Thoughts on the Election

So I'm writing again after a long hiatus. In case you didn't know, the United Kingdom had a general election two days ago. I decided that I should write a piece about the winners and losers of this election because I am quite interested in politics and this is my home country. I'll be doing this country by country. I am defining a winner as any party that came away with more seats than they did at the last election in 2010

I'll start with the biggest of the four countries, England. England has 533 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons. The biggest winners were the Conservative and Unionist Party (Often called the Conservative Party or simply the Tories). The Tories, one of the two biggest parties in the UK, are a centre-right party favouring free market capitalism with some eurosceptic elements. They came away with 21 more English seats than in 2010, bringing their total of English seats to 319. The Labour Party were also winners in England. Labour, the main rivals of the Tories, are a centre-left party favouring social democracy and closer ties with the European Union. They added 15 English seats bringing their total to 206. It pains me to say it, but another winner was the United Kingdom Independence Party or UKIP. UKIP are a right-wing party who are deeply eurosceptic and who favour tougher controls on immigration. Thankfully they only gained 1 seat, giving them a total of 1 (To make it better, their leader Nigel Farage who I've spoken of previously did not win his seat). With the two major parties winning (and UKIP), that must mean that there were losers. Just one party can be described as losers in Britain. They are the Liberal Democrats or the Lib-Dems. The Lib-Dems are a centrist party favouring social liberalism. They got hammered by the voters losing 37 of their 43 seats in England, leaving them a total of 6. It seems going into a coalition with the Conservatives was a bad idea. That leaves one English seat unaccounted for. It went to the Green Party of England and Wales. They are a left-wing party favouring eco-socialism. They retained the seat they won in 2010.

Moving on now to Scotland. Scotland has 59 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons. There was only one winning party in Scotland. It was the Scottish National Party or the SNP. In 2010, they had 6 seats. Now they have 56 seats. The SNP are a centre-left to left-wing party who above all else want Scotland to be independent. The popularity of the SNP has soared since the referendum on Scottish independence which they lost. It was more bad news for the Lib-Dems as they lost 10 of their 11 Scottish seats, but the biggest losers in Scotland were the Labour Party. Historically Scotland has been a Labour stronghold. This election though saw them lose 40 of their 41 seats. Imagine if the Democrats in America lost the Northeastern states. That's the best comparison I can think of. The Tories managed to keep hold of their Scottish seat.

Wales is the third largest country having 40 seats in the House of Commons. All in all there wasn't much change in Wales. The Tories did manage to pick up 3 seats in Wales giving them 11 seats. Labour lost a seat bringing them down to 25 and the Lib-Dems lost 2 seats leaving them with just the one seat. Wales' other seats are held by Plaid Cymru - the Party of Wales. Plaid Cymru are the Welsh equivalent of the SNP, a centre-left to left wing party who above all else want Wales to be independent. The difference is Plaid Cymru aren't anywhere near as popular in Wales as the SNP are in Scotland. The Welsh simply don't care much when it comes to independence.

Finally there are the 18 seats from Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is unique in that the major British parties aren't major in Northern Ireland. That being said though, just like Wales, there wasn't much change in Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland there are five major parties. Going from left to right, we start with Sinn Féin. Sinn Féin are left-wing, Catholic, hardline republicans who want Northern Ireland to join the Republic of Ireland. Sinn Féin are unique in that their Members of Parliament do not take their seats because they do not recognise the jurisdiction the House of Commons has over Northern Ireland and they refuse to swear loyalty to the British crown. Sinn Féin lost one of their seats leaving them with 4 seats. Next up is the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). The SDLP are a republican party, but they are not hardline republicans like Sinn Féin. The SDLP have an alliance with the Labour Party and share similar policies. They kept hold of their 3 seats. In the centre we have the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI). The APNI do not take sides when it comes to the political status of Northen Ireland. They have an alliance with the Liberal Democrats and like the Liberal Democrats they lost. They had 1 seat, now they have none. Moving onto the right we have the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). They are basically the anti-SDLP. The UUP used to have an alliance with the Conservatives in Britain, but that didn't work out. Despite this they were winners taking 2 seats in Parliament having had none. Finally we have the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). These guys are the anti-Sinn Féin. They are right-wing, Protestant and hardline unionists. Unfortunately for Sinn Féin the DUP are also the largest party in Northern Ireland taking 8 seats. That leaves one seat unaccounted for which was taken by an independent candidate.

So overall the winners were the Conservative Party, the SNP, UKIP and the UUP. Losers were Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Sinn Féin and the APNI. Now we have five years of a Conservative majority government. Yay...