2.4 - Political Parties in Context

Question 1

What is a party system?

Answer 1

A system that has one-party dominance or a multi-party sharing of influence.

Question 2

What was the case of political systems in Britain for most of the 20th Century?

Answer 2

Mostly dominated by two main political parties. Conservatives and Labour.

Question 3

What was the political landscape of 20th Century Britain known as?

Answer 3

Political duopoly

Question 4

Why was there a political duopoly for most of the 20th century?

Answer 4

The different social classes tended to identify with one or other of the main parties.

Question 5

What did class-based voting mean for the working class?

Answer 5

Most voted for Labour.

Question 6

What did class-based voting mean for the middle and upper class?

Answer 6

Most voted for the Conservatives.

Question 7

What did class-based voting mean for the other minority parties?

Answer 7

It became very difficult for them to gain seats as all 3 classes were already covered.

Question 8

Why does FPTP cause problems with minority representation?

Answer 8

Most parties find it very difficult to gain any representation as smaller parties lack the depth of support that larger parties have.

Question 9

What party has had the most problems regarding FPTP?

Answer 9

Liberals.

Question 10

Why have the Liberal Democrats had a problem regarding FPTP?

Answer 10

The Liberals have had a wide breadth of support across the country, but have never had main strongholds of support, meaning they are severely underrepresented at Westminster.

Question 11

What did the GE look like in 1974?

Answer 11

37.9% Conservative - 297 MP’s
37.2% Labour - 301 MP’s
19.3% Liberal - 14 MP’s

Question 12

Why has party funding caused massive damage to smaller parties?

Answer 12

They have been unable to rely on the funding from either trade unions or big business for Labour and Conservative, respectively.

Question 13

Has two-party dominance been eroded at Westminster?

Answer 13

During the 1980’s, SDP was established and formed an electoral alliance with Liberal members.

Created a centrist party with wider potential appeal and upon merger to become the Liberal Democrats, the parties influence massively increased.

Question 14

What did the Liberal Democrats vote from 1992 - 2010 look like?

Answer 14

1992 - 17.8% - 20 MP’s
1997 - 18.8% - 46 MP’s
2001 - 18.3% - 52 MP’s
2005 - 22% - 62 MP’s
2010 - 23% - 57 MP’s

Question 15

What was a major factor into the decline of the duopoly at Westminster?

Answer 15

Voters voted on specific issues rather than voting on class due to growing partisan dealignment.

Question 16

Why did the Liberal Democrats gain so much from the 2001 to 2005 election?

Answer 16

Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy was vehemently opposed to the Iraq War.

Question 17

What did the SNP vote (in Scotland) from 1992 - 2015 look like?

Answer 17

1992 - 21.5% - 3 MP’s
1997 - 22.1% - 6 MP’s
2001 - 20.1% - 5 MP’s
2005 - 17.7% - 6 MP’s
2010 - 19.9% - 6 MP’s
2015 - 50% - 56 MP’s

Question 18

Why did the SNP enjoy such an improvement in 2015?

Answer 18

Their high profile campaign during the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum led to a huge increase in voter share in 2015.

Question 19

What did the 2015 GE spell out in terms of party models at Westminster?

Answer 19

A shift to a two-and-a-half party model.

Question 20

What did the 2017 GE spell out in terms of party models at Westminster?

Answer 20

The Lib Dems saw a huge fall to 8.8% voter share.
The SNP lost 21 seats.

The Conservative and Labour parties saw the biggest share since the 1970 GE.

Suggests a firm shift back towards a political duopoly.

Question 21

Why did the share of Conservative and Labour votes see a huge increase in the 2017 GE?

Answer 21

The nature of British Politics saw a significant switch to an adversary nature so voters now saw a clear divide between the two parties, especially with Jeremy Corbyn moving the party more left, and Boris moving the party more right than each of their predecessors.

Question 22

What have regional assemblies done in terms of multiparty democracy?

Answer 22

Regional assemblies tend to be far more equal in terms of how parties are set out.

Question 23

Why do regional assemblies have far more multiparty democracy?

Answer 23

Regional assemblies use proportional voting rather than FPTP so smaller parties are more likely to get into a regional election.

Question 24

Has the UK become a multiparty democracy?

Answer 24

Yes:
Devolved assemblies see more than two party democracy
Smaller parties have been highly influential in recent GE’s
SNP has a significant parliamentary presence
As both Tory and Labour have not won a large majority since 2005 (other than 2019), significance of smaller parties is likely to remain significant.

No:
2017 GE saw Tory and Labour have biggest share since 1970.
Labour and Conservative have 89% of seats.
Support for Lib Dems collapsed in 2015 and 2017.
FPTP supports duopoly at Westminster.
Party funding makes it difficult to break into Conservative and Labour domination.