paper one - political parties

• functions of political parties

  • selecting candidates
  • providing personnel for government
  • selecting a leader
  • formulating policies
  • campaigning
  • representation
• 2019 Conservative manifesto pledges

  • extra funding for NHS, 50,000 more nurses and 50 million more GP appointments
  • 20,000 more police and tougher criminal sentencing
  • An Australian style points based system to control immigration
  • Getting Brexit done
  • reach net zero by 2050
  • millions more invested in science, schools, apprenticeships
  • no raise in income tax or VAT
• 2019 Labour manifesto pledges

  • green industrial revolution
  • rebuild our public services
  • final say on Brexit
• 2019 Liberal Democrat manifesto pledges

  • tackle the climate emergency
  • build a fairer economy
  • transform mental health services
• Funding of political parties

  • short money - allocated to opposition parties for their work in the HoC, based upon number of seats.
  • Cranborne money - subsidises the work of scrutiny carried out by opposition parties in the HoL.
  • donations from trade unions or businesses or people.
• The electoral commission keeps a record of every donation to political parties above £7,500.
• Political parties enhance democracy

  • they encourage people to participate in politics through party activity and election campaigning
  • they provide voters with choices
  • they help to educate and inform the electorate about key political issues through political debate
  • they uphold the authority of parliament
  • they facilitate representation by acting as a channel of communication between the government and the people
• Political parties threaten democracy

  • political parties engage in adversarial politics, which threatens to reduce parliament to point-scoring
  • parties may oversimplify or wrongly present information, for example, one of the primary claims of the leave campaign was that our NHS would have an additional £350 million a week as that money would no longer be going to the EU.
  • the need for finances encourages rich interest groups to become excessively influential
  • women and minority ethnicities are vastly underrepresented, particularly in senior party roles, 3/56 prime ministers were women.
• Should parties receive state funding?

  Yes :

  • stops wealthy groups influencing parties
  • parties can focus on representation, not fundraising
  • smaller parties will get more fair financial support
• Should parties receive state funding?

  No:

  • politicians may feel less obliged to listen to pressure groups
  • tax payers should not have to fund political parties
  • there would be disagreement about how funding would be allocated
• In the last quarter of 2023, the Conservatives received £9.8m and Labour £6m in donations, according to the Electoral Commission. In total, political parties accepted donations of more than £93m last year, compared with £52m in 2022.
• Who are the main Tory donors?

  •  Frank Hester donated an additional but as yet undeclared £5m to the Conservative party on top of the £10m already known about
  • A member of the Sainsbury dynasty, Lord Sainsbury left the Tories £10.85m in his will when he died in January 2022 at the age of 94. 
• The co-founder of a property investment company, TT Group, Edwards has donated £5.52m to the Conservatives since 2018 – £4m of which was given in 2023. In December 2022, Rishi Sunak appointed him Conservative party treasurer. Last year, the Mirror reported that Edwards was found to have used a tax avoidance scheme.
• what was the 2016 trade union act?

  a new union member must 'opt-in' if they wish their membership fee to go to the Labour party
• What is the Political parties, elections and referendums act 2000?

  As of 2024, the limit for elections to the UK Parliament in Westminster stands at £54,010 per constituency contested; This spending limit applies within 365 days of a General Election.
• Conservative party get more donations from wills of dead people than party membership
• Which industries did Thatcher privatise?

  • steel
  • British Gas
  • National Freight Company
• How did Thatcher limit the influence of trade unions?

  • you had to have a ballot to go on strike
  • restricted secondary picketing
• What was Section 28?

  made it illegal for any local authority to be perceived as promoting homosexuality
• Liz Truss?

  • september 2022 - abolished the top rate of income tax
  • cut national insurance
  • expressed plans to pass laws to restrict trade union strike action
• One nation policies?

  • Cameron's emphasis on 'Big society'
  • gay marriage
  • 2016, osborne introduced a national living wage
  • Johnson increased universal credit by £20 a week during covid
  • johnson and trust capped energy prices for low income famillies
• Thatcherite policies?

  • 2022 - truss cut national insurance and income taxes
  • 2012 - cameron privatised royal mail
  • 2016 TU act made it more difficult for unions to strike
  • 2023 - minimum service levels bill
• Neo-conservative policy?

  • 2022 Rwanda migrant scheme
  • 2023 Public Order Act - gives police the additional power to carry out suspicion-less stop and searches in relation to protest activity.
  • 2016 investigatory powers act - gives them power to read emails
• Corbyn's pledges?

  • raise top rate of income tax back to 50%
  • renationalise rail, mail, water, and energy
  • repeal 2016 TU Act
  • trial a 4 day working week in certain sectors
• liberal democrat policy? (2019 manifesto)

  • restore corporation tax to 20% , reduce tax avoidance
  • introduce a new curriculum
  • reverse school funding cuts, including ending the crisis in SEND funding
  • immediate climate action
• Liberal Democrat 2019, secured 12% of the vote but only 11 out of the 650 seats.

  The majority of constituencies are a battle between Tory and Labour meaning third party votes are wasted.
• In 2017 over 80% of voters voted for either Labour or the Tories.

  In 2019, this fell to 78%.
• Do the two main political parties dominate Westminster?

  • FPTP protects the Labour and Conservative duopoly.
  • The way parties are funded benefits and privileges the main two, so it's harder for smaller parties.
  • Support for Lib Dems collapsed during 2015/17 general elections
  • In the parliament elected in 2017 Labour and the Tories have 89% of the seats
• Do the two main parties dominate Westminster? (NO)

  • the conservatives and labour have not won a large parliamentary majority since 2005, small parties remain significant
  • smaller parties have been highly influential in recent general elections (2010 coalition, 2017 hung parliament)
  • SNP still has significant parliamentary presence would be important in a hung parliament
  • In the devolved assemblies power is shared by more than two parties
• Factions - one nation tories such as MP Robert Halfon favour a more generous welfare system, for example, Halfon voted against his government, in favour of extending free school meals in October 2020.
• European Research Group

  Led by Steve Baker, voted down Theresa May's Brexit deal because of its close relations with the EU, tensions between them and 'soft brexiteers' such as Phillip Hammond
• Socialist Campaign Group

  Diane Abbott, Zarah Sultana and Richard Burgon, this group was strongly supportive of Corbyn, such as the pledge to nationalise rail, mail, water and energy
• New Labour/Progress faction

  Wes Streeting and Alison McGovern favour New Labour policies
• Orange book liberals - MPs such as Sir Ed Davey, favour tax cuts and a greater role for the private sector.