A brief lesson: The UK Political system

So, a long post but I've seen a lot of questions on Reddit asking how the UK system works, why is the recent result so important. Well fear not? I shall try to explain as best I can.

So the building above is the Houses of Parliament made up of two chambers, The House of Commons (fully elected) and the House of Lords (non-elected). For the purposes of this I'll largely be focusing on the House of Commons.

So the current Electoral system is called First Past the Post and is used to elect the 650 representatives to Parliament that sit in the House of Commons. Each representative will cover a specific area generally based on population (for example London has 73 constituencies, more than the entirety of Scotland, who have 59)

The system is simple, you go into your voting booth, are presented with a list of candidates (which may vary as not every party puts up a candidate in every constituency) and select their preference. Whoever gets the most votes wins. The strengths of this are simple, it usually leads to strong and stable governments and is simple to understand. However a big disadvantage is that due to the number of political parties, it is entirely possible for someone to win with less than half the vote. Indeed it is rare that an MP picks up over half and is usually down to a seat being considered ultra safe or the MP's personal popularity.

The current ruling party (lead by Theresa May) is the Conservative Party (often known as Tories). They are considered Centre to Right Wing in the UK, but for our cheeseburger guzzling friends, this lot would be seen as Democrats to moderate Republicans. We only really have one party that verges on Tea Party insanity. They are one of the two big parties of Britain and their support typically is in rural areas and the south of England. Currently hold 318 seats.

Labour are the other big party. They have had a crazy few years as they have gone from the Tory-lite they were under Tony Blair to the very left-wing incarnation under curent leader Jeremy Corbyn. By current redneck standards, this lot would be seen as on the same spectrum as Bernie Sanders. Their traditional strongholds are cities and urban areas, and the old industrial heartlands of the North. Recently won 262 seats.

In the past considered the third party of Britain, the Lib Dems typically sit on the centre but veer left or right depending on leadership. Under current leader Tim Farron they are very much on the left. A reasonable force previously, they have spent the last two elections recovering from a disastrous coalition government with the Tories, which saw them abandon their one flagship policy, being to abolish Tuition Fees for Universities, instead presiding over a coalition government that tripled them. Their old stronghold was the West Country, but now they are largely concentrated in student cities, as students remain their main source of votes. Hold 12 seats

The Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) currently are the ruling party of Scotland. Their flagship policy is independence from the UK which was rejected in a referendum three years ago. It's hard to define them, as they are a loose coalition of left and right wing MP's who all believe in an independent Scotland, so much so that they need party guidelines to prevent MP's from disagreeing with the current leader Nicola Sturgeon. Held 59 seats at the last election but lost ground and now hold 35.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) are the largest party in Northern Ireland. Typically seen as right of the Conservatives, with very questionale views on abortion and same-sex marriage (which is not legal in Northern Ireland). Currently hold 10 seats

Sinn Fein are the second party of Northern Ireland and seen as the political extension of the IRA. They campaign for a united Ireland and because of their refusal to swear loyalty to the Queen or recognise Northern Ireland as a separate country, they typically do not take up their seats in parliament. They keep making ground and as of the recent election won 7 seats.

Plaid Cymru (pronounced Plide-Come-re) are the party of Wales. Typically seen as left-wing but also supportive of independence for Wales. Won 4 seats in Wales

The Green Party are a left-wing party with (obvious) focus on the Enviroment. Hold a single seat in Brighton Pavilion, but poll about half a million votes countrywide (as much as the SNP)

The United Kingdom Indpendence Party (UKIP). Their main focus was the 'independence' of Britain from the EU, which was secured last year in a tightly fought referendum. Now they are seen as the far-right of Britain, which their views on Immigration and a 'Britain first' mentality. Recently led by Paul Nuttall but people will know their previous charismatic leader Nigel Farage more. Won no seats at the election and increasingly seen as a spent force due to their sole aim being achieved.

So in order to gain a working majority, a party would need 326 seats (half the total plus one). You can take away the Sinn Fein seats as they abstain from parliament, so an effective majority is 650-7 = 643 / 2 = 321.5, so 322.

Of course, if you look, the main problem is that no party has that number, which results in a Hung Parliament. Typically the Conservatives would align with the DUP, but risk losing support from the 12 Scottish Conservatives, as the leader of the Scottish Tories, Ruth Davidson is gay (again, just search the DUP's views on homosexuality to see why this might be a problem). The first act of a government is to pass the Queen's Speech, which typically sets out the broad aims of the government. The Tories face problems on a number of sides;

- The animosity between the leaders of the DUP, Arlene Foster and the Scottish Tories, Ruth Davidson
- A broad left-wing opposition completely united against the Tories (made up of Labour, Lib Dems, SNP and the smaller parties)
- A need to balance Brexit, where PM Theresa May has divisions even within her own party between the Eurosceptics, who want a Hard Brexit and the moderates, who want a more Norway style deal.

Her final problem will be the likes of the right wing media, such as The Sun

The Daily Mail

And the Daily Express, who will vehemently oppose any talk from May of anything other than a 'Hard Brexit' which is a complete withdrawal from the EU and all regulations (which will run into problems with the DUP, who want an open border with the Republic of Ireland.

We'll probably be back at the polls in a couple of months but hopefully this has helped clarify things.

EDIT: HOLY SHIT. FIRST EVER FRONT PAGE.

Okay, got to do this right, send boobs! No, send cats! No, no, no. Got it! Send me pictures of your favourite politicans!

Part 2: http://imgur.com/a/77g9A