Which party forms the current government today?

Answer 1

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have formed a government after the Conservatives fell slightly short of a majority.

David Cameron is currently prime minister and Nick Clegg is deputy prime minister.

Answer 2

In order for form a government, a political party must be able to "command the confidence and supply of the Commons" - this means it must have enough seats (Members of Parliament) in the House of Commons, which is the lower and more powerful house of Parliament, to pass most of the laws it wants to enact, survive any challenge to its right to govern by another party and - perhaps most importantly - pass a budget each year.

In practice, this means that a party have an overall majority - half plus one - of seats in the House of Commons in order to form a government. Governments are thus usually formed after a general election, which must take place every five years except for extraordinary circumstances, when every seat in the Commons is up for election. Such elections usually see one of the UK's two major political parties - the Labour Party or the Conservative Party - win an overall majority, and thus form a government with their leader as Prime Minister. As long as that party remains in control of more than half the seats in the Commons, it is able to govern securely.

Sometimes however, elections can produce what is known as a hung parliament, in which no party wins an overall majority and thus deciding who forms the government is not so straight forward. This has only happened three times since the Second World War - in 1951, Feb 1974 and most recently in 2010.

In the event of a hung parliament, the government is usually formed by the largest party in the House of Commons in one of two ways. If the party in question was quite close to winning an overall majority, it can form a minority government - a single-party government without a majority. Minority governments are usually unstable and short lived because they have a great deal of difficulty passing legislation. Typically, minority governments negotiate supply and confidence agreements with smaller political parties; in these agreements, a smaller party agrees to vote with the government on any budget or major law it proposes to ensure it can stay in power, usually in exchange for having some of its policies implemented. This happened in February 1974, when the Labour Party formed a government after falling 17 seats short of a majority, though it was unable to negotiate any supply and confidence arrangements and was thus forced into an election just eight months later.

The other option is to form a coalition government, where multiple parties join together to form a government, with the Cabinet being made up of a mix of ministers from all the parties involved. This happened in 2010, when the Conservative Party formed a coalition with the third-placed Liberal Democrats after the former fell 20 seat short of winning outright - the resulting government pursued a mix of Conservative and Liberal policies, though come the next election, the two parties will separate and contest the ballot individually against each other. This also happened in 1951, though in slightly different circumstances, as the Conservatives were all ready allied to their coalition partner (the Liberal National Party).

It should be noted that due to the size of the House of Commons - no less than 600 MPs at any one time in its history - deaths, resignations and retirements in between general elections are common. All of these events result in by-elections, where a vacant seat elects a new member to serve until the next general election. The frequency of by-elections in UK politics can be problematic for governments with small majorities; if the government loses several seats to the opposition through by-elections, it could potentially lose its majority and be forced into an early general election that it might lose. Similarly, it is very difficult to get every MP in the House of Commons in London at the same time, save for key events like the budget. Thus, a government needs a majority of at least about 15 to govern successfully throughout the year.

An example of a government losing its majority and being forced out of power is 1979, when Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives ousted the ruling Labour Party in a vote of no confidence. The Government was defeated by a single vote and forced into an election that it lost. If this happens in a Parliament where the two top parties are reasonably close in seat numbers, then the largest opposition party could feasibly form a government without an election - this was once common place in Britain due to frequent defections and by-elections but has not happened since 1929 (and in that instance, the same Prime Minister remained in power).

Answer 3

In the UK the current (2009) government is the Labour Party.

Answer 4

after an election,which party forms the goverment

Answer 5

Republicans and democrats

Answer 6

boh