The UK general election will take place on May 7, 2015. It is an exciting election because the results between the two largest parties, Labour and Conservatives, could be very close. It is also the first election since the 2010 vote in which the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government that enacted spending cuts to public services, which have been controversial. The different parties have different views on inequality in the UK, with Labour most concerned about the gap between rich and poor and favoring higher taxes on the wealthy, Conservatives believing inequality is acceptable as long as overall wealth rises, and Liberal Democrats taking a middle position.

1. Inequality and the UK General Election
Background facts
May 7th
2015
Election Date:

2. Inequality and the UK General Election
Background facts
5
years
Elections take place every

3. Inequality and the UK General Election
Background facts
The Conservative Party and
The Liberal Democrats
joined together to make the
new Government.
The last election was in 2010.

4. Inequality and the UK General Election
Background facts
18
to vote
You must be

5. Inequality and the UK General Election
Background facts
There are three main
political parties:

6. Inequality and the UK General Election
Background facts
There are also lots
of smaller parties,
including:

7. Inequality and the UK General Election
Background facts
Each party uses a different
colour to identify itself

8. Inequality and the UK General Election
Background facts
This year’s election
is exciting for
two reasons…

9. Inequality and the UK General Election
Background facts
reason number 1
It is very hard to guess who will win.
Sometimes it is clear which party will get the
most votes. This time it looks like the two biggest
parties – Labour and the Conservatives – have
similar amounts of support.
So the result could be really close.

10. Inequality and the UK General Election
Background facts
reason number 2
Big things have happened since the last election.
The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats were
worried that the government was spending more than it
could afford, so have made cuts to some public services
(like payments to people without a job). Some people
think this was a good move, but others are angry.
The election will give everyone a chance to vote
on whether the cuts were right or not.

11. Inequality and the UK General Election
Background facts
The Labour
Party says
these cuts have
been unfair.
It claims that the
government has let the
rich pay less tax and cut
public services used by
ordinary people.
It says that the
government has done too
little about inequality.

12. Inequality and the UK General Election
Background facts
Inequality
is any sort of gap between one person,
group or area and another.
In British politics it usually refers to the gap
between people who earn a lot of money and
people who earn less.

13. Inequality and the UK General Election
Background facts
The different political
parties have different
views on inequality.

14. Inequality and the UK General Election
Background facts
The Conservative Party tends to think
that it matters relatively little,
as long as everyone is getting richer.
It has cut the tax that the richest people pay, but also points out that
the country as a whole is getting richer. Its MPs are more likely to
say that successful people should earn much more than others,
because that encourages everyone to work harder and be successful.

15. Inequality and the UK General Election
Background facts
The Labour Party tends to be more
concerned by the size of the gap.
It tends to be more in favour of the government taxing the rich to
give some of their wealth to the rest.
It says that if it wins the election, it will do more to reduce inequality
than the current government. For example, it plans to increase tax
on people who live in very expensive houses.

16. Inequality and the UK General Election
Background facts
The Liberal Democrat party is
somewhere between the two.
Some of its MPs think more like the Labour ones,
others more like the Conservative ones.