1.2- Political parties Flashcards
What are the functions of a political party
Representation
- A political party serves the function of representing people with a specific set of beliefs
Participation
- In orde to win power of influence people often participate through the encouragement of a party. parties vary broadly but all the main parties allow for some selection in their leader from their members. Labour reduced its membership to £3 during the leadership t o allow for this
Recruiting office holders-
Party membership can lead to recruitment of office holders. Candidates learn political skills- they can deselect candidates for example conservatives Thirsk and Malton and South Suffolk didn’t allow their candidates to stand again.
Formulating policy
needs to body political theory of the party- there is often competition over this. For example the conservatives offered 7 day GP access while labour offered an appointment within 48 hours
Providing government-
Manifesto into law.
How do parties fund themselves and what steps have been made- what reforms have been suggested?
- The state does not fund parties- rather subscriptions and donations from constituents.
Party funding is a controversial issue as people worry money is being used to gain influence. The conservatives have always been the party of big business, however Labour saw an increase in big business donations under the new labour years.
The 2000s political parties, elections and referendums act means that
- An independent electoral commission set up to supervise party spending
- £30,000 cap per constituency
- £5000 national and £1000 constituency donations has to be declared and published regularly
- Donations from people not on the UK electoral roll banned
This did not end the issue. The cash for peerage scandal showed that many large donors had been nominated for peerage.
A suggestion supported by Labour and the Liberal Dems was to impose limits on individuals. The conservatives wanted to put the same rules on labour trade union backers. the 2016 Trade union act meant that new trade union members had to choose whether to opt in to making payments towards the political levy.
What are the arguments for state funding
For-
Parties play important role in public so deserve funding
Public funding would remove disparity in resources
Curb possibility of corrupt backers
Against-
Deuces party independence
Decide how much support a party needs for funding
Isolate parties from issues of voters
Forces people to contribute to parties they do not approve
What is Traditional conservatism - give a brief outline of its history
The conservative part has its roots in the 17th century Tory Party who came in support of the Church of England and landowning aristocracy
BY 1830 under Robert peel it moved toward the defence of property and authority- in defence of a revolution. Peel stressed the need for gradual reform in order to protect established institutions
This was very successful are the conservative party broadened its support to the middle classes
What is one nation conservatism?
A strand of conservatism associated with Benjamin Disraeli- the name came from one of his books Sybil in which he talks about the growing devision between the rich and poor under industrial development.
The on nation sought to bridge the gap between the classes through a paternalistic social policy. The ‘natural leaders’ of society would accept an obligation to act benevolence towards poor, in reward they would accept their right to rule . This is how the campaign was run along with a patriotic foreign policy to create a sense of national unity.
This peaked the generation after the second world war. They pride themselves on a pragmatic and non-ideological approach. For example they supported and kept in place most of the post-war labour government reforms.
What is Thatcherism?
- A key change in British conservatism- it seeks to reduce state intervention while restoring society. IT rejected the on nation’s seek to comprise
It wanted to:
- Control public spending- combined with tax cuts to provide an incentive to business leaders
- Privatise industry and promote improvement in said industries through competition and more choice
- Legal limits on the power of trade unions
- Tough approach for law and order- more police and judicial power
- Assertion of British interest abroad
- Protect national sovereignty against the EC
FOCUS ON MONETARISM- the belief their is too much money and to increase productivity in the economy we need to reduce the amount of money in the economy. Very unpopular- 3 million out of work. Recession- Thatcher would not budge- “you turn if you want to- the lady’s not for turning”
It is all about rolling back the state and taking responsibility for the self. The NHS was never privatised however- public support limes radical action
How has the conservative party developed since thatcher
The party has struggled to detach from her and her image-
John major continued to privatise coal and railways. HE ended up losing when heading a party that was split over the issue of Europe
The next three leader- William Hague, Ian Duncan smith and Michael Howard failed to unseat Blair- they could not distance themselves from Thatcher.
With an ageing membership and outdated policy the conservative party was struggling
Only in 2005 did a serious attempt to rid of the thatcher image begin. He claimed to be liberal conservative tolerant of other groups. He showed an interest in the environment- even hugging husky dogs on meting Norwegian glaciers.
There is a stress on standing on the side of ordinary people . Co-opperation is needed to bring about one society.
This helped him form a coalition following 2010.- however there were still similarities to the Thatcherite party
What were the economic, welfare, law and order and foreign policy beliefs of the modern conservative party
Economic-
Camerons priority was to reduce the deficit. Accusations that the overspending caused the financial crises.
Public spending cuts were needed to maintain confidence of financial markets.
The budgets of most departments (with exceptions to health, schools and international aid) were cut by up to 25%.
Many regarded the ida of a big society a smokescreen for cutting costs
Welfare-
Wanted to cut costs by reducing dependance
Osbourne showed a difference between hard workers and ‘shirkers’ who he wanted to penalise.
Under universal credit- which merged many different benefits- it simplified benefits and tried to encourage people to talk cup work- it is considered by most to be a failure
The NHS now allows the private sector to compete
Law and order-
More liberal approach
He wanted to understand young offenders more- as shown n his ‘hug a hoodie speech”
He supported tough sentencing for some crimes- especially after the 2011 riots- but wanted to focus on rehabilitation.
Rewarded private firms and charities that helped criminals- using a payment by results scheme- similar to Blair- “tough on crime tough on the causes of crime”
Foreign policy-
Similar to Thatcherism-
Strong links to the USA and support of Air strikes of Syria and Iraq and pragmatic eurosceptacism
What is the traditional Labour party and how did it develop
Founded in 1900 by a group of socialist societies and trade unions- until 1906 the the labour representative committee- wanted to get more working class MPs in parliament
They wanted to push for greater working and living conditions. Clause 4 committed it to working for ‘common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange”- nationalisation for community rather than profit
First time in parliament was in 1924 under Ramsay MacDonald- but was short lived. Not until 1945 was the Labour party able to ,are important changes- the nationalisation of coal, railways, power, steel an civil aviation and social security as inspired by the Beverage report.
from 1945-1979 the Labour party was social democratic rather than socialist, despite what they claimed. Wanted to manage capitalism to ensure it did not exploit the work force through welfare and redistribution. I.e the creator of comprehensive schools.
After Callaghan in 1979 the far left captured the party under Michael foot. They lost on claims for more nationalisation, taxation, spending, abolishment of our nuclear weapons and withdrawal of the EC in 1983. Neil Knock started the parties rebuilding
How did old labour transition into New labour
The labour party moved away from its far left image- They acknowledged that the old industrial base for the party had disappeared and they needed to work beyond their traditional working class voter
In 1992 Blair tired to complete this. It dropped clause 4 in 1995. Trade unions played less of a role. They became more pro- EU and adopted policies that protected workers rights- such as the social chapter.
This was part of a rebrand to New labour- Anthony Gidden’s third way. Needed to manage a media project. won a landslide in 1997
How different is New labour to Socialism- what are the key features of New Labour
Many traditional socialists reject these development as a betrayal of their history. The 2003 Iraq invasion damaged further his image of being progressive. He wanted to embody “traditional values in a modern setting”
Wealth creation than redistribution-
Sought to reduce poverty, but not eradicate inequality. They introduced a minimum wage- £3.6- less than the trade union wage want. Aspiration was the key
People need to be aware of responsibility-
Impose conditions on receiving benefits, ASBOs to deal with anti social behaviour. They can ban a person from certain activities or even places. “tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime”
Responsibility in handing national finances
- wanted to distance from traditional view- rather conserve resources. I.e the national insurance increase 2002- led to largest increase in NHS. Enlisted public sector to work in private sectors- private firms build new schools and hospitals.
Liberal thinking’s impact
Devolution- transfer of central government
Human rights act
they were willing however to curb civil liberties in the public interest- wanted to increase time able to be kept, widened police powers and proposed the introduction of identity cards.
What happened under Brown?
The financial crises caused a shift in policy.
- Pumped money into banking system
- Nationalised more vulnerable banks
- 50p rate
- Wanted to maintain public spending
What happened under Miliband
There was some development-
- Wanted to restore 50p rate and to temporarily freeze energy prices
He di dont develop it too much however. They concentrated their attack on unpopular conservative policy- rather than rejecting it as a whole.
Wanted to try and unite traditional workers and business- making a distinction between good and predatory capitalism.
He wanted to wanting to crack down on tax avoidance and spend more on the NHS.
He called for a 10% starting income tax.
He vowed to reduce the deficit every year
he lost and their was pressure to move to the left
What are Corbyn’s economic, welfare, law and order and foreign policy policies
Economic
Called for a large scale funding of industry and infrastructure- organised by the national investment bank. This was to decrease regional inequality,
re-nationalisation of the railway and demanded that companies publish adults pay- to decrease inequality
He supported the re-introuction of the 50p rate and rejected austerity claiming it was a political choice rather than an economic necessity.
Big business to re-distrubute 10% of profits to workers
Welfare-
He opposed benefit cuts. The poor were victims of capitalism who needed support.
He reject edit use of private sector for public services.
He argued for a fully state NHS and to remove student tuition fees- compared to Miliband’s proposed 33% decrease
Law and Order
- opposed to more hardline policy such as increased power to combat terrorism and identity cards.
This is less controversial- both sides are against cutting police numbers and thus jeopardising public safety
Foreign policy
Corbyn is against the use of force and favoured the removal from NATO.
He is against Trident.
He did not engage much with the Eu ref- however claimed a remain side saying the Uk protected workers rights
He was against the air strikes of Syria
Give a history of the Liberal Democrats
Why did it decline?
- The Liberal democrats were founded in 1988, but have a much greater history. They were originally an aristocratic faction of the Whigs who joined forces with many middle and working class supporters of social reform, in order to create the Liberal party
Classic liberals were committed to the freedom of the individual and the minimal of the state. It supported widening the franchise, free trade, giving civil liberties to non-anglicans and widening educational policy.
Liberal governments adopted many social policies, such as old age pensions and National insurance- to discourage potential labour voters. this was the start of Modern liberalism- a recognition that many individuals could not be truly free on account of the inequalities produced by capitalism. Freedom is not merely being left alone.
The liberals declined quite rapidly- their was a fierce rivalry between its leaders. There was difficulty in appealing to both middle and working class voters, while keeping a sense of identity in increased class polarisation and the identities of the conservatives and labour being clear. It fell into the single fugues in the post war era
There were some revivals, but it was near impossible to make a difference under FPTP. They joined forces with the SDP- a faction of the labour party. This was first an electoral agreement, but later then an official merge in 1988
It has grown modestly through tactical voting and rose to 62 seats in 2005.
