1.2 POLITICAL PARTIES – KEY POINTS Flashcards
- Features of a party
People with a shared ideology, a mechanism for developing polices, selecting leaders, with a formal organisation (with mass membership).
Functions of a party
- Formulate policy (manifesto)
- Fight elections
- Select candidates
- Represent the public
- Form a government (if they win elections)
- Educate public.
Left v Right
LEFT
- Collectivism
- Community more important than individuals
- Universal benefits
- Economic equality
- State intervention is good for society (welfare state) – need to protect the vulnerable
- Support for workers’ rights/trade unions.
RIGHT
- Individualism and individual choice
- State should be limited – government is often the problem not the solution
- Inequality can create incentives for people to improve themselves
- Low tax
- Support for private sector/free markets
- Patriotism
- Law and order
Consensus v Adversary Politics
CONSENSUS
- Parties agree on a number of key areas of policy
- They consult widely before putting policies into practice
- Few ideological differences between parties (e.g. ‘Butskellite’ consensus 1945-79, the post-Thatcher consensus 1997-2010)
- Consensus on economy from 2022 as a result of November 2022 budget
- Labour looks set to stick to Conservative spending plans IF they get into government in 2024-2025.
- Both parties now realise no un-funded spending plans
- belief in independence of B of E and Office of Budget Responsibility
ADVERSARY POLITICS
- Fundamental disagreement on key ideas/policies (e.g. Labour/Conservative divide 1981-90, Corbyn & Conservative divide after 2015)
How are Parties Funded?
- Membership subscriptions
- Donations
- Fundraising events, e.g. dinners
- Loans
- Grants from the electoral commission (up to £2m per party – larger parties get more)
- Short money given to opposition parties for research (based on number of MPs).
2000 Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act
- £30,000 cap on spending per constituency,
- Big donations have to be declared and published
- No donations from people not on the UK electoral roll
Should the UK parties be funded entirely by the state (taxpayer)?
YES
- End corruption (e.g. ‘cash for honours’)
- Reduce advantage large parties currently have
- Encourage smaller parties
NO
- Taxpayers would resent it
- Might reduce independence of parties
- How to decide who gets what?
Labour Party – old and new
OLD LABOUR IDEAS & POLICIES
OLD LABOUR IDEAS & POLICIES
- Equality (high taxes on wealthy remove ‘privilege’)
- Collectivism (welfare state)
- Control capitalism (nationalisation)
- Social justice (equal rights legislation)
- End class divide (help working class by stopping exploitation e.g. shift wealth from rich to poor)
Factions in Labour:
THE LEFT:
- Factions such as Momentum
- Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs includes Dawn Butler, Ian Lavery and John McDonald.
– Old Labour/Socialist
THE RIGHT:
- Factions such as Progress
- supporters of New Labour and so-called Blue Labour (who support Conservatives on some issues e.g. stricter controls on immigration and some gender issues).
- New Labour & Blue Labour E.g. Stephen Kinnock, Wes Streeting, Yvette Cooper.
- Sir Kier Starmer, current leader is on the Centre Right of the Labour Party.
Conservative Party:
ONE NATION TRADITIONAL CONSERVATIVE IDEAS & POLICIES
- Order (law & order)
- One Nation (party should represent all of society)
- Tradition (opposed to PR, reform of Lords)
- Pragmatism (not so ideological or ‘driven’, e.g. brought in Living Wage, accepted Coalition with Lib Dems).
Factions in Conservative Party:
THE CENTRE LEFT / ONE NATION GROUP OF TORY MPS
- Damien Green (Chair)
- Simon Hoare
- Sir Robert Buckland KC
THATCHERITES
- Liam Fox
- Jacob Rees-Mogg
- Sir Edward Leigh
- Steve Baker
- Sir John Redwood
- All members of European Research Group (ERG) of Tory MPs (Chair is Mark Francois)
Liberal Democrat Ideas & Policies:
- Liberalism (equal rights law, pro-gay marriage)
- Constitutional change (PR, codified constitution)
- Social Justice (cut tax on low earners)
- Welfare (free school meals for infants)
- EU (Strong support)
- Localism (strong in local government. Local democracy important).
Factions in Lib Dems:
CLASSICAL LIBERALS, ORANGE BOOK GROUP
- e.g. Ed Davey
- more conservative
- Not as keen on state intervention as modern liberals.
MODERN LIBERALS- e.g. Vince Cable
- more radical/left wing
- support centre-left policies similar to Labour centrists
Labour/Conservatives Policy disagreements: ECONOMY
Conservatives:
- reduce budget deficit quickly by reducing public spending (cuts)
- However, Johnson pledged big increases in future public spending, and Sunak embarked on huge public spending during coronavirus.
Labour:
- anti austerity
- reduce deficit more slowly to protect the vulnerable.
Labour/Conservative Policy Agreement:
1) Overseas aid should remain at 0.7% of GDP. Now 0.5%.
2) Protect the NHS and increase funding where possible.
3) Tackle climate change by reducing carbon emissions and promoting renewables.
4) Improve pay of the lowest paid workers.
Other Parties (and examples of policies):
SNP
- Scottish independence
- Failing independence, greater autonomous powers for Scotland within the UK
- Redistribution of income from rich to poor
- Strong support for public sector health and education
- Investment in renewable energy.
Other Parties (and examples of policies):
UKIP
- UK to leave the European single market
- Strong controls over immigration
- Preference for British citizens in jobs, housing, welfare and education
- An attack on companies that avoid and evade tax
- NB Brexit Party has similar policies.
Other Parties (and examples of policies):
Plaid Cymru
- Similar nationalist policies to the SNP, but acceptance that Welsh independence is unlikely for many years
- Similar economic and social policies to the SNP.
Other Parties (and examples of policies):
Green Party
- Strong controls on environmental damage and strict emissions control targets
- Very large investment in the generation of renewable energy
- Radical redistribution of income from rich to poor
- Radical constitutional reform.
Other Parties (and examples of policies):
DUP
- Strengthen ties with the UK
- Improve Northern Ireland infrastructure
- Resist socially progressive ideas such as same-sex marriage, legal abortion.
Party Systems in the UK
- Dominant-party system
- Two-party system
- Three-party system
- Multi-party system
Dominant-party system
One party dominates the number of seats in the legislative body, e.g. Scottish Parliament.
Two-party system
Only two parties have significant representation, e.g. English Parliamentary constituencies.
Three-party system
- Three parties have significant representation
- Since 2015 only three parties have had significant seats in the House of Commons (Conservative, Labour and the SNP)
Multi-party system
- Four or more parties have a significant number of representatives elected
- Northern Ireland and Welsh assemblies plus many local government areas.
What gives a party success/failure?
1) Leadership, vision, experience, honesty, media image, strength
2) Unity
3) Image (valence), economic competence (wallet voting)
4) media (including social media and debates).
Do parties play a positive or negative role in the UK?
POSITIVE:
- Encourage participation
- Educate public on issues
- Make elections, parliament and government understandable to public.
NEGATIVE:
- They promote adversarial politics
- They claim legitimacy even when they have a minority of the popular vote
- Small elites dominate policy making (not very democratic).
Labour/Conservatives Policy disagreements: EUROPE
Conservatives:
- many Conservatives supported Brexit
Labour:
- most MPs are pro-Europe and opposed to Brexit
Labour/Conservatives Policy disagreements: WELFARE
Conservatives:
- make work pay (i.e keep welfare payments low to avoid people becoming dependent on benefits)
Labour:
- people must be adequately supported in times of need (eg supported extension of furlough scheme during virus)
Labour/Conservatives Policy disagreements: IMMIGRATION & FOREIGN POLICY
Conservatives:
- reduce immigration significantly
- reluctant to accept many refugees
- Strong support for US, and military action against ISIS.
Labour:
- accept fair share of refugees from eg Syria
- Wary of US, and military involvement in Middle East.
Labour Party – old and new
NEW LABOUR IDEAS & POLICIES
- Often called ‘Third Way’ under Blair
- Individualism (keep tax low)
- Free market (no nationalisation)
- Welfare State (end welfare dependency
- improve efficiency of public services)
- Social justice, (minimum wage)
- Communitarianism (care for environment, helping each other).
- Ethical foreign policy (increase overseas aid, promote democracy).
Conservative Party:
THATCHERISM OR NEW RIGHT CONSERVATIVE IDEAS & POLICIES
- Free Market Capitalism (privatisation)
- Anti trade unions (reduced unions ability to strike)
- Low tax
- Low spend (income tax rates reduced)
- Reduced state intervention (especially in times of economic difficulty)
- Eliminate dependency culture (cut welfare)
- Home ownership (sold council houses to tenants at a discount)
- Brexit
- Abolishing laws such as ion environment, 48h hour working week
- Truss government lasted less than 40 days (attempted to rush through tax cuts and supply side reforms in Mini budget which spooked markets when she attempted to borrow money for tax cuts and bring back fracking)
- Sunak (Return to 2019 manifesto, austerity 2, no to fracking and not falling out of step with B of E and OBR)
