Scotland voted against independence and then the SNP won all but three of the country’s seats in the 2015 general election. Defying all the predictions, the Conservatives won a clear majority and held onto power. The coalition was over and the Liberal Democrats were no longer the third party - that honour has now fallen to Nigel Farage’s UKIP.

Fully revised and updated, this new edition covers policies introduced by the coalition, the fall of Ed Miliband and the new political landscape postelection. An appreciation of the present-day situation is grounded in an understanding of the UK’s underlying political structures, as well as an introduction to the role of the media, the European Union and our ‘special relationship’ with the US. Thorough and incisive, this beginner’s guide reveals the complex interactions that determine everything from the taxes we pay to when we should put out the wheelie bin.