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United Kingdom House of Commons United Kingdom House of Commons Background Guide EagleMUNC Chair: Website: www.EagleMUNC.org Boston College Model John Colpoys United Nations [email protected] March 17-19 2017 Conference United Kingdom House of Commons Letters from the Secretariat Delegates, It is my distinct pleasure to welcome you to EagleMUNC V! My name is Kerianne DiBattista, and I am the Secretary-General of EagleMUNC V. I am a senior at Boston College in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences majoring in International Studies with a concentration in Economics. I am originally from Long Island, NY, and I have been participating in Model UN conferences since I was in tenth grade, rising to become Head Delegate and Secretary-General of my high school conference. At BC, I travelled to several conferences with our MUN team and I have participated EagleMUNC since my freshman year. As you begin your EagleMUNC V experience, I implore you to explore the conference theme, "The Interplay of Power and Ethics," and make your EagleMUNC experience the best it can be! Thank you, and I'll see you at EagleMUNC! Best Regards, Kerianne DiBattista Secretary-General, EagleMUNC V Dear Delegates, It is my great pleasure to welcome you to EagleMUNC V! My name is Jack Massih and I am the Under Secretary-General of Political Affairs. I am a senior at Boston College studying Political Science and Economics. I began participating in MUN my sophomore year of high school and have been hooked ever since. I joined the EagleMUNC team as a freshman for the first year we moved off BC’s campus and into Boston, and it has been a joy to witness the conference continuously grow and evolve since then. The Political Affairs team has been working incredibly hard to prepare for the most innovative and exciting conference in EagleMUNC history. I am looking forward to seeing all of your creative and thoughtful responses to the diplomatic predicaments and crises you confront over the weekend. Best, Jack Massih Under Secretary-General Political Affairs, EagleMUNC V United Kingdom House of Commons Letter from the Chair Greetings Delegates, It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the United Kingdom House of Commons! I am thoroughly excited to be chairing this novel committee, and look forward to seeing your passion for politics play out over the course of the weekend. I am currently a senior at Boston College, majoring in Political Science and minoring in International Studies. I am also a native of Scituate, MA and a graduate from Boston College High School. This will be my eight year of involvement with MUN, having started my freshman year of high school, and my fifth EagleMUNC – one as a delegate, and four as a staffer! Outside of Model UN, I play trumpet in several ensembles at Boston College, including the Boston College “Screaming Eagles” Marching Band, the Pep Band, and the Symphonic Band. This past spring I spent an enjoyable semester studying abroad in Paris, and welcome any delegate to speak French with me! The UK House of Commons committee at EagleMUNC has been a pet project of mine for several years, and I am excited to see how this idea becomes a reality. The Rules for this committee are one-of-a-kind (more on that later) and will seek to simulate the energy and format of the debates in the real life House of Commons. I am sure you will enjoy this open style of discourse and the multi-layered relationship between the Government and Opposition, as well as backbenchers with frontbench leadership. I look forward to meeting you all this March. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me. Best of luck! Yours sincerely, John Colpoys Speaker, UK House of Commons United Kingdom House of Commons Introduction to the House of Commons: This guide is meant for all delegates as a brief overview of the three topics we hope to discuss during EagleMUNC. It is our hope that this guide serves as a “launching pad” for each delegate’s further research into the topic as it pertains to their Member of Parliament (MP). Delegates will represent MP’s from the four largest parties in the House of Commons, which at the time of the committee are the Conservatives, Labour, the Scottish National Party (SNP), and the Liberal Democrats (Lib-Dems). Each party’s ideology as it pertains to the committee’s topics is described below. Brief Introduction to the Rules of Procedure: The Rules for this committee will be unlike any other Model UN committee you have experienced before. These Rules will be discussed in further detail in a separate Addendum. The goal of these rule changes is to accurately simulate the realities of British politics within the realm of EagleMUNC. This will include an unequal but important balance between the party leadership and its backbench supporters, voting by division on bills (“voting with your feet”), and the ability to “intervene” or vocalize your support or dissent with what a current speaker is saying. This format should allow delegates to learn about the workings of the House of Commons in a fun and educational environment. Within this debate structure, three distinct roles should be defined, as delegates will better understand where their position is in relation to other MP’s: United Kingdom House of Commons − The party leader is the individual who heads the organization of that party’s members in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister is the party leader of the majority party, or plurality party in the case David Cameron, current (September 2015) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and head of the Conservative Party of a coalition government. These MP’s are charged to be the chief speaker on behalf of their party’s manifestoes and ide ology, and are called upon to exhibit particular leadership and str ength. − The frontbenchers are the ministers tasked with a certain portfolio within either Her Majesty’s (HM) Government (the Cabinet) or in opposition (called Shadow Cabinets). These MP’s often serve at the pleasure of the party leader, and can be reappointed as necessary. While they may personally disagree with a policy, it is expected by custom that the front bench appear united ideologically. Each frontbencher is charged to be an expert in their respective portfolios and be prepared to either defend or scrutinize the policies of the ruling Government. o Please note: For the purposes of EagleMUNC, while a number of delegates may represent a frontbench MP, as it relates to the topics of debate, only the following portfolios will be considered as frontbenchers: Chancellor/Finance, Chief Whip, Defence, Deputy Leader, Foreign, Health, and Home. United Kingdom House of Commons − The backbenchers are all other MP’s of a given party. Their role is to represent the interests of their constituents, their conscience, and above all their party. For the majority party, this support is vital to ensure that it can enact its policies and plans. The Chief Whip is tasked with ensuring that backbenchers are both in step with party votes and that backbencher needs and requests are best addressed. A Note on the Timeline of the Committee: This committee will take place in the recent past to discuss a number of modern issues. The start date for this committee will be September 12, 2015, when Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the Labour party and Leader of the Opposition. This background guide has been researched and written from the perspective of this date in history. Any event or information which occurred before that date is considered as having occurred according to actual history. However, any event which occurred on or after that date has not occurred, and opens the possibility for the committee to change the course of history. Topic 1: The Role of the United Kingdom in the European Union: Historical Background1 The United Kingdom has long been sceptical of its European neighbours. By its very geographical nature as an island nation, the United Kingdom has maintained an 1 Sam Wilson, “Britain and the EU: A long and rocky relationship.” BBC News, 1 April 2014. United Kingdom House of Commons ideological independence from Europe. This separation, both physical and political, has forged a complicated relationship between Britons and Europeans, in certain cases escalating to military conflict. The origins of the modern British identity stem from its involvement in the Second World War. By 1941, Great Britain stood largely isolated from Europe in the wake of German occupation of the continent, and was forced to carry on the fight against Nazi fascism on behalf of democratic Europe. With victory in 1945, the United Kingdom and other European nations sought to unite Europe politically so as to prevent future military conflict. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in an address in Zurich on 19 September 1946, called for “a structure under which [Europe] can dwell in peace, in safety and in freedom…a kind of United States of Europe.” Despite the positive acclamations of Churchill, the United Kingdom was initially reluctant to join the early European coalitions, including the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) founded in 1952, and the European Economic Community (EEC), founded in 1957 with the Treaty of Rome. Later, in 1975, Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath advocated for a British referendum on joining the EEC, with a resounding 67% vote in favour. Joining the EEC did not end the debate on Britain’s role in Europe, however. Opposition in the 1980’s came chiefly from the Labour party. Leader of the Opposition Michael Foot included in the party’s 1983 manifesto its desire to leave the EEC.
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