Life in The UK英文版讲义Chapter 5 - The UK Government, the law and your role.docx

Chapter 5: The UK Government,the law and your roleDevelopment of British DemocracyThe UK Government, the law and your roleThe UK is a parliamentary democracy with the monarch as head of state. This section will tell you about the different institutions which make up the democratic system and explain how you can play part in the democratic process.The development of British democracyDemocracy is a system of government where the whole adult population gets a say. This might be by direct voting or by choosing representatives to make decisions on their behalf. At the turn of the 19th century, Britain was not a democracy as we know it today. Although there were elections to select members of Parliament (MPs), only a small group of people could vote. They were men who were over 21 years of age and who owned a certain amount of property.The franchise (that is, the number of people who had the right to vote) grew over the course of the 19th century and political parties began to involve men and women as members.In the 1830s and 1840s, a group called the Chartists campaigned for reform. They wanted six changes:for every man to have the voteelections every yearfor all regions to be equal in the electoral systemsecret ballotsfor any man to be able to stand as MPfor MPs to be paidAt the time, the campaign was generally seen as a failure. However, by 1918 most of these reforms had been adopted. The voting franchise was also extended to women over 30, and then in 1928 to men and women over 21. In 1969, the voting age was reduced to 18 for men and women. The British constitutionA constitution is a set of principles by which a country is governed. It includes all of the institutions that are responsible for running the country and how their power is kept in check. The constitution also includes laws and conventions. The British constitution is not written down in any single document, and therefore it is described as “unwritten”. This is mainly because the UK, unlike America or Fran