2.3 emerging and minor parties

Question 1

the Scottish nationalist party

Answer 1

• while lib dems declined since 2010, SNP has blossomed
• the SNP won enough seats in the 2007 Scottish parliamentary election to form a government. the party has formed the government of Scotland ever since
• in 2015 general election, the SNP won 56 of the 59 Westminster seats on offer to Scotland
• the greatest achievement of the SNP was in persuading David Cameron to allow a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014 and getting more devolved power in 2016
  lost 21 seats in 2017 but recaptured most of them in 2019, retuning to 48 seats

Question 2

UKIP

Answer 2

-UKIP was launched as a party in 1993, in reaction to the development of the EU
-UKIP made its political breakthrough in the 2015 general election, the party had already had success in elections to the European parliament
- UKIP won 12.6% of the popular vote, however, because its support was so dispersed, this was converted into only one parliamentary seat. therefore it had a big impact while remaining on the fringes of the political system
- in 2016 UKIP got the referendum it wanted, as well as result in campaigned for, however the party lost its purpose in 2017 when they lost their only parliamentary seats and its leader Paul Nuttall resigned
-no longer relevant

Question 3

The brexit party

Answer 3

• launched in 2019 by former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, it was estimated to put pressure on the government to achieve Brexit, it was seen as a new version of UKIP and attracted many of UKIPs former supporters and backers
• Brexit was a party that wanred the government to get Brexit done or risk losing support
• in 2019 the brexit party achieved 36% of the vote in the EU election
• however since Boris came to power in 2019, support for the party collapsed, achieving 2% of the vote in the general election

Question 4

The green party

Answer 4

• the greens share of the vote rose from 1% in 2010 to 3.8% in 2015. the party just won one seat, Brighton Pavilion. Although the greens have failed to make a major electoral breakthrough, Caroline Lucas has become a vocal and popular MP who has given her party a major platform in parliament, while the increase in green policies of larger parties can arguable be because of the green party’s sucess

Question 5

The DUP

Answer 5

• due to its own unique situation and history, NI has developed its own party system. on its own, Northern Ireland does not have enough MPs to make a crucial difference in Westminster votes, however the fiercely unionist DUP, with 10 seats, was able to have tremendous influence in policies during May’s time as PM as it made a supply-and-demand agreement that helped her government to survive, for a time at least, and ensured its voice had to be heard

Question 6

policies of SNP

Answer 6

• the overall objective is complete independence from the UK but remain sovereign state of Eu
• for as long as Scotland remains in the UK they support constitutional change such as an elected 2nd chamber and votes for 16 year olds
• university fees to be abolished
• supports living wage
• opposed to UK retaining nuclear weapons
  -Developing a Green Industrial Strategy aimed at achieving net-zero emissions by 2045
  -Eradicating child poverty by investing £16 million in childcare over two years and implementing the Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund
  -Increase funding by £1 billion annually to enhance early learning and childcare provisions

Question 7

policies of the green party

Answer 7

• The Greens support granting councils the authority to implement rent controls and ban no-fault evictions. They also advocate for the construction of 150,000 social homes annually
• opposed to UK retaining nuclear weapons
• proposes wealth tax on top 1% of income ladder
• massive new investment in public transport
• opposed to excess of big businesses and would introduce measures to reduce tax evasion
• extensive constitutional reform
• The introduction of a carbon tax on fossil fuels, starting at £120 per tonne of CO₂ emitted and increasing to £500 per tonne over ten years
  -To address wealth inequality, the Greens suggest an annual wealth tax of 1% on assets exceeding £10 million and 2% on assets over £1 billion.
  -They aim to tighten media ownership laws to prevent any individual or company from controlling more than 20% of a media market

Question 8

policies of UKIP (now reform)

Answer 8

• bring UK our of EU
• The party aims to reduce legal immigration by freezing “non-essential” immigration and ending the settlement of illegal immigrant- is protectionist so would ensure British industries would not be subject to unfair completion from abroad
• economically libertarian
• strongly unionist
  -Reform UK proposes significant tax cuts, including raising the income tax personal allowance to £20,000 and increasing the higher rate threshold from £50,271 to £70,000.
  -Reform UK seeks to withdraw from the net-zero emissions target, labeling it as “the greatest act of financial self-harm.
• Reform UK plans to recruit an additional 40,000 police officers over five years
  -The party advocates for replacing the House of Lords with a more democratic alternative

Question 9

impact of minor parties in UK politics?

Answer 9

UKIP/Brexit
-pressure government in 2016 election
SNP
-2016 Scotland act
-second referendum for independence
green party
- influenced parties to adopt green parties
DUP
-after they backed a supply and demand deal, May listened to them more