C1: Political Parties Flashcards
What are the five functions of political parties?
Representation
Participation
Recruiting Office holders
Formulating Policy
Providing Government
How are MPs Paid?
General Taxation
How much are MPs paid? (as of 2017)
£76,000 a year
How is the Conservative Party mostly funded?
Donors and big business
How is the Labour party mostly funded?
Trade Unions
What are some criticisms of the ways in which large parties get their funding?
They’re on the bankroll of the rich
What scandal in 2006 raised the issue of private donor funding?
‘Cash for Peerages’
What was set up as a result of the 2000 Political parties, Elections, and Referendums Act?
An independent Electoral commission was set up to supervise party spending on election campaigns
What is the maximum spend of a party per Constituency?
£30,000
How large does a donation have to be for it to be declared?
£5,000 nationally, or £1,000 to a specific constituency
What are some arguments that parties should be state-funded?
Parties play an important role in representative democracy.
Public funding would remove the gap between bigger & smaller parties
It could encourage participation if the state matched funding to party membership
It would curb the influence that potentially corrupt donors have over party policies.
What are some arguments that parties should not be state funded?
It could reduce parties’s independence.
It is hard to say how much support would be needed to qualify for funding
Taxpayers wouldn’t like that their taxes go to parties of which they disapprove.
Who drastically changed the Conservative Party in the 1980s?
Margaret Thatcher
Why did the Conservatives see a fall in support 1992-2005?
They struggled to find an identity separate from Thatcherism
Who started to move the Conservatives away from Thatcherism in 2005?
David Cameron
What did Cameron refer to himself as?
A ‘Liberal Conservative’
What were Cameron’s main Economic policies?
Austerity - public sector cuts of up to 25%
What was the purpose of Cameron’s main Welfare policies?
To cut costs & make people more self-reliant
What was Cameron’s approach to Law & Order?
Tough on Crime, Tough on the causes of Crime
What was Cameron’s approach to Foreign Policy?
Strong ties to the USA, pragmatic Euroscepticism
Who was the last ‘Old Labour’ PM?
Jim Callaghan