Minor political parties

Question 1

Who are Plaid Cymru?

Answer 1

• The Welsh national party
• Established in 1925
• Committed to the independence of Wales
• Committed to the EU
• Never had more than 4 MPs at Westminster
• More in assembly in the National Assembly in Wales - was briefly in coalition with Labour until it dropped to third place after the 2011 election

Question 2

Who are the Scottish National Party?

Answer 2

• Founded 1934
• Centre-left party
• Main focus is Scottish independence
• SNP persuaded Labour to allow the vote on devolution in 1997

Question 3

Explain the origin of devolution.

Answer 3

• Tony Blair’s strategy was that by giving devolution to Scotland and Wales, voters would be loyal to Labour in UK wide general elections moving forward
• He thought that this would help defeat the SNP
• The strategy worked well, until 2007.

Question 4

Who is Alex Salmond?

Answer 4

• Talented politician
• Formed a minority SNP government in 2007
• Became a slim majority government in 2011

Question 5

What did the 2012 Scotland Act do?

Answer 5

Gave the Scottish Parliament the right to set income tax.

Question 6

Which parties joined forces to campaign against independence in 2014?

Answer 6

Conservatives (under Cameron), Labour (under Miliband) and the Lib Dems (under Clegg).

Question 7

When Nicola Sturgeon takes over from Alex Salmon, she pushes for…

Answer 7

a second independence referendum.

Question 8

Why did Sturgeon argue that a second Scottish independence referendum was legitimate?

Answer 8

The majority of Scottish voters voted remain in the 2016 EU referendum.

Question 9

How many seats did the SNP win in the 2015 General election?

Answer 9

56 out of the 59 seats available in Scotland.

Question 10

How many seats did the SNP win in the 2017 General election?

Answer 10

35 - lose 21 - but still the third largest party in Westminster.

Question 11

How many seats did the SNP win the 2019 General election?

Answer 11

48 - gain 13.

Question 12

Who are UKIP?

Answer 12

• Fringe nationalist Party that started in 1991
• Right wing populist Party
• Nigel Farage a key figure in its development
• Opposition to Britain’s place in the EU
• In 2014 European elections UKIP gained 24 MEPs, making it the largest party in the European parliament

Question 13

How many votes did UKIP win in 2015?

Answer 13

3.9 million - FPTP meant that this only translated into one MP

Question 14

Who are the voters of UKIP, primarily?

Answer 14

• Tend to be older
• Eurosceptic
• Scared of immigration in terms of job security and education places
• EU expansion 2004 and freedom of movement meant a huge influence of Europeans to the UK
• So called threat to jobs and the British way of life

Question 15

What was the difference between UKIP and the BNP?

Answer 15

• UKIP were seen as a more viable and mainstream alternative to the BNP
• The BNP were associated with radical prejudice

Question 16

Who is Nigel Farage?

Answer 16

• Party leader 2006-09 and 2010-16

- Would also help form the Brexit Party that would ride a similar wave to UK as voters became disinterested in the Party

Question 17

Who are the Green Party?

Answer 17

• In 1973, the ‘PEOPLE’ Party was created, later changed its name to the Ecology party
• Settled on Green in 1985
• Environmentalist party

Question 18

Who is Caroline Lucas?

Answer 18

• Won the seat for Brighton Pavilion in 2010 for the Greens

Question 19

In 2015, the Greens won…

Answer 19

1 million votes.

Question 20

Why did the Greens become more popular?

Answer 20

• As the climate change emergency has developed the Greens have become more vocal in terms of change
• They want to phase out Fossil fuels and nuclear energy
• They are against fracking

Question 21

What is the Green’s policy in terms of reducing social inequality?

Answer 21

• Creeping privatisation of NHS to stop
• Abolish university fees
• Wealth tax to create new jobs
• The minimum wage should be increased to a ‘living wage’ of £10 an hour by 2020