ABSTRACT

For more than 50 years, central government in the UK has been led by ministers of one or other of two parties – Labour and the Conservatives. While one has been Her Majesty’s Government, the other has formed Her Majesty’s Official Opposition in the Commons. The Liberal Democrats have relatively few MPs in the UK Parliament, but they do participate in running a large number of local authorities and, in coalition with Labour, are members of the Scottish Executive (see above, 2.5.2) and Welsh Assembly (see above, 2.7).