Template_talk:United_Kingdom_elections Tutorials

Rename this?

I changed how elections held in the same year are indicated - "1974 A" and "1974 B" don't make much sense on their own, so I wrote them to include the abbreviated month. Also I changed the title to United Kingdom general elections since this template seems to be about general rather than any other kind of election. Maybe this template should be renamed to reflect this? Qwghlm 00:23, May 5, 2005 (UTC)

I'm inclined to agree, and I'm the one who created made it, even though I wasn't logged in. I'm super busy -- perhaps you could fix it. Just don't make me add links to it in every uk election year article again! That'd be torture;) --Zantastik 07:22, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

I don't want to have to go through every article either, I'm sure someone can do it fairly quickly with a bot. It's not an urgent task, I'll ask around after the election is over... Qwghlm 11:08, May 5, 2005 (UTC)

More entries

I have just added council elections (insofar as we have articles on them) and more referendums. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 19:36, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

comment below by User:Number 57 moved from User talk:BrownHairedGirl, where it was initially posted

Hi BHG. I've removed the non UK-wide referendums from this template, on the basis that (a) they are already on the Scottish/Welsh/N Irish templates, and (b) if we start including referendums in England, then we could fill the template a million times over with local referendums on all kinds of things (like elected mayors, tax proposals etc etc); I think it is best for local elections (ones held only for a specific locality, as opposed to local elections held across the country) should be on their own templates (e.g. Template:London elections).

Also, I'm not sure why you changed it from British to UK - last time I checked, "British" was the demonym for all the UK, not just the mainland (as much as some people in Northern Ireland don't like it, it's still the case). However, I'm not going to bother reverting that. пﮟოьεԻ 57 13:34, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

The reason for the renaming was simple: why use a contentious adjective when we can just as easily use the noun which is both accurate and uncontested? And be very careful about using the term "mainland" in this context, unless you have a flame-proof suit on.

I can see a case for removing the council elections, in that they are organised separately in the various constituent countries. But the solution should not be to entirely remove them from the template: that way there is no obvious path between (for example) an article on a general election or European election and the local elections. The best solution would be to have a an articles/lists on "local elections in Scotland", "local elections in England", "local elections in Wales" etc and link to those ... but if those articles don't exist yet, it's better to have some links than none.

As to referendums, I take your point about purely local referendums, such as the mayoral referendums. But the devolution referendums and the Norrn Iron referendums affected the status of the UK as a whole, even though polling was restricted to one part of it. Whether regionalising the referendums was a good or bad idea is a a wholly POV issue, but in each case there were demands that a referendum affecting either the borders of the UK (as in Norrn Iron) or the powers of its parliament (as in Scotland and Wales) should have been decided by a UK-wide vote. By omitting the NI/Scots/Welsh referendums, we are taking a view on whether there were any wider implications, and the endless parliamentary debates over the West Lothian Question suggest that is a highly partisan position. Inclusion leaves the reader to make up their own minds.

So I will now reinstate the Scots/Welsh/N.Ireland referendums. However, maybe it might help to subdivide the referendums list into UK-wide/Scots/Welsh/N.Ireland. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 01:20, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

How about adding the |below = Elections and referendums in Northern Ireland • Scotland • Wales, so links to the templates for the devolved nations appear on the template, similar to the bottom bar on {{U.S. presidential elections}}?

Also, I don't have a problem with the local election links being on here as they are (the "local" thing was largely aimed at the referendums issue). пﮟოьεԻ 57 01:29, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

The below is a great idea: now done. That allows access to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh assembly elections, and local elections are probably best covered that way.

But per my comments above, the devolution and border referendums do belong in there too, so I will reinstate them now. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 02:03, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

Merge proposal

I would like to propose adding the elections to the Parliament of Great Britain (the British general elections of 1707-1800). I have previous added these elections to the template but this was reverted. The reason given for the reversion was Great Britain and United Kingdom are not the same country. This is correct, however the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is not the same country as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland but pre-1922 elections are listed here. Also, other templates ({{Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom}} and {{Chancellors of the Exchequer}}) list those articles applicable to both Great Britain and the UK. I think it would be helpful and appropriate to add pre-1800 elections here, especially given the separation between the UK and Great Britain is clearly indicated. --Philip Stevens (talk) 12:36, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

I think you are misrepresenting the Ireland point - the UK was the same country before and after 1922, albeit with a change in name and territory - it was not a new country like the 1802 merger of the Kingdoms of GB and Ireland created.

Also, if you insist on adding pre-1802 elections for GB to this template, pre-1802 elections for Ireland should also be added, which I think would make the template a little unwieldy.

Basically, I think things are fine as they are, although a good suggestion may be to add "Kingdom of Great Britain" and "Kingdom of Ireland" to the bottom bar where the links to elections in N Ireland, Scotland and Wales are. пﮟოьεԻ 57 12:46, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

I agree with Number 57. —Nightstallion 23:33, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

Oppose, same reason as 57 above. They're different countries and the elections were to different institutions (Parliament of Great Britain v. Parliament of the United Kingdom, as it has remained since 1801 despite the partition of Ireland). Bastin 15:38, 4 May 2009 (UTC)