Evaluate The View That The Labour and Conservative Parties are the Only Parties That Matter In UK Politics.

Question 1

P1: Agree FPTP

Answer 1

1. They dominate despite the core vote of the two main parties decreasing from over 80% in 1979 to just 57.4% in 2024, which has not been reflected in seats. In 2024, Labour and the Tories won 81.8% of seats.
2. In the 2017 and 2019 elections, there was also an increase in the support for the two main parties. In 2017, Labour and the Conservatives won 82.4% of the vote, whilst in 2019 they won
   75.7% of the vote.
3. In 2015, UKIP won 3.88 million votes but just one seat.
   In 2024, Reform UK was the third largest party in terms of vote share with 14.3% of the vote, but received just 5 seats.
4. In 2019, the Conservatives won 43% of the vote but 56.2% of the seats.
   In 2024, Labour won just 33.7% of the vote, but 63.2% of the seats.

Question 2

P1: Disagree Increase In Minor Parties Vote Share

Answer 2

1. Parties other than Labour and the Conservatives won 42% of the vote .
2. Can be argued that the 2024 election is the FPTP system stretched to its limit maintaining a two-party system. If minor partiesʼ support grows any more, it will greatly harm the two main parties in terms of seat share.
3. Success especially where they are geographically concentrated, 2015, the SNP won 56 seats with just 4.7% of the vote, whilst in 2019 they won 48 seats
   with just 3.9% of the vote.
4. Lib Dems won a record 72 seats with 12.2% of the vote. MPs increased by 61 by increasing their share of the vote by 0.6% shows how vulnerable two-party dominance is.
5. In the 2024 election, though Reform took votes from both Labour and the Tories, with both
   partiesʼ support dropping through the campaign, they did much more damage to the Conservative Party in terms of seats

Question 3

P2: Agree L and C have always been in government

Answer 3

1. Labour or the Conservative Party have always been in government since the end of WWII, either on their own or as a major partner in a coalition. In the last two elections, either party has won a significant majority that has enabled them to dominate Parliament and easily pass significant legislative changes.
2. In the Welsh Parliament, also, the Labour Party has dominated and always been in government since devolution.
3. In the 2010 coalition government, for example, the Conservative Partyʼs austerity policies dominated and the Lib Dems werenʼt able to keep their key promise of not raising university
   tuition fees

Question 4

P2: Disagree Ability to play a role in government

Answer 4

1. The SNP, for example, has been in power in Scotland since 2007 and has
   been able to make significant policy changes, such as abolishing prescription charges and tuition fees
2. Lib Dems, for example, drove policies through such as increasing the personal
   allowance and introducing the 2015 Recall of MPs Act
3. The DUP was also able to have a significant impact over Brexit policy due to the power the party held due to a Confidence and Supply Arrangement with the Conservative Party following the 2017 election, playing a key part in the move towards a hard Brexit.
4. Polling in early in 2025 shows Reform UK have a strong chance of challenging to win the UK general election. January 2025 YouGov poll, the party came in second place and within the margin of
   error to overtake Labour, polling at 25% compared to Labour’s 26% and the Conservativesʼ 22%.

Question 5

P3: Policy Influence Agree

Answer 5

1. Thatcher, for example, was able to implement her New Right philosophy and massively change economic policy.
   Blair too was able to have a a massive impact, especially in the area of constitutional reform
   and foreign policy.
2. Played a part in every government since the Second WW.
3. Even when minor parties do have influence, it is often only temporary and reverts back to the
   major parties having influence afterwards. Further, even when minor parties do influence policy, the two main parties are able to
   determine the exact nature of these policies and water them down to an extent

Question 6

P3: Disagree Influence

Answer 6

1. The electoral threat that Nigel Farage and UKIP posed to the Conservative
   Party played a major role in David Cameron calling the Brexit referendum, whilst his Brexit Party played a major role in shifting the Tories in a more right wing, populist direction in the
   2019 election.
2. Since the 2024 election, Reform UK threatening the Labour Party on immigration has influenced the government to adopt a much tougher policy on immigration, including announcing in February 2025 that they would make it impossible for a refugee who arrives in the UK on a small boat to become a British citizen.
3. . For a long time GP, it had just 1 MP Caroline Lucas) in
   Parliament, but Lucas used this platform to raise the political profile of environmental issues
   and force Labour and the Conservatives to support them.