Sir George Iain Duncan Smith, often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who was Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2010 to 2016. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Chingford and Woodford Green, formerly Chingford, since 1992.
The welfare state of the United Kingdom began to evolve in the 1900s and early 1910s, and comprises expenditures by the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland intended to improve health, education, employment and social security. The British system has been classified as a liberal welfare state system.
Frank Ernest Field, Baron Field of Birkenhead, was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Birkenhead for 40 years, from 1979 to 2019, serving as a Labour MP until 2018 and thereafter sitting as an independent. In 2019, he formed the Birkenhead Social Justice Party and stood unsuccessfully as its sole candidate in the 2019 election. After leaving the House of Commons, he was awarded a life peerage in 2020 and sat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher.
James Francis Murphy is a Scottish former politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2014 to 2015 and Secretary of State for Scotland from 2008 to 2010. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for East Renfrewshire, formerly Eastwood, from 1997 to 2015. He identifies as a social democrat and has expressed support for a foreign policy of Western interventionism. He has been described as being on the political right of the Labour Party.
Stewart Hosie is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dundee East from 2005 to 2024. He served as the SNP Treasury Spokesperson from 2022 to 2023, and previously from 2015 to 2017. He served as the SNP Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office since 2021. He served as Deputy Leader of the SNP to Nicola Sturgeon from November 2014 to October 2016. He was also the SNP Deputy Westminster Leader and the SNP Treasury Spokesperson from May 2015, until he was succeeded in both positions by Kirsty Blackman in June 2017.
James Anthony Kelly is a Scottish politician who has served as General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021. He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region between 2016 and 2021, having previously been MSP for Rutherglen from 2007 to 2016.
This article concerns the policies, views and voting record of David Cameron, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and former Foreign Secretary in the Sunak ministry. Cameron describes himself as a "modern compassionate conservative" and has said that he is "fed up with the Punch and Judy politics of Westminster". He has stated that he is "certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite." Our Society, Your Life, a 2007 policy statement for the Conservative Party launched shortly after David Cameron became leader of the party, has been seen by some as a triangulation of Conservative ideology with that of Tony Blair's New Labour, linking into the idea of the Third Way and an attempted revival of one-nation conservatism. There have been claims that he described himself to journalists at a dinner during the leadership contest as the "Heir to Blair", and Cameron stated in 2005 that he did not intend to oppose the Labour government as a matter of course, and will offer his support in areas of agreement. He also wants to move the Conservatives focus away from purely fiscal matters, saying "It's time we admitted that there's more to life than money, and it's time we focused not just on GDP, but on GWB – general well-being". However, commentators have questioned the degree to which Cameron and his coalition have embodied this, instead locating them in the intellectual tradition of Thatcherism. However, Cameron has claimed to be a "liberal Conservative", and "not a deeply ideological person".
The British Labour Party grew out of the trade union movement of the late 19th century and surpassed the Liberal Party as the main opposition to the Conservatives in the early 1920s. In the 1930s and 1940s, it stressed national planning, using nationalisation of industry as a tool, in line with Clause IV of the original constitution of the Labour Party which called for the "common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service".
Scottish devolution is the process of the UK Parliament granting powers to the devolved Scottish Parliament. Prior to the advent of devolution, some had argued for a Scottish Parliament within the United Kingdom – while others have since advocated for complete independence. The people of Scotland first got the opportunity to vote in a referendum on proposals for devolution in 1979 and, although a majority of those voting voted 'Yes', the referendum legislation also required 40% of the electorate to vote 'Yes' for the plans to be enacted and this was not achieved. A second referendum opportunity in 1997, this time on a strong proposal, resulted in an overwhelming 'Yes' victory, leading to the Scotland Act 1998 being passed and the Scottish Parliament being established in 1999.
The bedroom tax is a United Kingdom welfare policy whereby tenants living in public housing with rooms deemed "spare" experience a reduction in Housing Benefit, resulting in them being obliged to fund this reduction from their incomes, move home, or face rent arrears and potential eviction by their landlord. The policy was introduced as part of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 passed during the Premiership of David Cameron. Bedroom tax is the most commonly used term for the policy, especially by critics of the changes who argue that they amount to a tax because of the lack of social housing for affected tenants to downsize to. The bedroom tax is also referred to as the under-occupancy penalty, under occupation penalty, under-occupancy charge,under-occupation charge or size criteria.
Mhairi Black is a Scottish politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in the House of Commons from 2022 to 2024, and as a Member of Parliament for Paisley and Renfrewshire South from 2015 to 2024.
Philippa Whitford is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician and a breast surgeon. Originally from Northern Ireland, she was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Ayrshire in May 2015 and was re-elected in 2017 and 2019. Whitford stood down at the 2024 general election. She previously served as the SNP Spokesperson for Scotland from December 2022 to September 2023.
Corraine Wilson is a Scottish politician who served as the Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock from 2015 to 2017.
Catherine Jane Smith is a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) since 2015, representing Lancaster and Wyre since 2024 after her former constituency, Lancaster and Fleetwood, was abolished. She was a member of the shadow cabinets led by Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer from 2016 to 2021 as Shadow Secretary of State, previously Shadow Minister, for Young People and Democracy.
Peter Christopher Dowd is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bootle since 2015. From 2017 to 2020, he served as the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Melanie Onn is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes since 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she previously served as MP for Great Grimsby from 2015 to 2019.
Imran Hussain is a British independent, previously Labour politician, and barrister who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bradford East since 2015.
The benefit cap is a UK welfare policy that limits the amount in state benefits that an individual household can claim per year. It was introduced by the Cameron–Clegg coalition government in 2013 as part of the coalition government's wide-reaching welfare reform agenda which included the introduction of Universal Credit and reforms of housing benefit and disability benefits. The government cited wide public support for the measure, despite it being highly controversial. The benefit cap primarily affects families with children, high rents, or both. By 2024, two-thirds of the families affected by the cap were single-parent families, half of which had a child under five.
Monica Lennon is a Scottish politician who has served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Central Scotland region since 2016. A member of the Scottish Labour Party, she has served in various roles on the Scottish Labour front bench. She was the Scottish Labour Spokesperson for Health and Sport from 2018 to 2021, Scottish Labour Spokesperson for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work from March 2021 to June 2021 and Scottish Labour Spokesperson for Net Zero, Energy and Transport from June 2021 to November 2021. She was a candidate in the 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election and currently serves on the Scottish Parliament's Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee.
On 23 July 2024, the British Labour Party withdrew the whip from 7 of its MPs who had supported an amendment tabled by the Scottish National Party Westminster leader Stephen Flynn to scrap the two child benefit cap. MPs rejected the SNP amendment by 363 votes to 103.
