1.
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
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The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is the lower house of the countrys parliament. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster, officially, the full name of the house is, The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The House is a body consisting of 650 members known as Members of Parliament. Members are elected to represent constituencies by first-past-the-post and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved, under the Parliament Act 1911, the Lords power to reject legislation was reduced to a delaying power. The Government is primarily responsible to the House of Commons and the prime minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of a majority of its members. Although it does not formally elect the prime minister, the position of the parties in the House of Commons is of overriding importance, by convention, the prime minister is answerable to, and must maintain the support of, the House of Commons. Since 1963, by convention, the minister is always a member of the House of Commons. The Commons may indicate its lack of support for the Government by rejecting a motion of confidence or by passing a motion of no confidence, confidence and no confidence motions are sometimes phrased explicitly, for instance, That this House has no confidence in Her Majestys Government. Many other motions were considered confidence issues, even though not explicitly phrased as such, in particular, important bills that form a part of the Governments agenda were formerly considered matters of confidence, as is the annual Budget. Parliament normally sits for a term of five years. Subject to that limit, the minister could formerly choose the timing of the dissolution of parliament. By this second mechanism, the government of the United Kingdom can change without a general election. In such circumstances there may not even have been a party leadership election, as the new leader may be chosen by acclaim. A prime minister may resign if he or she is not defeated at the polls. In such a case, the premiership goes to whoever can command a majority in the House of Commons, in practice this is usually the new leader of the outgoing prime ministers party. Until 1965, the Conservative Party had no mechanism for electing a new leader, when Anthony Eden resigned as PM in 1957 without recommending a successor and it fell to the Queen to appoint Harold Macmillan as the new prime minister, after taking the advice of ministers. By convention, all ministers must be members of the House of Commons or of the House of Lords, a handful have been appointed who were outside Parliament, but in most cases they then entered Parliament either in a by-election or by receiving a peerage. Since 1902, all ministers have been members of the Commons
2.
West Yorkshire
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West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in England. It is an inland and in relative terms upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in moors of the Pennines and has a population of 2.2 million, West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. West Yorkshire consists of five boroughs and shares borders with the counties of Derbyshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, North Yorkshire. In the heart of the county is Leeds Bradford International Airport, West Yorkshire County Council was abolished in 1986 so its five districts became effectively unitary authorities. However, the county, which covers an area of 2,029 square kilometres, continues to exist in law. West Yorkshire includes the West Yorkshire Urban Area, which is the most built-up, West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council inherited the use of West Riding County Hall at Wakefield, opened in 1898, from the West Riding County Council in 1974. Since 1987 it has been the headquarters of Wakefield City Council, the county initially had a two-tier structure of local government with a strategic-level county council and five districts providing most services. In 1986, throughout England the metropolitan county councils were abolished, the functions of the county council were devolved to the boroughs, joint-boards covering fire, police and public transport, and to other special joint arrangements. Organisations such as the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive continue to operate on this basis, although the county council was abolished, West Yorkshire continues to form a metropolitan and ceremonial county with a Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire and a High Sheriff. Wakefields Parish Church was raised to cathedral status in 1888 and after the elevation of Wakefield to diocese, Wakefield Council immediately sought city status and this was granted in July 1888. However the industrial revolution, which changed West and South Yorkshire significantly, led to the growth of Leeds and Bradford, Leeds was granted city status in 1893 and Bradford in 1897. The name of Leeds Town Hall reflects the fact that at its opening in 1858 Leeds was not yet a city, the county borders, going anticlockwise from the west, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Derbyshire, South Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. It lies almost entirely on rocks of carboniferous age which form the southern Pennine fringes in the west, in the extreme east of the metropolitan county there are younger deposits of magnesian limestone. The Bradford and Calderdale areas are dominated by the scenery of the slopes of the Pennines, dropping from upland in the west down to the east. There is a conjunction of large scale industry, urban areas. The dense network of roads, canals and railways and urban development, the carboniferous rocks of the Yorkshire coalfield further east have produced a rolling landscape with hills, escarpments and broad valleys. In this landscape there is evidence of both current and former industrial activity. There are numerous derelict or converted mine buildings and recently landscaped former spoil heaps, the scenery is a mixture of built up areas, industrial land with some dereliction, and farmed open country
3.
United Kingdom general election, 1983
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The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive victory since that of Labour in 1945. Thatchers first four years as minister had not been an easy time. Unemployment increased during the first three years of her term and the economy went through a recession, however, the British victory in the Falklands War led to a recovery of her popularity, the economy had also returned to growth. By the time Thatcher called the election in May 1983, the Conservatives were most peoples firm favourites to win the election, the Labour Party had been led by Michael Foot since the resignation of James Callaghan. They had fared well in polls and local elections during this time. Labour adopted a platform that was considered more left-wing than usual, several moderate Labour MPs had left the party to form the Social Democrats. The Social Democrats then formed the SDP-Liberal Alliance with the existing Liberal Party, the opposition vote split almost evenly between the SDP/Liberal Alliance and Labour. This was the most recent election where a party in government increased its number of seats until 2015, the SDP/Liberal Alliance finished in third place but came within 700,000 votes of out-polling Labour. By gaining 25% of the vote, the Alliance won the largest such percentage for any third party since the 1923 general election. Despite this, they won only 23 seats, whereas Labour won 209, the Liberals argued that a proportional electoral system would have given them a more representative number of MPs. Changing the electoral system had been a long-running Liberal Party campaign plank, the election night was broadcast live on the BBC, and was presented by David Dimbleby, Robin Day and Peter Snow. It was also broadcast on ITV, and presented by Alastair Burnet, Peter Sissons, two future prime ministers, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, were first elected as MPs in this election. Michael Foot was elected leader of the Labour party in 1980, the election of Foot signalled that the core of the party was swinging to the left and the move exacerbated divisions within the party. In 1981 a group of figures including Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers. The SDP agreed to a pact with the Liberals for the 1983 elections, the campaign displayed the huge divisions between the two major parties. The Conservatives key issues included employment, economic growth and defence, although, at barely 37 pages, it only seemed interminable, noted Roy Hattersley. Pro-Labour political journalist Michael White, writing in The Guardian, commented, There was something magnificently brave about Michael Foots campaign but it was like the Battle of the Somme
4.
Leeds
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Leeds /liːdz/ is a city in West Yorkshire, England. Historically in Yorkshires West Riding, the history of Leeds can be traced to the 5th century when the name referred to an area of the Kingdom of Elmet. The name has applied to many administrative entities over the centuries. It changed from being the appellation of a small borough in the 13th century, through several incarnations. In the 17th and 18th centuries Leeds became a centre for the production. During the Industrial Revolution, Leeds developed into a mill town, wool was the dominant industry but flax, engineering, iron foundries, printing. From being a market town in the valley of the River Aire in the 16th century Leeds expanded and absorbed the surrounding villages to become a populous urban centre by the mid-20th century. The city has the third largest jobs total by local authority area with 480,000 in employment and self-employment at the beginning of 2015. Leeds is also ranked as a world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Leeds is served by four universities, and has the fourth largest student population in the country and has the fourth largest urban economy. After London, Leeds is the largest legal and financial centre in the UK, with over 30 national and international banks located in the city. Leeds is also the UKs third largest manufacturing centre with around 1,800 firms and 39,000 employees, the largest sub-sectors are engineering, printing and publishing, food and drink, chemicals and medical technology. Outside of London, Leeds has the third busiest railway station, Public transport, rail and road communications networks in the region are focused on Leeds and there are a number of twinning arrangements with towns and cities in other countries. The name Leeds derives from the old Brythonic word Ladenses meaning people of the fast-flowing river and this name originally referred to the forested area covering most of the Brythonic kingdom of Elmet, which existed during the 5th century into the early 7th century. An inhabitant of Leeds is locally known as a Loiner, a word of uncertain origin, the term Leodensian is also used, from the citys Latin name. Leeds developed as a town in the Middle Ages as part of the local agricultural economy. Before the Industrial Revolution it became a centre for the manufacture of woollen cloth. Leeds handled one sixth of Englands export trade in 1770, growth, initially in textiles, was accelerated by the building of the Aire and Calder Navigation in 1699 and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1816
5.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
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It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. Its head is the Sovereign of the United Kingdom and its seat is the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster, one of the boroughs of the British capital, the parliament is bicameral, consisting of an upper house and a lower house. The Sovereign forms the third component of the legislature, prior to the opening of the Supreme Court in October 2009, the House of Lords also performed a judicial role through the Law Lords. The House of Commons is an elected chamber with elections held at least every five years. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster in London, most cabinet ministers are from the Commons, whilst junior ministers can be from either House. The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Treaty of Union by Acts of Union passed by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The UK parliament and its institutions have set the pattern for many throughout the world. However, John Bright – who coined the epithet – used it with reference to a rather than a parliament. In theory, the UKs supreme legislative power is vested in the Crown-in-Parliament. However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the Prime Minister, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801, by the merger of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union. The principle of responsibility to the lower House did not develop until the 19th century—the House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons both in theory and in practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected in an electoral system. Thus, the borough of Old Sarum, with seven voters, many small constituencies, known as pocket or rotten boroughs, were controlled by members of the House of Lords, who could ensure the election of their relatives or supporters. During the reforms of the 19th century, beginning with the Reform Act 1832, No longer dependent on the Lords for their seats, MPs grew more assertive. The supremacy of the British House of Commons was established in the early 20th century, in 1909, the Commons passed the so-called Peoples Budget, which made numerous changes to the taxation system which were detrimental to wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, which consisted mostly of powerful landowners, on the basis of the Budgets popularity and the Lords consequent unpopularity, the Liberal Party narrowly won two general elections in 1910. Using the result as a mandate, the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, introduced the Parliament Bill, in the face of such a threat, the House of Lords narrowly passed the bill. However, regardless of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the parliaments of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and reduced the representation of both parts at Westminster
6.
Leeds North (UK Parliament constituency)
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1885-1918, The Municipal Borough of Leeds wards of Headingley and North West, and parts of the wards of Brunswick, North, and North East. 1918-1950, Parts of the County Borough of Leeds wards of Brunswick, Headingley, North, 1950-1955, The County Borough of Leeds wards of North, Roundhay, and Woodhouse. The constituency was created in 1885 by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, Leeds had previously been represented by two MPs and three MPs. From 1885 it was represented by five constituencies, Leeds Central, Leeds East, Leeds North, Leeds South. The constituencies of Morley, Otley and Pudsey were also created in 1885, the constituency was abolished in 1955. After the 1955 general election Leeds was represented by Leeds East, Leeds North East, Leeds North West, Leeds South, there were also constituencies of Batley and Morley and Pudsey. General Election 1914/15 Another General Election was required to place before the end of 1915. Leigh Rayments Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with L
7.
Leeds West (UK Parliament constituency)
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Leeds West is a borough constituency in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire which is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election, the current MP is Rachel Reeves of the Labour Party — it has been a Labour seat since 1945. 1885-1918, The Municipal Borough of Leeds wards of Armley and Wortley, Holbeck, and New Wortley, 1918-1950, The County Borough of Leeds wards of Armley and Wortley, and Bramley, and part of New Wortley ward. 1950-1955, The County Borough of Leeds wards of Bramley, Farnley and Wortley, 1955-1974, The County Borough of Leeds wards of Armley, Bramley, Stanningley, Wellington, and Wortley. 1974-1983, The County Borough of Leeds wards of Armley, Bramley, Castleton, Stanningley, 1983-2010, The City of Leeds wards of Armley, Bramley, Kirkstall, and Wortley. 2010–present, The City of Leeds wards of Armley, Bramley and Stanningley, Farnley and Wortley, the constituency covers the western part of the city of Leeds in West Yorkshire. The constituency was created in 1885 by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, Leeds had previously been represented by two MPs and three MPs. From 1885 it was represented by five constituencies, Leeds Central, Leeds East, Leeds North, Leeds South. The constituencies of Morley, Otley and Pudsey were also created in 1885, Leeds West has the distinction of being the only constituency in the Leeds area which has existed under an unchanged name continuously since 1885. Endorsed by the Coalition Government General Election 1914/15, Another General Election was required to place before the end of 1915
8.
Liberal Party (UK)
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The Liberal Party was a liberal political party which was one of the two major parties in the United Kingdom in the 19th and early 20th century. The party arose from an alliance of Whigs and free-trade Peelites and Radicals favourable to the ideals of the American, by the end of the nineteenth century, it had formed four governments under William Gladstone. Despite splitting over the issue of Irish Home Rule, the party returned to power in 1906 with a landslide victory, by the end of the 1920s, the Labour Party had replaced the Liberals as the Conservatives main rival. The party went into decline and by the 1950s won no more than six seats at general elections, apart from notable by-election victories, the partys fortunes did not improve significantly until it formed the SDP–Liberal Alliance with the newly formed Social Democratic Party in 1981. At the 1983 General Election, the Alliance won over a quarter of the vote, at the 1987 General Election, its vote fell below 23% and the Liberal and Social Democratic parties merged in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats. A splinter group reconstituted the Liberal Party in 1989 and it was formed by party members opposed to the merger who saw the Lib Dems diluting Liberal ideals. Prominent intellectuals associated with the Liberal Party include the philosopher John Stuart Mill, the economist John Maynard Keynes, the Liberal Party grew out of the Whigs, who had their origins in an aristocratic faction in the reign of Charles II, and the early 19th century Radicals. The Whigs were in favour of reducing the power of the Crown, although their motives in this were originally to gain more power for themselves, the more idealistic Whigs gradually came to support an expansion of democracy for its own sake. The great figures of reformist Whiggery were Charles James Fox and his disciple, after decades in opposition, the Whigs returned to power under Grey in 1830 and carried the First Reform Act in 1832. The Reform Act was the climax of Whiggism, but it brought about the Whigs demise. As early as 1839 Russell had adopted the name of Liberals, the leading Radicals were John Bright and Richard Cobden, who represented the manufacturing towns which had gained representation under the Reform Act. They favoured social reform, personal liberty, reducing the powers of the Crown and the Church of England, avoidance of war and foreign alliances, for a century, free trade remained the one cause which could unite all Liberals. This allowed ministries led by Russell, Palmerston, and the Peelite Lord Aberdeen to hold office for most of the 1850s and 1860s, a leading Peelite was William Ewart Gladstone, who was a reforming Chancellor of the Exchequer in most of these governments. The formal foundation of the Liberal Party is traditionally traced to 1859 and this was brought about by Palmerstons death in 1865 and Russells retirement in 1868. After a brief Conservative government Gladstone won a victory at the 1868 election. The establishment of the party as a membership organisation came with the foundation of the National Liberal Federation in 1877. John Stuart Mill was a Liberal MP from 1865 to 1868, for the next thirty years Gladstone and Liberalism were synonymous. William Ewart Gladstone served as prime minister four times, called the Grand Old Man later in life, Gladstone was always a dynamic popular orator who appealed strongly to the working class and to the lower middle class
9.
United Kingdom general election, 1922
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The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on Wednesday 15 November 1922. R. Clynes, and a divided Liberal Party, the Conservatives had been in coalition with the National Liberals led by David Lloyd George until the previous month, at which point Andrew Bonar Law had formed a Conservative majority government. Most attention was focussed on the new and most recent Prime Ministers, asquiths daughter Violet Bonham-Carter, a prominent Liberal Party campaigner, likened the election to a contest between a man with sleeping sickness and a man with St Vitus Dance. Some Liberal candidates stood calling for a reunited Liberal Party whilst others appear to have backed both Asquith and Lloyd George, few sources are able to agree on exact numbers, and even in contemporary records held by the two groups, some MPs were claimed for both sides. It was the first election where Labour surpassed the strength of both Liberal parties in votes and seats. By one estimate, there were 29 seats where Liberals stood against one another. This is thought to have cost them at least 14 seats,10 of them to Labour, so in theory a reunited Liberal Party would have much closer to. However, in reality the two factions were on terms and Lloyd George was still hoping for a renewed coalition with the Conservatives. The Conservative party basically offered the continuation of the status quo with no new adventures, Bonar Laws Election Address stated, The crying need of the nation have this moment. The Labour Party proposed to nationalise the mines and railways, to impose a levy on financial capital and it promised a higher standard of living for workers, higher wages, and better housing. National Liberals were party formed by Lloyd Georges Coalition Liberals after leaving the government and their net seat change is compared with the Coalition Liberals number of seats after the 1918 election. All comparisons are with the 1918 election, in some cases the change is due to the MP defecting to the gaining party. Such circumstances are marked with a *, in other circumstances the change is due to the seat having been won by the gaining party in a by-election in the intervening years, and then retained in 1922. Such circumstances are marked with a † and it is impossible to compare seats in Northern Ireland because the number of seats there dropped so dramatically between the 1918 and 1922 elections. The Coalition Liberals of 1918 and National Liberals of 1922 are treated as a single party, W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts, 1832–1987 Jenkins, Roy. United Kingdom election results – summary results 1885–19791922 Conservative manifesto 1922 Labour manifesto 1922 Liberal manifesto
10.
Labour Party (UK)
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The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, beginning with a majority of 179. Having won 232 seats in the 2015 general election, the party is the Official Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the party also organises in Northern Ireland, but does not contest elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Labour Party is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party, the first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the Southwark by-election of 1870. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party. In the 1895 general election, the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates, Keir Hardie, the leader of the party, believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. Hardies roots as a lay preacher contributed to an ethos in the party led to the comment by 1950s General Secretary Morgan Phillips that Socialism in Britain owed more to Methodism than Marx. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, the meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations—trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee, meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and it had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 Khaki election came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively, only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful, Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby. Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, the judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. In their first meeting after the election the groups Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name The Labour Party formally, the Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement, the Peoples History Museum in Manchester holds the minutes of the first Labour Party meeting in 1906 and has them on display in the Main Galleries. Also within the museum is the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, the governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation
