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New page: Politics in the United Kingdom takes place within the context of a democratic parliamentary system dominated by three major parties. ==Institutions== ===Parliament=== ...
Politics in the United Kingdom takes place within the context of a [[democracy|democratic]] [[parliamentary]] system dominated by three major parties.
==Institutions==
===Parliament===
''See also'' [[Parliament]]
The cornerstone of the unwritten British constitution is ''Parliamentary supremacy'', or ''Parliamentary sovereignty''.
Britain is one of a small number of nations without a written constitution, and the British legislature, ''Parliament'', is free to legislature however it pleases. In British law, the only authority higher than parliamentary legislation is the law of the [[European Union]], and Britain is subject to EU law only by virtue of the fact that Parliament has chosen to accept it.
Parliament consists of the Queen, the [[House of Lords]] and the [[House of Commons]]. The Queen today takes no part in active politics (the last time that a monarch refused to ratify a law passed by the Lords and Commons was in 1714).
==Parties==
===The three main parties===
The British political spectrum has historically been dominated by the '''[[Labour Party]]''' on the left, the '''[[Conservative Party]]''' on the right, and the '''Liberal Party''' (now the [[Liberal Democrats]]) in the centre between them ("liberal" in British political terminology is often used to mean "centrist" or "moderate", rather than "left-wing").
In recent times, there has been a perception that the main parties are crowding together on the centre groups. In the 1990s, Labour moved decisively away from the traditional left (angering many of its more traditionally-minded supporters), to the point where it was perceived by many as being less left-wing than the Liberal Democrats. Since the advent of [[David Cameron]] as its leader in 2005, the Conservative Party has moved away from the territory of the traditional right (in this case too, angering many of its more strongly conservative or [[Thatcherism|Thatcherite]] supporters).
==Institutions==
===Parliament===
''See also'' [[Parliament]]
The cornerstone of the unwritten British constitution is ''Parliamentary supremacy'', or ''Parliamentary sovereignty''.
Britain is one of a small number of nations without a written constitution, and the British legislature, ''Parliament'', is free to legislature however it pleases. In British law, the only authority higher than parliamentary legislation is the law of the [[European Union]], and Britain is subject to EU law only by virtue of the fact that Parliament has chosen to accept it.
Parliament consists of the Queen, the [[House of Lords]] and the [[House of Commons]]. The Queen today takes no part in active politics (the last time that a monarch refused to ratify a law passed by the Lords and Commons was in 1714).
==Parties==
===The three main parties===
The British political spectrum has historically been dominated by the '''[[Labour Party]]''' on the left, the '''[[Conservative Party]]''' on the right, and the '''Liberal Party''' (now the [[Liberal Democrats]]) in the centre between them ("liberal" in British political terminology is often used to mean "centrist" or "moderate", rather than "left-wing").
In recent times, there has been a perception that the main parties are crowding together on the centre groups. In the 1990s, Labour moved decisively away from the traditional left (angering many of its more traditionally-minded supporters), to the point where it was perceived by many as being less left-wing than the Liberal Democrats. Since the advent of [[David Cameron]] as its leader in 2005, the Conservative Party has moved away from the territory of the traditional right (in this case too, angering many of its more strongly conservative or [[Thatcherism|Thatcherite]] supporters).