ETVT politics parties no longer fulfill their functions in democracy (30) Flashcards
They do carry out effective policy formulation
One of the main roles of parties is to create coherent policy programmes that can be placed before voters at election time so they can have effective choice over which party they believe should govern. Major parties tend to have clear ideological convictions that develop rival manifestos giving the electorate clear choice between potential governments.
For example in the 2015 party manifestos the Conservative part committed to no rise in income tax and instead wanted to raise the threshold of the 40p rate of tax so that nobody under £50,000 pays the rate, whereas the Labour party committed to reverse the cut to the 50p top rate of income tax so that the top 1% of earners pay more.
Furthermore having manifestos and policy promises before elections ensures a level of accountability in UK democracy if they do not follow through.
It can also be argued that voter choice is increasing and there has been a rise in the number of parties contesting seats since the Second World War, In the 1955 election only 4 parties won seats in the commons and only 11 parties had candidates that stood. Whereas in the 2015 general election 68 parties ran candidates and 13 won seats in the commons.
They dont carry out policy formulation effectively
Recently the major parties have distanced themselves from their traditional ideologies and in recent years they have become less interest in formulating larger goals for society and a movement towards which party will run the country more effectively, and leaders based on personalities.
Parties have been more eager to follow public opinion rather than try to shape it.
Kier Starmer said ‘I am ready to break pledges to make labour electable’, whilst also announcing the Jeremy Corbyn would not be able to stand at the next election, furthermore in 2021 the party agreed to ban four left wing groups, and automatic expulsion of a number of members no expected to reach 1,000.
The conservatives are also increasingly adopting labour policies such as a energy price cap, windfall tax on energy companies and raising state benefits in line with inflation.
The Tories made a policy announcement that copied a Labour proposal almost word for word: promising to “make the right to request flexible working a day-one right” for all employees. Labour called for “the right to flexible working for all workers … from day one” back in July 2021.
During this year’s first Tory leadership contest, Sunak pledged: “I will govern as a Thatcherite.” Yet now he leads a government that raises taxes, emphasises how “compassionate” it is, and has hired the former senior New Labour figures Patricia Hewitt and Michael Barber as advisers.
If there is a lack of clear ideological identity there is a lack of clear voter choice, and given that the conservatives and labour party dominate the commons anyway there is very little room for other parties. In the 2019 general election they won 87.3% of the seats.
They do represent effectively
Parties represent by responding to the people and their demands, they can do this by carrying out manifesto promises they were elected on and claim a popular mandate to carry out its policies.
One of the main pledges of the Conservative manifesto in 2015 was a referendum on leaving the EU by 2017, In 2016 David Cameron called for a referendum to take place on the 23 June where the population would vote to leave by a 52% vote.
The emergence of parties in the UK can be tied to the introduction of universal suffrage, the Labour party emerged from trade unions and socialist societies to represent working-class interests, while the conservatives have been associated with representing the interests of private businesses and the middle class.
2015 saw the Labour Part commit towards raising the minimum wage to more than £8 by October 2019.
They dont represent effectively
Parties have failed to follow through with manifesto promises that they were elected on and therefore are not effectively representing the views of the people.
Studies at the University of Manchester discovered that the conservatives only fulfilled 175 out of 257 promises, and couldn’t fulfil key ones. 2017
May committed to leaving the EU and said “no deal is better than a bad deal” for the UK, this was not fulfilled until January 2020.
May also committed to reducing net migration to under 100,000, this number was 300,000 in 2019 and 298,000 in 2018.
Parties have also been seen to move away from their traditional groups, for example Labour was seen to reduce its links with trade unions are Tony Blair and again under Kier Stamer.
Blair went to great lengths to reassure the public that the unions had little sway over the New Labour movement, in the 1997 election he promised that ‘we will not be held ransom by the unions’ and rejected the idea that the Labour Party was the ‘political arm of the trade union movement’ but instead the ‘British people’.
Keir Starmer explicitly warned labour ministers to stay away from the picket lines at the biggest rail strike since 1989 and repeatedly refused to back striking workers, ‘I don’t want the strikes to go ahead. We want to be in government; in government you resolve issues’.
They do encourage participation
Political parties provide a opportunity for citizens to join a group of like-minded people united in their ideology to help shape party and possibly government policy.
For example the Labour party had over 550,000 members in 2017 who had committed their support towards the party and in 2021 the conservatives had a total of 200,000 party members.
They also help to educate and mobilise the electorate through a range of activities such as public meetings, advertising, poster campaigns and party broadcasts.
For example conservative poster that writes ‘labour still isn’t working’ and ‘Britain’s better of with the conservatives’ in 1979 could have contributed to a majority of 44 seats and winning 13 million of the popular vote, showing that there is encouragement to built party loyalty.
They dont encourage participation
Voters loyalty towards and identification with parties has declined in recent years, this is known as partisan dealignment.
44% of voters claimed to have a ‘very strong’ attachment to a party in 1964, this had fallen to a mere 9% by 2015, this means that voting patterns are much more unpredictable and people are less likely to vote if they no longer have a attachment to a specific party.
Turnout in general elections has fallen sharply since 1997, with only 59% voting in 2001, the lowest turnout since 1918 and 66% voted in 2015, still 9% below the historical average.
Furthermore we have seen membership levels of the main political parties has fallen in the UK, this means that parties are failing to peek the interest of the electorate and cant get them involved in internal party politics.
The Labour party has just over 400,000 members in 2021, already a massive drop from 2017, and a 91,000 fall since 2020. Campaign group Momentum, which was set up to support Mr Corbyn’s leadership, blamed Sir Keir’s “factional” leadership of Labour for the membership decline, accusing him of “alienating” trade unions affiliated to the party.
