Study Hub

Study Guides

This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.

Back to Study HubBrowse Year 8 Citizenship Guides

Year 8 - Citizenship

What happens after a general election?

How does the political system work in the UK?

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils learn about the roles of government and parliament and how they are organised. They explore how elections work and what the role of political parties and MPs are.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to explain what happens after a general election and describe what majority, minority and coalition governments are.

Key Notes

  • A general election in the UK is when MPs are voted for by people in their constituency.
  • After a general election, the Prime Minister is accepted by the monarch and is invited to make a government.
  • Governments may be run with a majority, minority or coalition.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • election: when people vote to choose their leaders or representatives
  • Prime Minister: the leader of the political party who is in power and head of the Government
  • majority: holds more than half of the total seats in a legislative body, such as a Parliament
  • coalition: a government formed jointly by more than one political party
  • minority: a government formed by a political party that does not have an overall majority of MPs

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • The party that wins the most seats will form the Government and have all the power.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain the lesson in two key points.

A general election in the UK is when MPs are voted for by people in their constituency. After a general election, the Prime Minister is accepted by the monarch and is invited to make a government.

2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'election'

when people vote to choose their leaders or representatives.

3. Correct this common mistake.

Mistake: The party that wins the most seats will form the Government and have all the power. Correction: If a party does not have the majority of seats (50%+1) in Parliament, they may not be able to form a government. They might have to form a formal coalition or a voting agreement with a smaller party to get the majority. Power may have to be shared.

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 8 Citizenship guide library.