or she has the majority of votes over the next candidate. British citizens may stand and be elected as MPs (members of Parliament) if they are aged 21 or over and are not subject to any disqualification.
Those disqualified include bankrupts, people sentenced to more than one year's imprisonment, clergy of the Church of England, Church of Scotland, Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic Church, peers, members of the regular armed forces or the police service and some others.
For electoral purposes Britain is divided into constituencies; citizens in all the various British constituencies vote for their local MP.
The British government is elected for 5 years and it is the Prime Minister who chooses the date of the next General Elections. When the date is announced the Prime Minister usually asks the Queen to dissolve Parliament. So, the election campaign is launched all over the country and it usually lasts about three weeks.
Voting takes place on Polling Day. When the results are known and it becomes clear what party has the majority of seats in the House of Commons, its leader forms a government by Her Majesty's request.