party system Flashcards
What is a ‘party system’?
The number of political parties in a country with a realistic
prospect of actually gaining political power
Two-party system
Two fairly equally matched parties compete
for power
Smaller parties might also be involved in elections
But they will have no realistic prospect of gaining power
They may only seize a handful of seats
A regular rotation of power between the two main
parties is expected
Multi-party system
In a multi-party system many (more than 2) parties
compete for power
Often no single party has sufficient strength to have a
realistic prospect of winning government power alone
A multi-party system can therefore often lead to
coalition governments being formed
The UK has traditionally been seen as a two-party system
The government is almost
always formed by Labour
or the Conservatives
Since 1922 all Prime Ministers have
been either Conservative or Labour
The vast majority of seats
in the House of Commons
are held by Labour or
Conservatives
At the 2019 elections 87% of seats
went to the Conservative and Labour
Party
The political system is
built around the idea of
having two parties
MPs sit on benches opposing each
other
Government vs. shadow government
However, some say the UK has become a multi-party system
Minor parties getting a larger
share of the vote and seats
13% for UKIP in 2015
10 parties with seats in Parliament
More hung parliaments and
coalitions; minor parties
involved in government
Liberal Democrats in 2010 coalition
government
DUP 2017 confidence and supply deal
Minor parties winning
elections and forming
government at other levels
Brexit Party won 2019 European elections
SNP won Scottish elections, formed Scottish
government with Green Party in 2021
Increasing (media) attention
for larger number of parties
7 parties in recent televised debates
some dispute that the UK always was a
two-party system. They say it has had periods of a dominant-party system
Conservatives won 4 elections in a row and were in
government between 1979 and 1997, 18 years
Labour won 3 elections in a row and were in government
between 1997 and 2010, 13 years
Conservatives have been in government since 2010, and
probably until 2024 at least
