political parties Flashcards
what are the roles of parties?
- representation
- political recruitment
- policy formulation
- participation
- stable government
what are the different types of parties?
- main stream - Conservatives
- nationalist - SNP
- single issue - Brexit party
what are the similarities between labour and conservative?
- they are both pro democratic parties with no intention to revolutionise the democratic system.
- neither have extreme views and in some parts have similar outlooks on policy e.g., Bercow being a tory MP and switching to labour
- in 2015, many policies were shared between the two parties e.g., no rise in VAT or national insurance or working towards cutting the deficit.
what are the differences between labour and con?
- key ideological differences e.g., although reworded in 1995, clause IV still shows labour’s socialist commitments
- differences in who has historically supported them and who gains access when in charge e.g., Labour = trade unions Con = big business
- differences in recent manifesto promises e.g., in 2015, Con wanted to make at-sea deterant continueous whereas labour wanted a minimal, independent deterant
what were some of old labour’s policies?
- creation of the NHS
- nationalisation of industry
- creation of comprehensive welfare system based on the report by Lord Beveridge
where did old labour start to change to new labour?
- after defeat in 1983 of michael foot who had a vey left wing, socialist manifesto known as the ‘longest suicide note in history’.
- this shows that socialist ideals may be outdated and unpopular
- they reworded clause IV in 1995 and Blair followed a ‘third way’ approach
how has the labour party become more left wing in recent years?
- the appointment of corbyn as labour party leader shows a substantial shift to the left with manifesto promises such as free broadband for all. this was accompanied by an almost x3 surge in membership of the labour party
- although, the defeat in 2019 was catastrophic for corbyn especially because it was against an disunited tory party
what were some of corbyn’s policies in 2019?
- nationalising key industries such as national grid, big six energy, royal mail and more
- free broadband for all
- raise minimum wage to £10
- stop pension age rises
what were some of the conservative’s founding values
-robert peel, the founder of the tory party, was a defendant of heirarchy, the monarchy and conserving other institutions
what were some of Thatcher’s policies?
- she adopted a monetarist economic approach such as cutting public spending and taxes as well privatisation of industries such as british airways and electricity
- a strong foreign and domestic policy e.g., falklands war, strong shutdown of poll tax riots
how has conservative party liberalised since thatcher?
- legalisation of gay marriage by cameron is in stark contrast to article 28 under thatcher
- May wanted to remove ‘nasty party’ image
how has boris johnson taken a more traditional conservative approach?
- recent rwandan migration policy
- pro brexit
- australian style points based immigration system
- trying to pass policies which restrict protesting rights in the Police, Crime, sentencing and courts bill 2021
give an example of how the lib dems have suffered from FPTP?
in 1983, they recieved 26% of the votes, but only 23 seats.
how have the lib dems declined?
in 2010, they garnered enough support with 57 seats to gain a coalition, however, since jo swinson has become leader, they have lost lots of support, only gaining 11% of the vote in 2019, and only recieiving 11 seats. this is partly due to jo swinson’s leadership
why did lib dems gain so much support?
- this was largely due to tactical voting in conservative constituencies where labour MPs had no chance of getting in.
- but also due to the televised events and Nick clegg’s leadership where the two leaders of the big 2 parties often said ‘i agree with nick’
- another reason why they lost support was because they broke their manifesto promise to not raise tuition fees
in what ways are the lib dems a third party?
- they were the ‘anti-brexit party’ due to corbyn not wanting to actively be against it.
- they have been the front runner of liberal reforms such as legalising cannabis, prison reform, improving equality of oppurtunity through free childcare and recruiting more teachers
in what ways is the UK a multi-party system?
- in 1970, labour and con received almost 90% of the vote combined, this has fallen to 67.3% in 2015
- if the electoral system was merely based on % of vote, there would not have been a majority government since 1935
in what ways is the UK not a multi party system?
- the nature of FPTP makes it extremely hard for minor parties to gain accurate representation - UKIP with 1 seat and almost 4 million votes in 2015
- no party other than labour or con has had the most votes post war
- con and labour have lost the uniqueness of their policies and are much more catch all and rather electoral victories are based off of reputation in government
