Emerging and minor Uk political parties

• reasons for emerging parties

  1. The smaller parties know they will not receive enough votes to become government so often they aim to pressure the large parties to accept their agenda
  2. Smaller regional parties are in place to raise the issues of the smaller nations within the UK such as Plaid Cymru in Wales, whilst they aren't successful in Westminster they allow issues to be raised and are often very popular in their local parliaments, (SNP holding government in Scotland since 2007)
• The SNP - What is it and its history

  • founded in 1934
  • The centre-left party whose main aim is to secure independence for Scotland
  • the strength of the SNP pushed Labour to devolve powers to a Scottish parliament in 1999
  • the Blair gov. thought that allowing devolution would calm down the idea of independence and keep Labour in force in Scotland
  • This worked until 2007 when Alex Salmond became SNP leader and first minister
  • This led to an extension of Scotlands powers until Brown in 2012
• The SNP - Independence

  • Westminister allowed a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014
  • The three leaders of the main parties agreed to abandon PMQs to go to Scotland and represent a united front for the UK towards the end of the campaign
  • the referendum results were No: 55% Yes: 45%
  • Nicola Sturgeon argued after the Brexit referendum that Scotland was being taken out of the EU by force as the vast majority of Scotland voted to stay in the EU
  • the SNP is entitled to another independence vote shortly
• The SNP - Influence on Westminister

  • in 2015, the SNP won 56 out of Scotland's 59 seats in Westminister
  • The SNP's position is refraining from voting on bills that apply to England to push the idea that the two countries shouldn't interfere with each other's internal affairs
  • in 2015 the English Votes for English Laws (EVEL) legislation limited all Scottish MPs but with exceptions [in 2016, SNP MPs helped defeat Camerons Gov proposal for an extension of Sunday trading laws in England and Wales claiming it would affect Scottish workers
  • In 2017 the SNP lost 24 of its seats
• UKIP - What Do They Stand For And It's History

  • began as a fringe nationalist party in 1991
  • By the 21st century, it was almost strictly associated with Nigel Farage and Brexit
  • slow-growing national profile as people were dissatisfied with the way the three main parties were adopting European integration so quickly
  • In the 2014 election, UKIP gained 24 MEPs making it the largest UK party in the European parliament, it won 3.9 million votes in the 2015 general election but only gained 1 MP
• UKIP - What do they stand for

  • Radical right-wing populist party
  • supporters tend to be older and traditional feel left behind by the radically changing world
  • often having lower levels of education
  • Immigration is a major concern, UKIP supporters saw the expansion of the EU and the influx of eastern European immigrants to the UK as a threat to 'British jobs'
  • UKIP is seen as a more reasonable version of the overt racial prejudice of the BNP
  • people found they could relate to Nigel Farage's chummy personality by not conforming to the normal image of a politician
• UKIP - What Does It Stand For

  Taking back control - membership of the EU damages the UK's interests by rule of European bureaucracy = take back control of policies in areas of national sovereignty

  Restricting Immigration - this was the main policy at the 2015 general election, a points-based system to make sure migrants with necessary skills get priority, there should be a cap on the number of migrants entering the UK

  other policies - Support for grammar schools, scrap green taxes, fund the NHS but migrants and visitors must have private healthcare
• The Green Party - Who are they?

  • founded in 1973 as 'PEOPLE' assuming its current identity in 1985
  • Won its first seat in west minister in 2010 when Caroline Lucas became MP for brighton Pavillion
  • The party won over 1 Million seats in the 2015 election but failed to win any more seats
• The Green Party - What do they stand for

  • a centre-left party not only concerned with the environment but also reducing social inequality
  • Strongly Pro-European, seeing the EU as a safegaurd to evironmental protection
  • Phase out fossil fuels and neuclear and impliment renewable solutions
  • stop fracking at all costs
  • Creeping privatisation of the NHS needs to stop
  • abolish univerity fees, with a wealth tax to fund the creation of new jobs, Minimum wage should be increased to a 'living wage'