Politcal parties UK

• What are political parties?


  Groups of people with similar beliefs.
• Functions of political parties?

  • Representation: they represent the views and beliefs of a large section of society.

  
  

  • Participation: they allow individuals to express their views and know they share them with others.

  
  

  • Elections: offer the electorate choice in elections.

  
  

  • Government: they can hold the government to account and form a government with similar views.

  
  

  • Education: they educate and inform the public.
• What are features of political parties?

  • put candidates up for election.

  
  

  • organised and have formal membership.

  
  

  • Aim to address a variety of issues and gov policy

  Parties, usually, shares ideology on political preference nt policy.
• What is the left wing desire?

  Left wing desire to bring about change and make society more equal. look to change issues like welfare, economic intervention, and wealth distribution. (Labour Party).
• What is the right wing desire?

  Right wing parties favour stability and believe that change is unnecessary. seek more freedom for individuals and look to issues such as low taxes and free market economics. (Conservative Party)
• Do parties enhance or threaten democracy? ENHANCE

  They encourage participation in politics, by allowing people to stand for office, campaign, etc.

  
  

  They provide voters with choice and make decisions easier and clearer.

  
  

  They represent people by serving as a means of communication between people and government.

  
  

  They educate the public through debate and bringing up many
• Do parties enhance or threaten democracy? THREATEN


  In recent years, party politics has been seen to reduce politics to points-scoring rather than legitimate debate.

  
  

  Faith in parties can be seen as low through low turnout in elections.

  
  

  Parties are funded through donations, meaning that large donors can affect the success of certain parties.

  
  

  Many in society are underrepresented, such as women and ethnic minorities.
• How are parties currently funded?

  Funds MPs salary's and expenses but does not cover election costs fund their own activity through donations, events and membership fees
• Who are labour parties main donours?

  trade unions
• Who are the tories main donours?

  companies and individuals John Sainsbury. member Sainsbury dynasty, left £10.85m in his will
• How much was the tory party funded in 2019?

  £343m
• How much was the labour party funded in 2019?

  £45.7m
• How much was the Lib Dem party funded in 2019?

  6.2m
• How much was the SNPs funded in 2019?

  4.7m
• How much was the green party funded in 2019?

  2m
• What is used to make sure parliamentary scruitny in HOC is effective?

  Subsidies • All elected parties are given a £2m 'policy development grant', so they can employ political advisors.

  • opposition parties given short money to fund opposition offices

  • 'Cranbourne money is given to fund scrutiny in HOL, lords are not salaried
• What are laws surrounding funding?

  Most significant law for electoral funding= Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act of 2000. This Act of Parliament:

  • Set updating independent electoral commission

  • Capped at £30,000 per constituency

  • Parties must publish details of donations

  • All donations over £5000 (nationally) or £1000 (constituency) must be declared.

  • Donations can only come from someone on the electoral register, a UK registered company, a registered political party or a registered trade union/building society.

  
  

  State funding of PPs Suggested 2007 report by Sir Hayden Phillips, former civil servant.

  2015, Labour & Lib Dems wanted to limit donations to parties (harm the Conservatives), Conservatives wanted to limit financial backing from trade unions (harm Labour).
• Should parties be state funded? YES

  It stops wealthy individuals and groups from influencing parties and policies.

  
  

  Parties can focus on representing the people rather than fundraising.

  
  

  Smaller parties will get fairer treatment.

  Less wealthy pressure groups will get equal hearing by parties.
• Should parties be state funded? NO

  Politicians may be less interest in what pressure groups have to say.

  
  

  Taxpayers may fund parties they do not support.

  
  

  There would be disagreement over how funding would be allocated and

  who would pay it.
• When was the labour party founded?

  founded in 1900 and with socialist principles
• What route to socialism did the labour party have?

  a parliamentary and peaceful route to socialism.

  committed more to social democracy which seeks to reform capitalism as opposed to overthrow it.
• What was the labour party like in 2007?

  Gordon Brown (2007-2010)

  committed to social justice, involved in dispute with Labour over abolishing the 10p tax rate which would have hit the poorest in society the hardest.

  
  

  He is known for three factors in his three-year premiership:

  • Handling the economic crash of 2008. Constant threats of leadership challenges within his party.

  • Unpopularity with the public.

  failing to form a coalition in 2010, he resigned as PM and Labour leader.
• What was the labour party like in 2010?

  Damaged party with reputation for poor economics and involvement in unnecessary Iraq War 2003.

  never managed to succeed in persuading the electorate, seen as awkward leader, most notably an incident 2014 Local elections in which he was seen eating a bacon sandwich awkwardly.

  desired to satisfy both the hard left of the Labour party and the centre ground which New Labour had attracted in vast numbers failing to win the 2015 General Election, Miliband resigned as Labour leader.
• .What was the labour party like in 2015?


  left very sharply, and this was reflected in Labour's 2017 manifesto pledges:

  • Nationalising water, railways, and Royal Mail.

  • Reintroduction of the 50p tax rate.

  • Increased corporation taxation fees.

  
  

  popular 2017 General Election, Labour failed to win a majority, huge increase in vote share and seats. confusion over their Brexit policy in the run up to the 2019 General Election saw them lose huge numbers of seats, and Corbyn subsequently resigned as Labour leader.
• .What was the labour party like now?

  most of his premiership holding the government to account over the coronavirus pandemic.

  pushed Labour to regain northern voters lost to Conservatives 2019 GE.

  ideas have been described as more pragmatic than ideological. For example, he has supported creating a national energy supplier called GB Energy but has both agreed and disagreed with nationalising the railways.
• When was tory party developed?

  Developed in the 18th and 19th centuries
• what do the conservative prioritse?


  order, security and gradual change. It seeks to develop practical solutions to political problems.
• What is one nation conseravtism?


  Influencing the ideas of Benjamin Disraeli in the 19th century, focuses on the ideas of paternalism, pragmatism and consensus. It looks to introduce reforms to reduce social inequalities and the rich having an obligation to look after the needy in society.
• What is the new right?

  Championed by Margaret Thatcher, combines ideas of neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism. favours the individual over the state, shown through reduced welfare, free-market economics and lower taxes. It also rejects 'alternative' lifestyles such as same-sex marriage
• What was the conservative party like in 2005-2016?


  after worst electoral performances in recent history 5th leader in 10y. tried to present new Conservative party that cared for environment and social issues.

  seemed popular 2010, he formed the first post-war coalition with Lib Dems. reduce the Uk's budget deficit, win 2014 Scottish Referendum, and bring the Conservative party back to mainstream politics.

  increasing support UKIP 2015 Election saw Cameron promise to hold an EU referendum should the Conservatives win. won a majority, referendum was held in 2016, and to Cameron's surprise, UK voted to leave the EU. led to resignation as Conservative party leader.
• Why were lib dems formed?

  formed after the merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic
• What is some lib dem party history?

  Prime Ministers including Gladstone, Lloyd George and Asquith.
• What are the Lib Dem values?

  support values of liberalism, membership of the EU and human rights.
• 5 principles of lib dems

  tolerance- wide variety of lifestyles should be tolerated

  
  

  liberty- individual freedom and rights should be protected.

  
  

  equality of

  opportunity- disadvantages in society should be removed and all should enjoy equal chances.

  
  

  social justice- whilst capitalism should prevail, wealth redistributed, and each person guaranteed a good standard of living.

  
  

  constitutionalism- a strong constitution should separate political power, and the government should be limited by laws.
• What are social liberals?

  Centre-left, associated modern liberals and desire to increase social justice and would rather see higher spending on the disadvantaged in order to reduce inequality. e.g, Tim Farron and Simon Hughes.
• WHat are orange book liberals?

  centre, and support choice and competition. limited extent, linked to classical liberalism, and aim to increase social mobility through economic freedom for disadvantaged backgrounds, along with cutting taxes. Orange book liberals include Nick Clegg and Sir Ed Davey.
• what was lib dems role in the Coalition?

  Lib Dems first time in power since 1922. Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister 2010, wanted orange book liberalism to thrive under the coalition.

  accept the Conservative's manifesto pledges, accept some unpopular decisions. e.g, tripling tuition fees to over £9,000 per year. manifesto pledge for the Lib Dems was to hold a referendum on changing the electoral system to the Single Transferable Vote. Under coalition discussions, they settled on the Alternative Vote, and this was widely rejected by the public.
• Who are some minor and emerging parties?

  SNP and UKIP
• What is the SNP

  Scottish National Party

  first came to prevalence 2011 after winning a majority Scottish Parliament. led to an independence referendum in 2014, resulting in 55% of the Scottish electorate voting to remain in the UK. 2015 General Election, SNP rose from 6 seats to 56 (out of 59 Scotland). Brexit complicated support for the SNP, after Scotland voted 62% to remain in the EU. 2016 Scottish Parliament and 2017 General Elections showed a drop-in support after campaigning hard for another independence referendum. support was swept up by the Conservative Party, who promised to maintain the delicate union of the UK.
• What is UKIP?


  only held a maximum of two seats at a time (in 2014)

  huge influence over British pol in the 2010s, persuading all major parties to include an EU referendum in their 2015 manifestos.

  Despite winning 3.8 million votes in 2015, only won 1 seat. risen steadily since 1999

  largest party for the UK in the European Parliament in 2014.

  After the Brexit vote in 2016, UKIP began to wind down, losing 84% of their vote share between the 2015 and 2017 GE.

  Brexit delayed beyond the 29th March 2019, Nigel Farage, former leader of UKIP, established the Brexit Party who, after just six weeks, won the most seats in the UK in the European Parliament election with even more support than UKIP saw in 2014. The Brexit Party fought the 2019 General Election, but despite winning 2% of the overall vote, they failed to win any seats. They have now been renamed to Reform UK and have policies including an elected House of Lords and adopting a proportional electoral system for general elections.