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.