The UK election 2015 explained for non-Brits | General election 2015

Britain is getting very excited, and apprehensive, about politics at the moment. But why all the fuss?
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Thursday just happens to mark the most uncertain general election in British political history. Here is a guide for non-Britons to the election's contenders and an explanation as to why the election is unlikely to produce a clear winner after the votes are counted.
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Endboard videos:
General election 2015 is no ordinary election: don't let them take away your voice - Owen Jones ► bit.ly/GE2015useyourvoice
General election 2015: the view from middle England | Anywhere but Westminster ► bit.ly/middleenglandABW
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[@Pineapple_Lord]

A bit off with your prediction guys.

[@dantaylor7344]

Everyone's predictions to be fair

[@williamgater3036]

Like everyone was 😫

[@dariogagliano4218]

So much for the predictions here.

[@lastgreen7431]

lol indeed, it was really wishful thinking on their part.

[@ednuttah]

Quaintly? Hand counting is a bit more secure than dodgy US electronic versions. Don't knock it.

[@sandwich2473]

"Unlikely to improve on their 2010 performance" If only that were true...

[@aaronpenyami.1462]

little did you know, 4 years later....

[@TheAztecGamer123]

​@@aaronpenyami.1462It gets better? I mean if you consider Starmer better😭

[@TheKinkLink]

Hahaha this is freaking hilarious

[@theGuardian]

beautyandhelen Thank you!

[@fisken2000]

The Guardian I think you need to improve this video, I mean calling UKIP an 'anti-immigrant party' is clearly not true and quite honestly, wrong. UKIP want immigration, but it needs to be controlled. Get your bloody facts right!

[@Zemarzo]

James Fish If you truly believe immigration isn't controlled and that UKIP are in favour of it I'd ask you to do the same.

[@ypabloworld]

Bran04don13 lol Immigration is the movement of people into a country and it can be legal or illegal. Obviously illegal immigration is still unwanted but most immigrants in UK are legal. There are 13 mln Brits living abroad. There are immigrants too.

[@coxley]

Bran04don13 You do realise that what UKIP are falsely acusing European immigrants to the UK of doing, is what we, the British, actually did when we built that Empire you long for. In fact, it is the fruits of all our invading and stealing from other countries which keeps Britain wealthy to this day. We still have the Elgin Marbles yet we have the cheek to accuse Greece of not managing its money properly!

[@pl7920]

[0:24] Scotland is part of Great Britain, and was part of the UK in 1801

[@pl7920]

***** Yes, so in 1801 they were joined. The graphic at the timestap above doesn't show Scotland as a part of "Great Britain" at that time, though - which is why I'm pointing it out.

[@TheBritishBoarder]

This was very helpful for me being German and interested in UK politics. Thank you!

[@TheMadhouseOfficial]

TheBritishBoarder All of this fuss about the introduction of multiple parties must seem pretty silly. Germany's PR seems to work pretty well - at least from an outside perspective.

[@TheBritishBoarder]

Yes, thats true. Also, it seems like coalitions are something special in the UK, here in Germany a government not built relying on a coalition is pretty much unthinkable of. Apart from that, I think that the German election procedure is far more complex than the one in the UK. Nonetheless a helpful video ;)

[@TheMadhouseOfficial]

TheBritishBoarder That is certainly true. I hope for something similar the next time German elections roll around.

[@hannahelvete]

+TheBritishBoarder The way Germans kiss British butthole is pathetic. It even took an Austrian to give ya'll some balls.

[@BYNL-]

I loved the video but I expected better from the Guardian @ 2:57. UKIP seems to want an immigration system like Australia. Australians aren't anti-immigrants are they? I'm not fond of UKIP (though honestly I'm not fond of Labour either, what a predicament) but at the same time spreading misinformation gets us nowhere. Hate them or not, it wouldn't hurt to get your facts right.

[@artisticspoon9636]

Love it! Couldn't stop chuckling

[@StormySky48]

0:33 how is the place that's called Wales the size of itself? Are they trying to say there's two places called Wales??

[@Eli-hs8ts]

Can there be a UK parties polices explained for non-Brits video?

[@JimSowers]

Have you made another video that explains the conditions (and strategies) under which an early election can be called (which is also different from the US system). Thanks

[@dantaylor7344]

Early elections can ONLY be called if 1. Vote of no confidence is called within the chamber 2. Emergency powers required (highly unlikely) 2011 fixed term act fucked that up, last one was John Major 1992.

[@Damo2690]

@@dantaylor7344 fixed term Parliament act. Odd name considering we have had 3 elections in 4 years

[@PhilipReeder]

Boy were they ever wrong!

[@billallan3910]

Great analysis - couldn't be bettered.

[@sociallymatti]

When I read about how the Party Leaders are chosen, I always see that the, "Party Members", vote the Leaders in. Pardon my ignorance but what do they mean by, "Party Members"? Are they the Civilians that the Party represents or are they the Politicians that represent the Civilians?

[@beijaflor9313]

Anyone can be a party member, you register with a party you feel affiliated to, you pay your fees and you gain your membership, your memberships entitles you to vote in issues within each individual party, but you can only vote on issues within the party that you are a member of and so, the electorate can vote for the leaders of a party if the electorate are registered members. However, even if every person alive in the UK was a party member then they would not all vote on the same leadership campaigns as the population would be divided between which party they are members of. However….in the case of the Labour Party, you do not necessarily have to be a party member to vote, you could be a member of a trade union or an affiliated group and still get to vote without needing to join the Labour Party. I hazard a guess here and say I believe that all parties have affiliated groups whose members get to vote in party issues but the Labour Party is the only party who has trade union members voting since the trade unions were born out of socialist movements. I do hope that this helps explain what you want to know.

[@DTL9164]

0:34 Wales is the same size as Wales

[@williamgater3036]

A block of shewsbury was in there too

[@mehco-op9061]

Need an update for 2017

[@coolstorybrooooo7643]

You got that one wrong.

[@mic7able]

This title popping up seems SO funny! Watch "The U.K. Voting ego, who ARE you voting for onJune 8th?" For a much, much better idea. Ha!

[@AmiiA]

So very. Wrong

[@imahuman3179]

You can't say anything your not even ethically British

[@Truthseeker1515]

Was anyone aware that a commonwealth country citizen in the UK has the right to vote here for parliamentary elections? Indian, Pakistani, Australian nationals etc. And no EU country members? HOW FAIR IS THAT? Plain and simple discrimination!

[@gladiator3543]

Funny presentation; but remember it is not the winning party leader who goes to the monarch and offers to form a government. Rather, it is the monarch who summons the person who can command a majority government and invites them to form a government.

[@way2tehdawn]

Hang on is Wales not part of the Kingdom of England anymore? It's just we share law with England and our head of state is Queen Elizabeth... Wikipedia says Wales is a devolved government within a Constitutional Monarchy... If were not a possession of the kingdom of England anymore, when did that stop being the case? Oh also UKIP isn't anti-immigrant they actually have the highest immigration cap proposed of all the parties. Which would make the other parties by comparison anti-immigrant. There stance is merely taking back the power to approve or deny entry from people entering the UK from the European Union. Bloody Guardian.

[@jamesmc6825]

I'm voting UKIP

[@finalfrontier001]

klaNDS I'm voting UKIP too you got a problem??

[@davdan6490]

finalfrontier001 You are wasting your vote and the country.

[@davdan6490]

***** Why would you ever want UKIP?

[@finalfrontier001]

Dav Dan Lol ignorance is bliss

[@davdan6490]

finalfrontier001 Why then ?

[@AdamSmith-gs2dv]

2:13 HAHAHA Guardian got smoked there!

[@SnazzBot]

You can vote for more then one in Northern Ireland, I'm about to do it now.

[@jamied4106]

Why make wales look so insignificant??

[@dancing_reaper2046]

wow that was wrong ! The Tories cleaned it !

[@Matt-cz6ti]

And in the end absolutely none of this happened

[@Generalscorpio]

It's funny watching the second half of this video after the election took place, "the tories won't improve on their 2010 performance..."

[@hansgruber788]

so ignorant, typical of the guardian "showing the whole picture". the queen asks the PM if he would like to become the government

[@sithersproductions]

ukip looks appealing

[@TKite2409]

There is also the issue of legitimacy and minority governments on top of this

[@DaveBP2187]

jajaja that was very fun... and useful at the same time.

[@facethetruth9987]

I'm sorry to were put a spanner in the works, but I am not getting excited. You know why? because no matter who gets in, it will be the same story, child poverty, crime, social unrest, endless immigrants,, destruction of our dwindling countryside to build more homes for the endless number of people, the country getting in more debt, but tried to make out it's not by cooking the books, the endless lies from politicians, that we are doing well and we are not, still the same old environment where the few role in absolute luxury, while the many who feed them wallow in absolute poverty. So there is nothing new is there, on the horizon, just different faces with the same old garbage, reading from the same old book, we need to multiply, we need to grow, so we can feed the few at the top, until we have destroyed everything, so vote for us and follow us down the road to destruction. Our ancestors had the same policies based on the same system, endless growth, and they all collapse, and that's what we want to do, collapse, because we are not capable of governing ourselves in any other way, were too stupid ,selfish and greedy to create a better environment for us to live in, so we're just going to carry on destroying it. Remember everybody, we are the most intelligent life form on the planet, can't you see the way we behave, which proves it.

[@JLBodhran]

Face the Truth Whatever approach is chosen, even if it's a radical approach completely different to the sorts we've had over 100s of years, people from all walks of life, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, good or bad will still try to take advantage of it for their own means, because that's simply human nature. Nothing to do with parties or background or anything like that, it's simply human nature. That status quo will never be broken as long as there is a human race on this Earth, because we're all different, with different viewpoints & ideologies.

[@krisinsaigon]

Face the Truth Face the Truth i want to explain to you why you are wrong. firstly, you realize the 2 main parties are not "exactly the same" right? they may be similar, they may both be shit, they may not tackle the important issues you raise, but they do not have identical policies. now, imagine if one was say 76.8% shit, 23.2% not shit, and the other say 76.4% shit, 23.6 % not shit (the figures here are irrelevent, all that matters is you see there is some slight difference between the 2. two ships sail from their harbour to cross the atlantic. both leave from the same port, one travels at a bearing of 76.8 degrees west, the other at 76.4% degrees west, and they sail 100 of miles across the ocean. do the 2 ships arrive at the same place? no, clearly not, because they have different bearings. or imagine there were 2 banks accounts, one which paid compound interest at 23.6%, the other at 23.2%. leaving identical sums in each would yield massively different returns over time because that is how compound interest works

[@facethetruth9987]

***** I'm sorry, but it is you that is wrong, if you have two or as many as you like parties, and their policies are based on the same system, which is endless growth. Every political party, policies are all based on the same system, endless growth, to endlessly multiply to endlessly expand. So it doesn't matter which way you go, you are all heading in the same direction, because your policies are based on the same system. You cannot have a system of endless growth for the logical reason we live in a confined space, no matter how you manipulate it, you will still end up in the same spot, with total destruction of that confined space through overpopulation. Because you cannot multiply endlessly into a space that is fixed, and I can prove it to you. You have five parties all running down the same hill,. ( because that's what all the parties are doing, going in the same direction). So imagine the 5 parties are running downhill and at the bottom of the hill is oblivion. Party 1 says, follow me we are running down the hill. Party 2 says, follow me, we are cartwheeling down the hill. Party 3 says, follow me, we are hand standing down the hill. Party 4 says, follow me, we are skipping down the hill. Party 5 says, follow me, we are rolling down the hill. They may be doing it differently but they all going down the same hill to the same point. The only way you can be different is if your policies are based on a different system. That would be a party basing its policies on sustainabilityy not endless growth. Then that party would be different, because it would be going in a different direction, which would be not down the hill to oblivion. I repeat every political party policies are based on the same system, endless growth. You cannot operate a system of endless growth in a confined space you will just have the same result every single time, no matter how you do it. Try this simple experiment, your average cup holds a quarter of a litre, the limited space in the cup will represent the limited space of the country you live in or the planet you live on. Hold it under the tap, the water from the tap will represent the endless flow of people into the limited space, now try and pour the water endlessly into the cup without it ever overflowing, because that's what the human population is trying to do, and believe they can do. The amount of anything you can put into a fixed space, no matter how big or small the fixed space is , is governed by it's space, not your desire or wishes.

[@facethetruth9987]

***** That is correct it is called personal greed and selfishness, it is why you have congestion on the roads. But the human race claims it's the most intelligent life on the planet, you just proven it isn't. Because nothing intelligent would behave in such a way, that its actions would bring harm, in danger or destroy its own environment, the environment it relies on for its very existence. That's why every country in the world where the human species is, is in a mess, because of what you are saying greed and selfishness the inability to operate beyond it. You have billions of people all operating on the same principle one! them! and only them, that's why you have no future. All politicians policies are based on the same system no matter where you go in the world, which is endless growth. You cannot have endless growth for the logical reason, you live in a confined space on an island on a planet. But the greed and selfishness of people is so great they would rather destroy the environment they depend upon for their existence and themselves. The human species behaviour is to that of a virus which is pretending to be intelligent. For while it is spreading across his planet endlessly multiplying and destroying, it is claiming to be intelligent, and that the planet is safe in its hands. I ask you, how can anything be safe when you live in a confined space and you have a species that has no ability to do anything else but multiplying and destroy?

[@martingrey2231]

Who appoints the Lords? That is very important. You left that out.

[@BritishRepublicsn]

The PM

[@andrewgilmore4040]

wow, so close to being politically neutral there Guardian, but took a ad hominem quicky on Nigel Farage eh? greetings from US.

[@adrianwhiteley4790]

Ed is best.

[@Pokemark17]

Watching this in 2024 is hilarious

[@yuyinyouqi1559]

This is funny, I mean funny for people who really undertsand politics.

[@grisgriz85]

Sorry, no hung parliament this time.

[@mbmajor01]

Lol sorrrrry torris won out right

[@sM-to8ni]

Time to change culture and white skin in Britain 2022

[@Rudy777King]

Hey Brits, why do u even need House of Lords ? It's some kind of royal fetishism ?

[@RisqueBisquet]

Rudy777King The argument goes that a lot of the time, Mr Joe Average doesn't necessarily know what's the best way to run a country. The house of Lords is supposed to act as a safety cap for when democracy is in-advertently harming itself. Ideally, the Upper House is filled with people who are experienced and knowledgeable in sociology, economics, foreign affairs, and so on. People who have been raised from an early age on the business of running a first world nation. In reality however, they're mostly pundits selected by the Prime Minister, or left-overs from when Lords were an inheritable title. They tend to be the highest upper class and are extremely detached from much of the nation. There are many trying to abolish the House of Lords (It's a major policy of the Scottish National Party), but the system is built for self-defence. You would need to convince two thirds of the House of Commons to get it done, many of whom are very close or even interchangeable with their Lordly counterparts. Another way it could happen is by referendum (a nation-wide vote), but this proposal would also need to go through a similar process.

[@Rudy777King]

Joseph Wolf Thank's for your erudite answer Joseph. btw, good luck with the election.

[@merrymachiavelli2041]

Joseph Wolf Personally, I think the House of Lords should be reformed, but not made elected. Having a second elected chamber just seems pointless and would slow-down the legislative process (which is the last thing we need in an age of multi-party politics). The American Senate system just seems like a recipe for shoddy government to me (no offence Americans reading this, but you gotta admit, your government has hardly been the most productive recently) Remove the Lords Spiritual and the last remaining hereditary peers (they are all but gone anyway, since 1997 only 92 were left and they have been stopped from passing on their titles, making it only a matter of time). And improve the appointment process to make it less partisan. But leave it alone otherwise or abolish the House of Lords altogether. Also, in defence of the House of Lords as it stands, partisan peers are not actually that partisan. Security of tenure and lack of career politics mean that none have to 'toe the party line' in the same way MPs do. Still not ideal, but not *that* bad. I would really love a fully technocratic second chamber. We are the only Liberal Democracy in the world (that I know of) that has anything like the House of Lords. They provide an appropriately powerful counter-balance to some of the downsides of democracy (and yes, like any system, democracy as downsides)

[@samh3074]

Rudy777King Is the Supreme Court elected? The House of Lords is our Supreme Court, pretty similar but has to pass legislation and can't permanently veto any bills.

[@AAARREUUUGHHHH]

Rudy777King The Lords reviews bills as a separate entity from the commons. They contain members who are confirmed to know their shit basically, and members which uphold the traditions and values of our country (which is why there are bishops in there). They have the ability to deny a bill and stop it from receiving royal assent (becoming law). They've stopped bills which would fuck people over before. They're really just there to provide more insight into a bill and make sure the democratic system stays in check. Also, the Queen isn't allowed in the house of commons and needs somewhere to give her speech lol

[@JamesTilsley1]

WRONG! Conservative majority

[@pr0t4g0n1sts]

GO UKIP!

[@sv4tossv586]

Nigel Farage Youre not really him,nice troll though,you can try someone else

[@freakylocz14]

This is stupid since the Tories won an outright majority.

[@elladunham6518]

You make our system sound so stupid... Oh wait....

[@durgo7644]

voting tom wooley

[@Atlasss97]

Lol funny that none of this happened...

[@theoelliott5944]

This UKIP smear just made me respect Nigel Farage even more.

[@ronanmurphy98]

How unbelievably bias this is towards Labour is just hilarious. I would have loved to meet the editors of the Guardian after the Tories won the election! XD

[@michaelheeheejackson7255]

"Latest news, sport, business, comment, analysis and reviews from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice" Yes, they know.

[@MrFreemanontheland]

Shame on you. Painting ukip in a bad light. Nothing new here.

[@FroMarty]

How? By calling them euroskeptics? Who exactly was shown in a good light here? Looking for persecution where there is none.

[@finalfrontier001]

FroMarty Yes there is son of bitch he said UKIP a anti immigration which is wrong they are pro immigration but not eastern former communist regimes.

[@eruno_]

finalfrontier001 it's racist to say that people from eastern europe are somehow 'lesser' and have no right to work in britain.

[@finalfrontier001]

Wolk un racist white on white prejudice is racist now?? What planet are you from??