/r/ukpolitics
Political news and debate concerning the United Kingdom.
The rules of the subreddit can be found in detail here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/wiki/rules
Political articles and debate concerning the United Kingdom.
Anything not specifically concerning politics in the UK or geopolitics involving the UK will be considered spam and removed.
While robust debate is encouraged, at least try to keep things civil. This sub is for people with a wide variety of views, and as such you will come across content, views and people you don't agree with. Political views from a wide spectrum are tolerated here.
Articles from paywalled sites should be linked to directly, and a copy/paste, screenshot or outline.com provided in the comments. Full credit to the author and publication should be given.
New: you must bring ID when you vote in England or UK parliamentary elections
Learn what ID is accepted, and what to do if you don't have any
You need to be on the electoral register to vote in elections and referendums.
Information on voting in the United Kingdom
Resources
House of Commons Library Constituency Dashboard
- Demographic and economic data for every UK parliamentary seat
- Hansard (the Official Report) is the edited verbatim report of proceedings of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
- Erskine May, often referred to as ‘the Bible of parliamentary procedure’ is the most authoritative and influential work on parliamentary procedure and constitutional conventions affecting Parliament. Now available to read for free and in full online.
- The UK operates safe and legal routes for the purpose of providing humanitarian and other forms of protection to vulnerable people. These are detailed here.
Guidelines
1: Robust debate is encouraged, angry arguments are not. This sub is for people with a wide variety of views, and as such you will come across content, views and people you don't agree with. Political views from a wide spectrum are tolerated here. Engagement in antagonistic, uncivil, abusive, or harassing behaviour (including personal insults or group-based attacks) will result in action being taken against your account.
2: Anything not specifically concerning politics in the UK or geopolitics involving the UK will be removed.
3: Link submission titles should use the headline of the article / content (or the full, unaltered text of the Tweet including the author's name) being submitted, and should be changed only where it improves clarity or is absolutely necessary. Please use a link to the original publisher where possible. Including "body text" on a link submission will result in your submission being removed. Your personal opinion should always be expressed in the comments - not elsewhere.
4a: News articles older than 28 days may be removed. If an older article has relevance to events being discussed today, you should outline this argument in a self post that links to said article. On days where events move particularly fast, moderators may remove outdated news regardless of age.
4b: Long form journalism published more than twelve months prior or before significant developments to the topic it discusses should be submitted as part of a self-post detailing why it is relevant today.
5a: Articles from paywalled sites should be linked to directly, and a copy/paste of the article text provided in the comments. Full credit to the author and publication should be given. Some websites may have different conditions applied due to copyright issues or differences in the design of their paywall, and result in automated instructions being sent which explain how to submit their content correctly.
5b: You may use an archive site instead of copy/paste, but only if a copy/paste is not suitable for the paywalled content (e.g. if there are a number of supporting charts / diagrams).
5c: Articles which are submitted from non-paywalled sites should not be copy/pasted as a comment.
6: Links to "live" pages (i.e. pages where the content is frequently updated with new developments) are not permitted and will be removed.
7a: Tweets are acceptable, so long as they are from journalists, pollsters, politicians and so forth. Tweets from random members of the public are not. This is auto-moderated as per our whitelist, but tweets from non-white listed accounts may be approved depending on context and notability. Tweets submitted to the subreddit must include the author's name (or organisation name) as stated on the Twitter account at the start of the submission title.
7b: Twitter posts which do not contribute substance or contain reactionary commentary regardless of author will generally be removed as "hot takes". However, exceptional circumstances aside, tweets from sitting MPs are not likely to be removed.
7c: Threads should be submitted as a link submission identifying the Twitter thread in the title where possible. The contents of a thread should be posted as a text comment or link to an appropriate Thread Reader url.
7d: Tweets that are just a link to an article and contain no commentary of substance will be removed. Said articles should submitted in place of the tweet with the accompanying tweet linked to in the comments.
7e: Other social media sources or accounts that don't fit the criteria will continue to be reviewed manually.
8: Submitting your own content is perfectly fine, but make it clear that it's your own content and read the site wide guidance on self promotion written by the admins.
9: Campaigning, fundraising, activism, e-begging and links to petitions will be removed. We all have issues that are close at heart, but the subreddit isn't the place for this.
10: Self posts should be used as an invitation to discussion, not an opportunity to soapbox, tub-thump or showboat.
11: No meme posts, no shitposts. Low-effort top-level replies to submissions will be removed.
12: Posting surveys is not permitted without prior approval from the subreddit moderators.
13: No URL shorteners, your post or comment will be immediately removed.
14: Flairs should not contain links or abuse/insults. User flair that contains either will be deleted without warning, repeat offenders will be banned.
15: Low-effort complaining about sources, insulting the publication or trying to shame users for posting sources you disagree with is not acceptable. Either address the post in question, or ignore it.
16: Moderation action will be taken against racist, sexist, homophobic, or other hateful comments regarding religion, race, or other identities. However, It is important to note that critical discussions about immigration, refugee policy, or cultural/religious practices do not automatically constitute hate speech.
17: This is not a meta subreddit. Submissions or comments containing commentary / complaints / sweeping generalisations about the moderation, biases or users of this or other subreddits / online communities (including the "comments" sections on online articles) are not permitted. Links to other subreddits are not permitted. Content which falls into these categories will be removed and may result in a ban.
18: Posting in other subreddits with the express purpose of brigading, vote manipulation or harassment in this subreddit may result in a permanent ban.
19a: Private messages to individual moderators regarding bans or removal of comments/posts will be ignored.
19b: If you have any further questions or concerns about /r/ukpolitics moderation, feel free to ask, we'll be happy to discuss it publicly even if we can't reach agreement - although some issues (especially those involving complaints about other users) are best handled in modmail.
19c: Persistent uncivil or abusive complaints about moderation or moderators may result in moderation action being taken against you.
19d: If you do need to contact the moderators about anything, be descriptive and state what the issue is clearly. Please allow moderators sufficient time to respond.
19e: If you report a submission or comment, make it clear why you are making a report.
20: The report button is not a super-downvote button nor a guarantee that something will be done - moderators may decide no further action is required after reviewing a user submitted report.
21: Comments or submissions which call for/incite violence, or that threaten direct-action against political figures, journalists, commentators, and media personalities in a way that constitutes illegal harassment or intimidation may result in a permanent ban and may be reported to the authorities.
22: Mime artists are strictly forbidden.
23: These rules are not exhaustive, moderators reserve the right to moderate (or not) where it is felt to be appropriate. Past moderation decisions are no guarantee of future mod decisions. Rules are subject to change without notice.
/r/ukpolitics
511,233 Subscribers
Is Starmer strong enough to be PM?
I can't help but think that if Trump had threatened Denmark while Thatcher was prime minister, she would have stood up and let him have it with both barrels. I mean, it's good that the French and the Germans have spoken up... god knows NATO is not something you just want to THROW down the tubes... but really, doesn't someone need to stand UP to the guy? Shouldn't that someone be Starmer?
13:40 UTC
The spiders that ate Ebbsfleet [Michael Dnes on planning and environmental regulations]
10:34 UTC
UK Avoids Tariffs - The First Mutually Agreed Brexit Benefit?
Wondering everyone’s thoughts on this.
So recently Trump has put Tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China and the EU.
It was long rumoured that the USA had indicated they wouldn’t put tariffs on the UK because they want to see it thrive post-Brexit.
Yesterday this has all but been confirmed with our exemption from the 25% tariffs that have been placed on basically every other powerful economic power apart from us and a handful of others, and that’s despite the US government calling us an ‘Islamic nation with nuclear weapons, and Elons crazed tirades.
There’s clearly no love lost between the two governments and yet we avoided the economic pressure of tariffs.
Regardless of your own personal biases with Brexit, can we all agree that this is actually a huge win for the UK, like a postive for our economy, and a bit of rare good news?
*Note - for the sake of not spreading misinformation, he announced his intention of tariffs on the EU but has not implemented them yet! Well pointed out by the commentators! Question still stands though!
07:20 UTC
UKPolitics Weekly Political Cartoon Thread - 01 February, 2025
Welcome to the r/ukpolitics weekly political cartoon thread. This thread is for posting political and editorial cartoons relating to UK politics.
Please post cartoons as a new top level comment.
All usual subreddit rules apply in this thread.
07:01 UTC
What will happen to people who are too disabled to work if the government reduces their money?
I keep seeing articles about the government wanting to reduce disability benefits to encourage people into work. But what happens to those who absolutely can't work?
And how will disabled people who can work get over the systemic barriers such as discrimination? Is the government going to tackle that or is this just a cost saving exercise?
Does reducing disability spending save money in the long run or is it a false economy that causes losses elsewhere?
22:50 UTC