Questions relating to the government and politics of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. If your question relates to a specific country within the Union, be that England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, use with the relevant tag.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a unitary state with devolution within the framework of a parliamentary democracy, located in western europe and consists of England, northern-ireland, scotland, wales, British Overseas Territories and Crown dependencies (such as the Isle of Man).
Executive power is exercised by the British Government on behalf of and by the consent of the Monarch, as well as by the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland executive. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as in the Scottish parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The highest court is the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
The UK political system is a multi-party system. Since the 1920s, the two largest political participation have been the conservative-party and the labour-party. Before the Labour Party rose in British politics, the Liberal Party was the other major political party along with the Conservatives. While coalition and minority governments have been an occasional feature of parliamentary politics, the first-past-the-post electoral system used for general elections tends to maintain the dominance of these two parties, though each has in the past century relied upon a third party such as the Liberal Democrats to deliver a working majority in Parliament. A Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government held office from 2010 until 2015, the first coalition since 1945.
The constitution of the United Kingdom is uncodified, being made up of constitutional conventions, statutes and other elements such as EU law. This system of government, known as the Westminster system, has been adopted by other countries, especially those that were formerly parts of the British Empire.
The United Kingdom is also responsible for several dependencies, which fall into two categories: the Crown dependencies, in the immediate vicinity of the UK, and British Overseas Territories, which originated as colonies of the British Empire.
