The office and role of Speaker
A research briefing on the office and role of the Speaker of the House of Commons

The SNP gained an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament in the elections on 5 May 2011. The paper provides data on voting trends and electoral turnout for constituencies, electoral regions, and for Scotland as a whole.
Scottish Parliament Elections: 2011 (2 MB , PDF)
In the elections of 5 May 2011 the SNP won an overall majority of seats (69 of 129) with 44.7% of the vote. Labour polled 29.0%, the Conservatives 13.1% and the Liberal Democrats 6.6%. 30 new SNP members were elected.
Labour has 37 MSPs, nine fewer than after the 2007 election; and seven fewer than if the 2007 election had been fought (notionally) on the 2011 boundaries. The Liberal Democrats saw a reduction in their vote share from 13.7% to 6.6%, and a reduction in their number of seats from 16 to 5. They held on to two constituency seats, in Orkney and Shetland. The Conservatives lost two seats compared to their actual 2007 performance, and were down by five seats compared to notional 2007 results.
Turnout was down on 2007, falling from 51.7% to 50.3% in the constituency ballot and 52.4% to 50.4% in the regional ballot.
Scottish Parliament Elections: 2011 (2 MB , PDF)
A research briefing on the office and role of the Speaker of the House of Commons
A briefing paper on the history of and procedure relating to Royal Assent, not just in the UK Parliament but in the devolved legislatures and for Church of England Measures.
Recall allows voters to remove an elected representative between elections by signing a petition. This briefing explains how UK recall petitions work.