As part of the United Kingdom the basic political system in England is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. There has not been a Government of England since 1707, when the Acts of Union 1707, putting into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union, joined the England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.[42] Before the union England was ruled by its monarch and the Parliament of England. Today however England is governed directly by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, while other countries of the United Kingdom have devolved governments which England does not have.[47] In the House of Commons which is the lower house of the British Parliament based at the Palace of Westminster, there are 529 Members of Parliament for constituencies in England, out of the 646 total.[48] In the United Kingdom general election, 2005 the Labour Party had the most MPs elected in England with 284, while the Conservative Party had 194 MPs elected although they received a larger percentage of the popular vote than any other party with 35.7%.[49] The third largest party are the Liberal Democrats who had 47 MPs elected. Respect and Heath Concern each have one MP, and there is an Independent Labour member originally elected for Labour.[49] The two largest parties are led by Gordon Brown for Labour and David Cameron for Conservatives.
As the United Kingdom is a member of the European Union, there are elections held regionally in England to decide who is sent as Members of the European Parliament. The 2009 European Parliament election saw the regions of England elect the following MEPs: twenty-three Conservatives, ten Labour, nine United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), nine Liberal Democrats, two Greens and two British National Party (BNP).[50] Since devolution, in which other countries of the United Kingdom—Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland—each have their own devolved parliament or assemblies for local issues, there has been debate about how to counterbalance this in England. Originally it was planned that various regions of England would be devolved, but this was rejected in a referendum. One major issue is the West Lothian question, in which MPs from Scotland and Wales are able to vote on legislation effecting only Engand, while English MPs have no equivalent right to legislate on devolved matters.[52] This when placed in the context of England being the only country of the United Kingdom not to have free cancer treatment, prescriptions, residential care for the elderly and free top-up university fees,[53] has led to a steady rise in English nationalism.[54] Some have suggested the creation of a devolved English parliament,[55] while others have proposed simply limiting voting on legislation which only effects England to English MPs.
