Richard Cracknell

This briefing paper has now been superseded by RP14-10, which summarises Census data for all UK constituencies.

This briefing paper has now been superseded by RP14-10, which summarises Census data for all UK constituencies.

This note lists UK Parliament seats by marginality using results for the 2010 General Election. The results are taken from the Research Paper (RP10/36) General Election 2010

Social security legislation requires the Secretary of State to review benefit levels each year to determine whether they have retained their value relative to prices. For most benefits annual uprating is not mandatory, but historically governments have exercised their discretion by increasing the principal means-tested working-age benefits each April in line with prices. In his 2012 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced that increases in most working-age benefits would be limited to 1% a year for three years from 2013-14, as part of a package to deliver additional welfare savings of £3.7 billion a year by 2015-16. The Bill amends primary legislation to enable the decisions on uprating in 2014-15 and 2015-16 to be implemented.

State pension, benefits and tax credits increase in April 2013 - this note sets out how the new rates are calculated

The Public Service Pensions Bill would establish a framework enabling the Government to introduce new public service pension schemes.

This paper presents an overview of results from UK elections since 1918, including elections to the House of Commons, the European Parliament, devolved bodies and local government.

Local elections took place in 181 local authorities on 3 May 2012. Almost 4,900 council seats were up for election in 128 local authorities in England, 32 unitary authorities in Scotland and 21 unitary authorities in Wales.

How is measurement of well-being or "happiness" being investigated in the UK to complement more traditional measures of progress?

This note sets out where elections will take place across the UK in 2012.

Article discussion the implications of the June 2010 Budget Coalition Government announcement that the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) would be used to uprate benefits, and state pensions, including public service pensions.

The Sovereign Grant Bill concerns the way in which the monarchy is funded. It seeks to replace the Civil List and other grants that support the Queen’s official duties with a new Sovereign Grant, based on a percentage of the profits of the Crown Estate. The new grant is designed to deliver at first a broadly similar level of finance in cash terms to what is available at present. There are mechanisms for adjusting the level in future, and for using any significant surplus as a means to reduce the grant. The Sovereign Grant is intended to be a typical government grant that will lead to the royal finances being audited by the National Audit Office, and subjected to full parliamentary scrutiny.

This paper has been prepared for the Second Reading debate in the House of Commons on the Pensions Bill and outlines the main changes to the paper.

Elections on 5 May 2011 resulted in little change in the overall party composition of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Gains and losses by individual parties involved just one or two seats. 108 Assembly Members were elected by Single Transferrable Vote, 6 Members for each of 18 constituencies. Following the 2011 elections the two largest parties in the Assembly are the DUP (38 MLAs) and Sinn Féin (29 MLAs).

No single party won an overall majority at the 2010 General Election, for the first time in the UK since February 1974. The Conservatives won the most seats, 306, a net change of 96 compared with notional 2005 general election results. Labour were down by 90 seats, leaving them with 258, while the Liberal Democrat total of 57 was five fewer than 2005. General Election 2010 provides detailed analysis of the results of the 2010 General Election. The data for votes cast and electorates agree with the official results published by the Electoral Commission. This Research Paper replaces the analysis published on 8 July 2010 which used provisional data.