Parliament makes laws, sets taxes, and debates issues. There are two houses, The House of Commons and The House of Lords.

There are 650 members of the House of Commons who are elected by the public. This House proposes new laws, debates policies, and represents the issues and concerns of the people.

The House of Lords is the second House of Parliament. Lords make laws, carefully consider public policies, and hold government to task on all issues. 

 Queen Elizabeth II's real name is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. Queen Elizabeth was born on April 21, 1926 in London, England. She died in Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland on September 8, 2022. She was the queen of the United Kingdom form February 6, 1952- September 8, 2022. She was queen for 70 years. This is longer than any female monarch in history and the longest of any British monarch. 

• Immigration (many want immigration reduced, because it is impacting jobs and services)

• Race relations

• Cost of living crisis (inflation is driving up the costs of goods and services)

• High energy prices

• Worker strikes (insufficient wages)

The UK withdrew from the EU (European Union). The EU was created so European countries could follow the same economic rules. This made trade and immigration easier. After a financial crisis in 2008, many countries were in debt and other countries in the EU had to help them out. Since the UK was a wealthy country, they had to help more than others. After the financial crisis, many people in England were unhappy because of the bailout and because of the large numbers of people that were coming to England. The country voted to leave the EU. It was a slim vote. It is not clear what the impact will be in the long-term. Immigration may lessen but it will be harder to trade with members of the EU. This issue divided the country and the political parties.

The Conservative Party is more "right" leaning and has connections to trade unions. This party is against devolution, which is where power is transferred to local governments.  This party was in favor of Brexit.

The Labour party is "left"  to "centrist" leaning and is the party of the labour or working class. It has socialist and democratic ideals and wants to distribute the wealth of the country. It fights for services to help working class people.