<P> On 8 October 2008, the British Government announced a bank rescue package of around £ 500 billion ($850 billion at the time). The plan comprised three parts.: £ 200 billion to be made available to the banks in the Bank of England's Special Liquidity Scheme; the Government was to increase the banks' market capitalization, through the Bank Recapitalization Fund, with an initial £ 25 billion and another £ 25 billion to be provided if needed; and the Government was to temporarily underwrite any eligible lending between British banks up to around £ 250 billion . With the UK officially coming out of recession in the fourth quarter of 2009--ending six consecutive quarters of economic decline--the Bank of England decided against further quantitative easing . </P> <P> The United Kingdom General Election of 6 May 2010 resulted in the first hung parliament since 1974, with the Conservative Party winning the largest number of seats, but falling short of the 326 seats required for an overall majority . Following this, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats agreed to form the first coalition government for the UK since the end of the Second World War, with David Cameron becoming Prime Minister and Nick Clegg Deputy Prime Minister . </P> <P> Under the coalition government, British military aircraft participated in the UN-mandated intervention in the 2011 Libyan civil war, flying a total of 3,000 air sorties against forces loyal to the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi between March and October 2011 . 2011 also saw England suffer unprecedented rioting in its major cities in early August, killing five people and causing over £ 200 million worth of property damage . </P> <P> In late October 2011, the prime ministers of the Commonwealth realms voted to grant gender equality in the royal succession, ending the male - preference primogeniture that was mandated by the Act of Settlement 1701 . The amendment, once enacted, will also end the ban on the monarch marrying a Catholic . </P>

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