2.1 political parties

Question 1

What is a political party?

Answer 1

• a group of people drawn together by a similar set of beliefs

Question 2

What do most political parties aspire to do?

Answer 2

• form a government
• adopt an agreed programme of policy commitments

Question 3

How are parties different from pressure groups?

Answer 3

• pressure groups may represent a single sectional interest or be concerned with a narrow range of ideas
• pressure groups may try to influence parties to adopt their ideas, but do not usually enter their own candidate at elections

Question 4

What does right-wing mean?

Answer 4

• for little or no change
• supporters of right-wing parties stress the importance of order, stability, hierachy and private property

Question 5

What does left-wing mean?

Answer 5

• desiring change, reform and alteration to the way that society operates

Question 6

What are the main functions a party must perform within a democratic system?

Answer 6

• representation
• participation
• recruiting office holders
• formulating policy
• providing government

Question 7

What is representation as a function within a democratic system?

Answer 7

• represent the views of people with a certain set of beliefs

Question 8

What is participation as a function within a democratic system?

Answer 8

• parties encourage people to vote, join a party and to support it through funding

Question 9

What is recruiting office holders as a function within a democratic system?

Answer 9

• party membership can lead to recruitment as candidates for public office
• candidates can learn political skills as campaigners and organisers

Question 10

What is formulating policy as a function within a democratic system?

Answer 10

• parties generate policies that embody the ideas for which they stand
• at a general election these proposals are put into a manifesto

Question 11

What is providing government as a function within a democratic system?

Answer 11

• the winning party at a general election has the opportunity to form a government
• the party then controls the business of parliament, with a view to passing its manifesto into law

Question 12

How are MPs usually paid?

Answer 12

from general taxation

Question 13

What was the basic annual salary of an MP in 2024?

Answer 13

£91,346

Question 13

What can an MP claim expenses for?

Answer 13

• cover the cost of running an office
• living in Westminster and their constituency, and travelling between the two

Question 14

How do parties gain funding?

Answer 14

• through voluntary subscriptions of their membership
• fundraising events in MPs constituencies

Question 14

Why has party funding been a controversial area?

Answer 14

suspicion that powerful interests offer financial support in return for political influence

Question 14

What is short money?

Answer 14

a special state provision to support the activities of the opposition in parliament

Question 15

How have Labour been traditionally funded?

Answer 15

through trade unions

Question 16

What have the large parties been accused of?

Answer 16

offering political honours (‘cash for honours’), to their most generous benefactors

Question 17

What has resulted due to the 2000 Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act?

Answer 17

• an independent electoral commission was set up to supervise party spending on election campaigns
• the amount a party could spend was capped at £30,000 in a constituency
• donations of more than £5000 (nationally) or £1000 (to a constituency party) had to be declared
• parties had to publish details or donations at regular intervals
• donations from individuals not on the UK electoral roll were banned

Question 18

What was the ‘cash for peerages’ scandal?

Answer 18

2006: several wealthy individuals who had loaned money to the Labour Party had been nominated for honours

Question 19

What did Sir Hayden Phillips propose in 2007?

Answer 19

to address the problem of private donations there would be a move towards a system where parties are funded from taxpayers’ money

Question 20

What was the 2016 Trade Union Act created by the Conservatives?

Answer 20

obliged new trade union members to choose whether to ‘opt in’ to making payments towards the political levy

Question 21

What was supported by Labour and Lib Dems at the 2015 election?

Answer 21

to impose limits on individual donations to parties

Question 22

What are arguments for state funding?

Answer 22

• parties play an important role in representative democracy, so deserve public funding
• public funding would remove the great disparity in resources available to different-sized parties
• if the state matched donations by party members, it might encourage participation by the public and recruitment to parties
• it would curb the possibly corrupt influence of private backers on party policy

Question 23

What are arguments against state funding?

Answer 23

• increased state funding could lead to calls for greater state regulation, possibly reducing parties independence
• it is hard to decide how. much support a party should have to qualify for funding
• public funding could isolate parties from the wishes of the voters
• taxpayers would resent compulsory contributions to parties of which they disapprove