Established political parties

• Conservative party history

  came into existence in the 17th C.

  dedicated to the defence of property and traditional authority against revolutionary threats

  stress on gradual reform to protect and serve established institutions

  remarkably successful in the late C19th and early C20th broadening its support to the middle classes
• One-Nation Conservatism

  associated with Benjamin Disraeli

  seeks to bridge the gap between classes through paternalism

  social reform and 'patriotic' foreign policy

  designed to strengthen national unity

  peaked after WW2

  mixed economy, a welfare state, gov action to maintain high employment

  pragmatic, non-ideological
• Thatcherism and The New Right

  seeks to reduce state intervention in the economy, restoring order to society from 'militant' trade unions

  Radical policy agenda neglects to seek compromise

  • control public spending and tax cuts
  • Privatising industries
  • legal limits on the impact of trade unions
  • tough on law and order
  • assertion of British`interests abroad
  • desire to protect national sovereignty
  • responsibility for yourself
• Conservatism Economic Policy - MODERN + Cameron

  Cameron's priority was to reduce the budget deficit from Blair's labour Gov after accusing them of irresponsible overspending

  Camerons, Austerity plan (public spending cuts) to maintain the confidence of the markets and prevent borrowing costs from rising

  Budgets for parliamentary departments were cut to up to 25% - 'Big Society smokescreen
• Conservative economic policy - SUNAK AND TRUSS

  business tax cuts to boost the economy

  "The Growth Plan 2022" - increase the threshold on the SDLT, energy price guarantee (EPG) and so on to increase spending

  TRUSS - unassessed budget plan, Thatcherist economic policy "Slash" taxes for the higher paid funded by borrowing, '45P top tax rate'
• Conservative Welfare Policy - MODERN + CAMERON

  coalition wanted to cut costs and encourage those on benefits to be self-reliant

  Osbourne "Strivers" and "shrinkers"

  the universal credit system (merges in work benefits into one payment) - intended to simplify the welfare system and encourage people to seek employment

  Overhaul of the NHS, allowing the private sector to compete with state
• Conservative welfare policy - POST 2019

  22% of budget spent on Welfare with 55% of that spent on pensioners

  set to cut welfare to "support people into work" in order to sustain tax cuts
• Conservative Law and Order Policy - MODERN + CAMERON

  liberal on law and order, calling for more understanding of young offenders "Hug a hoodie" speech

  Balanced approach with tough sentences for certain crimes after the Aug 2011 London riots

  'Rehabilitation revolution' to reduce re-offending rates

  Rewarded private charities that supported criminals in rehab "Payment by results"

  Blareite crime tactics
• Conservative law and order policy - POST 2019

  tougher sentences on the most serious crimes

  Thatcherite policy agenda for law and order

  The Criminal Justice Bill - law and order can use 'reasonable force' to make criminals appear in the dock with those who refuse receiving an extra 2 years,

  give the police more power (ability to enter a building to seize goods with no warrant if they have reasonable evidence that stolen goods are there)
• Conservative Foreign Policy - MODERN + CAMERON

  consistent with Thatcherism, strong relations with the USA, supported airstrikes on Islamic terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq

  Pragmatic eurosceptic - championed the 'remain side' in the referendum in 2016,

  May continued this trend when attempting to get the best deal she could for Brexit
• Conservative Foreign Policy - POST 2019

  joined the US in fighting the Houthis in Yemen

  increased military support for Ukraine signing security pact with Ukraine

  Appointed Cameron as foreign secretary after the step down of meaning foreign for the conservative party has remained largely the same in the 13-year run
• The Labour Party History -

  founded in 1900 by trade unions, with its original purpose to get more working-class MPs into parliament

  nationalisation of key industries and services to be run for the community not profit

  first labour gov was in 1924 and the first majority and stable labour gov was 1945 who put in place the NHS

  social democrats - welfare policy and wealth distribution
• The 'New' Labour Party History -

  moved from hard-left to centre-left in the early 1980s as people became more affluent

  1992 election of 'third-way' Blair as leader who dropped the unpopular policies, less focus on trade unions and nationalisation, stronger business links and more pro-European Union

  Anthony Giddens

  Strong projection on the media
• Key New Labour Policies

  • Influence of liberal ideology - Devolution, HRA
  • Enlisting the private sector - Private Finance initiative (PFI) contracts for building schools and hospitals
  • Responsibility for finance - conserve resources before spending on key industries = NIC in 2002 led to the largest spend on the NHS
  • Responsibility for rights and community - ASBOs 'tough on crime tough on the causes of crime'
  • emphasis on wealth creation rather than redistribution - National minimum wage (£3.60)
• Labour under Brown and Milliband - post 2008 crash

  • pumped money into the banking system to boost economic activity
  • nationalised and part-nationalised banks to recover
  • raised income tax creating a new 50% band
  • maintained public spending
• Labour under Brown and Milliband - 2010-2015

  not always coherent, maintained most of the new labour policies with a shift to the left

  Large focus on the economy with Milliband and Balls rejecting austerity, especially the bedroom tax

  tried to combine New Labour's focus on business while reconnecting labour with its working-class voters

  Echoed the coalition's economic plans

  "red ed" willingness to return to 'tax and spend' and perceived hostility to the private sector
• Labour under Corbyn

  people wanted a move to the left from labour

  'staunchly socialist'
• Labours Economic Policy - CORBYN

  • took the Milliband-Balls idea of large-scale funding for the industry and infrastructure organised by NIBs
  • Reduce regional inequality, Renationalisation of the railways
  • Companies to publish pay audits to reduce discrimination
  • Restoration of 50% top-rate income tax
  • very strong opposition to austerity
• Labours welfare policy - CORBYN

  • strongly opposed benefit cuts
  • opposed the private sector to running public services such as the NHS - argued wholly for a state-run NHS
  • Called for a 'national education service' and was strongly opposed to private and grammar schools
  • against student tuition fees (Milliband vowed to cut from 9,000 to 6,000)
  • Strong views on socialist economy
• Labour's Law and Order Policy - CORBYN

  • opposed the hard-line law and order of the new labour gov.
  • Fewer cuts on police numbers and funding
• Labour's Foreign Policy - CORBYN

  • consistently voted against the use of force
  • favoured withdrawal of the UK from NATO
  • abolition of the Trident nuclear weapons
  • Corbyn and his foreign secretary, Hilary Benn, took opposing views in the Islamic terrorist intervention vote in Dec 2015 allowing his MPs a free vote as the party was so divided
  • Pro-EU emphasising workers rights protections
• Lib Dem History

  • Founded in 1988 but came from a much older political grouping (Whigs and liberal)
  • commitment to freedom of the individual and minimal influence of the state
  • social reform was a central part of the party
  • attempted to appeal to both middle and working-class
  • merged with the SDP to form the Liberal Democrats in 1988
• Lib Dems In The Coalition

  • emphasised constitution reform, pro-EU, and civil liberties, essentially centre-left
  • Clegg became Leader in 2007
  • became a coalition in 2010 with the tories and held 57 seats
  • Clegg envisioned this as moderating the policies of the Tory party
  • difficult for Clegg as he had to support the govt and lost a lot of left-leaning popularity
  • secured the ref. on AV voting they had little bargaining power
  • heavy loses in the 2015 election
• Lib Dem Economic Policy - UNDER CLEGG

  • emphasis on eliminating the budget deficit but it had to be done in a way that was fair to call classes
  • progressively raised the basic income tax threshold so that low-income people were relieved of the burden
  • "borrow less than labour, cut less than tories"
  • stressed environmental issues, creation of the green investment banks, to attract funding for offshore wind farms
  • commitment to renewable energy
• Lib Dem Welfare Policy - UNDER CLEGG

  • controlling spending on benefits
  • Uprating pensions, and extending free child care to allow parents to return to work
  • Pledged to curb benefits to well-off pensioners to allow more funding for the lower-paid
  • Pledged to increase NHS funding from 2015
• Lib Dem Law and Order Policy - UNDER CLEGG

  • want to see that personal freedom is not eroded as a consequence of giving authorities more power
  • Regarded the defence of civil liberties as a key characteristics
  • opposed the Tory plan for the 'snooper charter' (The communication Bill which allowed the monitoring of internet use)
  • Emphasis on rehab for prisoners and the use of community service as an alternative to short-term prison sentences
• Lib Dem Foreign Policy - UNDER CLEGG

  • consistently the most enthusiastic about remaining a member of the EU
  • Refused the deal of the Brexit referendum and was the strongest out of the 3 central parties on neglecting the result