Dude, where's my government?

You might have seen around campus that the Liverpool Guild of Students was in the grip of ‘election fever’ in preparation for students choosing their new Guild Representative Officers for 2015-16. It was difficult to walk through the Guild or even across University Square without seeing banners, posters and people in t-shirts urging you to vote for one of the candidates. Voting is something that many people in Britain have an opinion on, but very rarely does everyone agree on it!

The Liverpool Guild of Students election is perfectly timed to give you an idea of what you can expect throughout the whole of April and early May. On the 7^th May 2015 the UK will be holding a ‘General Election’. This means that those with a right to vote in the UK will be asked to help choose who will represent them and form the government to run the UK. Everything begins on the 30 March when Parliament (the elected body that creates laws and governs the country) is officially ‘dissolved’. This means that until the election has taken place, the UK has no government! This can cause problems as it means that the country has no leadership and the government cannot simply ‘re-form’ should there be a national emergency or even war declared against the UK!

You can almost hear the crickets chirping...

Once Parliament is dissolved, the election campaign formally begins. In the city, and even here on campus, you will see many people promoting candidates from the various major and minor political parties. The Liverpool Guild of Students will be host to many political opinions and views, as every student will have their own thoughts on who should run the country, so it is likely that you will be given leaflets about the policies and promises of the candidates hoping to be elected for the Merseyside area. You will also see a campaign encouraging students to vote! Whilst most citizens in the UK have the right to vote, not everyone does. This can be for a variety of reasons; some feel that voting does not make a difference and that all of the politicians are the same, others feel that they do not know enough about the parties and their promises to make an informed decision, and some simply do not remember to vote or find the time to do it!

What you might be wondering by this stage is, “Do I, as an international student, get a vote?” and unfortunately the answer for the majority of you is “no”. To be eligible to vote in the UK you must be 18 years old or older, a British citizen (or a qualifying Commonwealth citizen or citizen of Republic of Ireland) and not be subject to any legal incapacity to vote (such as being in prison). You might feel that you should be able to vote, after all, you are living here and the UK government policies on immigration have a big impact on you!

You are not alone however as there are a number of groups unable to vote in the UK, such as the members of the House of Lords (a second body of government responsible for passing laws) and EU citizens (even if they have lived here for many years!). Although you cannot vote you can still get involved and help to promote a political party through leafleting and working in their campaign offices so look out for opportunities to do this if it interests you.

Are you interested in the politics of the UK? Do you think that you will get involved with one of the political parties? Do you have strong views for or against the system used in the UK or the parties themselves? Let us know in the comments below your thoughts on British politics!