British politics today marked by turbulence and change

In Britain, the small Green Party won its first by-election.

A by-election takes place between general elections when a seat becomes available among the 650 members of the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament. The upper house is the House of Lords.

At the end of February, Greens candidate Hannah Spencer, a plumber and local government council member, scored a surprise victory in the by-election in the Gorton and Denton constituency in Greater Manchester.

Manchester was once a major manufacturing center in the heart of England. This constituency was created in 2024 following an extensive review and redrawing of the boundaries of seats in the House of Commons. Manchester, struggling economically and facing industrial decline, was once a Labor Party stronghold.

Not anymore. Times have changed radically.

WS Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, the great British musical impresarios of the Victorian era, declared in their 1882 light opera “Iolanthe” that Britain was admirably bipartisan politically:

“Every boy and girl born alive in the world is either a little liberal or a little conservative. » The Conservative Party and the Liberal Party dominated the country during the Victorian era, through most of the 19th century and into the 20th century.

However, even then, the overall political environment was changing, and ultimately dramatically.

Although Britain’s government was generally stable, there was at times sustained violent pressure to grant independence to Ireland. Most of Ireland gained independence in 1921, after a sustained struggle. Protestant Northern Ireland remained with Great Britain to constitute the United Kingdom.

Moreover, at the beginning of this century, the Labor Party replaced the Liberal Party.

Today, the environment of bipartisan stability is changing even more. Both major parties are in decline. An early indicator was the long-term revival of the Liberal Party and now its successor Liberal Democrats, as well as the Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties, which began in the 1960s.

Turbulence and unpredictability are now the order of the day, as evidenced by Gorton and Denton.

In the 2010 general election, neither major party achieved a clear majority in the House of Commons, a first in British politics since the Second World War. The result was a coalition government from 2010 to 2015 involving the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats, the first coalition since the special multi-party government during the war.

Today, British politics is gradually dividing into several parties, and no longer two or even three. Brexit, the agonizing effort to break free from the contentious European Union, divided the ruling Conservative Party and then divided the Labor Party as well.

It is important to keep in mind that the British have maintained their institutions and the rule of law, even as alternative parties and models emerge. In our time, the British have maintained stability through institutional and political reforms, generally peaceful. The regional assemblies of Scotland and Wales are one result.

Professor Sir John Curtice of the University of Strathclyde in Scotland says Ms Spencer’s victory shows the collapse of traditional support for the Labor Party among working-class and ethnic populations. Sir John is an increasingly visible and influential expert on politics and opinion trends, who is also helping to raise the profile of the University of Strathclyde internationally and nationally.

Yet as British politics evolves, the long-term success of its representative government and competitive partisan democracy is enduring and undeniable.

Britain’s fundamental stability contrasts with some trends in Europe – and the United States

Arthur I. Cyr is the author of “After the Cold War – American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia” (NYU Press and Palgrave/Macmillan). Contact acyr@carthage.edu.