1.
County council
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A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has different meanings in different countries. County councils were formed in the late 19th century, in the various constituent countries of the United Kingdom councils had different powers and different memberships. Following local government reforms in the 1970s, county councils no longer exist in Scotland or Northern Ireland, in England they generally form the top level in a two-tier system of administration, in Wales they are unitary authorities. In England county councils were introduced in 1889, and reformed in 1974, since the mid-1990s a series of local government reorganisations has reduced the number of county councils as unitary authorities have been established in a number of areas. Until the 1990s they also ran colleges of education and the careers services. That decade also saw the privatisation of some services, such as highway maintenance, cleaning. County councils were created by the Local Government Act 1888, largely taking over the functions of the unelected county courts of quarter sessions. County councils consisted of councillors, directly elected by the electorate, there was one county alderman for every three councillors. The first elections to the councils were held at various dates in January 1889, and they served as provisional or shadow councils until 1 April, elections of all councillors and half of the aldermen took place every three years thereafter. The areas over which the councils had authority were designated as administrative counties, the writ of the county councils did not extend everywhere, large towns and some historic counties corporate were constituted county boroughs by the same act. County borough councils were independent of the council for the county in which they were geographically situated, the new system was a major modernisation, which reflected the increasing range of functions carried out by local government in late Victorian Britain. A major accretion of powers took place when education was added to county council responsibilities in 1902, County councils were responsible for more strategic services in a region, with smaller urban district councils and rural district councils responsible for other activities. The Local Government Act 1929 considerably increased the powers of county councils, in 1965 there was a reduction in the number of county councils. The London Government Act 1963 abolished those of London and Middlesex, Greater London was declared to be an area and not to lie in any county. The Local Government Act 1972 completely reorganised local authorities in England, County boroughs were abolished and the whole of England was placed in a two-tier arrangement with county councils and district councils. In the six largest conurbations metropolitan county councils, with increased powers, were created, the post of county alderman was abolished, and the entire council was thereafter directly elected every four years. In 1986 the six county councils were abolished, with their functions transferred to the metropolitan boroughs
2.
Conservative Party (UK)
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The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a political party in the United Kingdom. It is currently the party, having won a majority of seats in the House of Commons at the 2015 general election. The partys leader, Theresa May, is serving as Prime Minister. It is the largest party in government with 8,702 councillors. The Conservative Party is one of the two major political parties in the United Kingdom, the other being its modern rival. The Conservative Partys platform involves support for market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defence, deregulation. In the 1920s, the Liberal vote greatly diminished and the Labour Party became the Conservatives main rivals, Conservative Prime Ministers led governments for 57 years of the twentieth century, including Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. Thatchers tenure led to wide-ranging economic liberalisation, the Conservative Partys domination of British politics throughout the twentieth century has led to them being referred to as one of the most successful political parties in the Western world. The Conservatives are the joint-second largest British party in the European Parliament, with twenty MEPs, the party is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe Europarty and the International Democrat Union. The party is the second-largest in the Scottish Parliament and the second-largest in the Welsh Assembly, the party is also organised in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The Conservative Party traces its origins to a faction, rooted in the 18th century Whig Party and they were known as Independent Whigs, Friends of Mr Pitt, or Pittites. After Pitts death the term Tory came into use and this was an allusion to the Tories, a political grouping that had existed from 1678, but which had no organisational continuity with the Pittite party. From about 1812 on the name Tory was commonly used for the newer party, the term Conservative was suggested as a title for the party by a magazine article by J. Wilson Croker in the Quarterly Review in 1830. The name immediately caught on and was adopted under the aegis of Sir Robert Peel around 1834. Peel is acknowledged as the founder of the Conservative Party, which he created with the announcement of the Tamworth Manifesto, the term Conservative Party rather than Tory was the dominant usage by 1845. In 1912, the Liberal Unionists merged with the Conservative Party, in Ireland, the Irish Unionist Alliance had been formed in 1891 which merged anti-Home Rule Unionists into one political movement. Its MPs took the Conservative whip at Westminster, and in essence formed the Irish wing of the party until 1922. The Conservatives served with the Liberals in an all-party coalition government during World War I, keohane finds that the Conservatives were bitterly divided before 1914, especially on the issue of Irish Unionism and the experience of three consecutive election losses
3.
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
4.
Liberal Democrats (UK)
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The Liberal Democrats are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. The party was formed in 1988 as a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party, at the 2015 general election, the party was reduced to eight MPs. Nick Clegg resigned as leader and Tim Farron won the subsequent leadership election, the party currently has nine MPs, following the Richmond Park by-election. The Alliance was led by David Steel and Roy Jenkins, Jenkins was replaced by David Owen, the two parties had their own policies and emphases, but produced a joint manifesto for the 1983 and 1987 general elections. Following disappointing results in the 1987 election, Steel proposed to merge the two parties, although opposed by Owen, it was supported by a majority of members of both parties, and they formally merged in March 1988, with Steel and Robert Maclennan as joint interim leaders. The new party was initially named Social and Liberal Democrats with the short form The Democrats being used from September 1988. The name was changed to Liberal Democrats in October 1989. The new party logo, the Bird of Liberty, was adopted in 1989, the party is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and Liberal International. The then-serving Liberal MP Paddy Ashdown was elected leader in July 1988, at the 1989 European Elections, the party received only 6% of the vote, putting them in fourth place after the Green Party. They failed to gain a single Member of the European Parliament at this election, over the next three years, the party recovered under Ashdowns leadership. They performed better at the 1990 local elections and in by-elections—including at Eastbourne in 1990, Ribble Valley in 1991, the Lib Dems did not reach the share of national votes in the 1990s that the Alliance had achieved in the 1980s. At their first election in 1992, they won 17. 8% of the vote, in the 1994 European Elections, the party gained its first two Members of European Parliament. The election was, however, something of a point for the Liberal Democrats. Ashdown retired as leader in 1999 and the party elected Charles Kennedy as his replacement, the party improved on their 1997 results at the 2001 general election, increasing their number of seats to 52 and their share of the vote to 18. 3%. The party won seats from Labour in by-elections in Brent East in 2003 and Leicester South in 2004, under Kennedys leadership the majority of Pro-Euro Conservatives, a group of former members of the Conservatives, joined the Liberal Democrats on 10 December 2001. At the 2005 general election, the Lib Dems gained their highest share of the vote since the SDP–Liberal Alliance and won 62 seats. Many had anticipated that this election would be the Lib Dems breakthrough at Westminster, party activists hoped to better the 25% support of the 1983 election, or to reach 100 MPs. Much of the apparent lack of success resulted from the first-past-the-post electoral system, controversy became associated with the campaign when it became known that Michael Brown had donated £2.4 million to the Liberal Democrats
5.
Plurality voting
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The plurality voting system is a system in which each voter is allowed to vote for only one candidate, and the candidate who polls the most among their counterparts is elected. In a system based on single-member districts, it may be called first-past-the-post, single-choice voting, in a system based on multi-member districts, it may be referred to as winner-takes-all or bloc voting. The system is used to elect members of a legislative assembly or executive officers. It is the most common form of the system, and is used in Canada, the house in India, the United Kingdom. Plural voting is distinguished from a majority voting system, in which, to win, more votes than all other candidates combined. In some countries such as France a two-ballot or runoff election plurality system is used and this may require two rounds of voting. If on the first round no candidate receives over 50% of the votes, then a second round takes place and this ensures that the winner gains a majority of votes in the second round. Alternatively, all candidates above a threshold in the first round may compete in the second round. If there are more than two standing, then a plurality vote may decide the result. In political science, the use of the plurality voting system with multiple and this combination is also variously referred to as winner-takes-all to contrast it with proportional representation systems. This term is also used to refer to elections for multiple winners in a particular constituency using bloc voting. Plurality voting is particularly prevalent in the United Kingdom and former British colonies, including the United States, Canada and this makes the plurality voting system among the simplest of all voting systems for voters and vote counting officials. Under the plurality system, the winner of the election becomes the representative of the entire electoral district. In an election for a seat, such as for president in a presidential system, the same style of ballot is used. In the two-round voting system, usually the two highest polling candidates in the first ballot progress to the second round Run-off ballot, in a multiple member plurality election, with n seats available, the winners are the n candidates with the highest numbers of votes. The rules may allow the voter to vote for one candidate, or for up to n candidates, generally plurality ballots can be categorized into two forms. The simplest form is a ballot where the name of a candidate is written in by hand. A more structured ballot will list all the candidates and allow a mark to be next to the name of a single candidate
6.
New Road, Oxford
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New Road is a street in west central Oxford, England. It links Park End Street and Worcester Street to the west with Queen Street, to the south is Oxford Castle and the former Oxford Prison, now a Malmaison hotel. To the north is Nuffield College, a college of Oxford University. At the eastern end on the side is New County Hall. New Road was built in 1769-70 as a new road between central Oxford and the west. It bypassed the earlier and narrower Hythe Bridge Street to the north and it was built through what remained of the northern outer ramparts and ditch of Oxford Castle, but Christ Church, Oxford preserved the 11th-century castle mount as a venerable monument of antiquity. From 1790 there was a wharf at the end of the Oxford Canal on the north side of New Road. Nuffield College was built on the site of the wharf between 1951 and 1960, the canal is now truncated on the north side of Hythe Bridge Street. County Hall was built just east of Oxford Castle in 1840-41, the architect John Plowman designed it in a Norman Revival style with crenellations to complement the castle. St. Peter-le-Bailey Parish School was built in 1849 on the corner of New Road, increasing traffic on New Road made this an unsatisfactory site for a school so in 1898 an appeal was launched for funds to move to new premises. This enabled the school to relocate to a site in New Inn Hall Street, in 1911-12 new offices for the County Councils Education Department were built on the former school site. The architect W. A. Daft designed the building, which is of brick with yellow Bath Stone quoins and other details. It is now the Oxfordshire County Register Office, the Oxfordshire Militia Armoury and Drill Hall was built just west of the castle in 1854. It too was designed with crenellations to complement the castle, in case by J. C. Buckler. After 1857 the building was transferred to the newly founded Oxfordshire County Constabulary as its headquarters, in 1969 it was demolished and replaced by Macclesfield House, a building of precast concrete which until the 2000s was one of the offices of Oxfordshire County Council. On the north side of New Road is a small Gothic Revival building designed by Charles Buckeridge and it was first a court house, then the Probate Registry, and is now private offices. Early in the 1970s, Castle Street was realigned and New County Hall was built on the corner of Castle Street, New County Hall, like Macclesfield House, was designed by the Oxfordshire County Architect. Buildings of Nuffield College, Oxford Crossley, Alan, Elrington, C. R. Chance, Eleanor, Colvin, Christina, Cooper, Janet, Day, C. J. Hassall, a History of the County of Oxford, Volume 4
7.
Local government
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Local government is a form of public administration which, in a majority of contexts, exists as the lowest tier of administration within a given state. Local governments generally act within powers delegated to them by legislation or directives of the level of government. The question of autonomy is a key question of public administration. The institutions of government vary greatly between countries, and even where similar arrangements exist, the terminology often varies. Local government traditionally had limited power in Egypts highly centralized state, under the central government were twenty-six governorates. These were subdivided into districts and villages or towns, at each level, there was a governing structure that combined representative councils and government-appointed executive organs headed by governors, district officers, and mayors, respectively. Governors were appointed by the president, and they, in turn, the coercive backbone of the state apparatus ran downward from the Ministry of Interior through the governors executive organs to the district police station and the village headman. The extension of officials into the countryside permitted the regime to bring development, State penetration did not retreat under Sadat and Mubarak. The earlier effort to mobilize peasants and deliver services disappeared as the party and cooperative withered. The local power of the old families and the headmen revived, the district police station balanced the notables, and the system of local government integrated them into the regime. Sadat took several measures to decentralize power to the provinces and towns, governors acquired more authority under Law Number 43 of 1979, which reduced the administrative and budgetary controls of the central government over the provinces. The elected councils acquired, at least formally, the right to approve or disapprove the local budget, in an effort to reduce local demands on the central treasury, local government was given wider powers to raise local taxes. But local representative councils became vehicles of pressure for government spending, under Mubarak decentralization and local autonomy became more of a reality, and local policies often reflected special local conditions. Thus, officials in Upper Egypt often bowed to the powerful Islamic movement there, in recent years, Mali has undertaken an ambitious decentralization program, which involves the capital district of Bamako, seven regions subdivided into 46 cercles, and 682 rural community districts. The state retains a role in administrative and fiscal matters, and it provides technical support, coordination. Opportunities for direct participation, and increased local responsibility for development have been improved. In August–September 1998, elections were held for urban council members, in May/June 1999, citizens of the communes elected their communal council members for the first time. Female voter turnout was about 70% of the total, and observers considered the process open, eventually, the cercles will be reinstituted with a legal and financial basis of their own
