political parties

Question 1

what is a political party

Answer 1

people with similar beliefs who promote ideas that are important to their members

Question 2

how do parties promote democracy

Answer 2

people vote for a party of their choice who has promised in their manifesto ideals which are important to them

Question 3

what are roles of political parties

Answer 3

1 - contest in elections
2 - seek to gain power through a majority
3 - represent singular issues eg Brexit party
4 - represent different aspects of the public
5 - promote democracy

Question 4

what type of party system is the UK

Answer 4

a two party system: where 2 parties have a chance at gaining power

Question 5

how did parties used to mainly get funding (1970s)

Answer 5

members fees, wealthy donars and private sources

Question 6

what is Cranbourne money

Answer 6

state funds for the House of Lords opposition

Question 7

what is short money

Answer 7

state funds for House of Commons opposition which allows them to scrutinise the gov more effectively

Question 8

what is state party funding

Answer 8

taxpayer money to cover all parties costs

Question 9

strengths of state party funding

Answer 9

1 - allow parties to equally compete
2 - reduce time wasting to get funds so more time focused on election campaign and policies

Question 10

drawbacks to state party funding

Answer 10

1 - parties will remain unequal depending on membership and influence they have over the public
2 - corruption is the perception that the public will have if the money is misspent

Question 11

liberal democrats main objectives

Answer 11

1 - electoral reform
2 - codified constitution and entrenched reforms
3 - free tuition fees

Question 12

were lib dems succesful with electoral reform?

Answer 12

No. there was a referendum in 2011 for the ALTERNATIVE VOTE but there was only a 42% turnout because of a lack of media coverage. 68% voted NO.
The conservatives held this referendum to keep the lib dems quiet - they knew it wouldn’t be succesful

Question 13

was the 2015 coalition damaging to the lib dems and why?

Answer 13

Yes it was damaging because they had to back down on many of their key policies and values which were important to the liberal democrats
EG tuition fees was a big downfall because they TRIPPLED under the coalition
At the end of 2010, their rep in the opinion polls was already down to 8%
“broken policies”

Question 14

TRADITIONAL CONSERVATISM summary
until 1970s

Answer 14

Minimal change, freedom or difference in opinion because they didn’t want a revolution like the French, harsh punishments acts as deterrants, pragmatism, one nation, gov shouldnt be submissive to the people because people cant be trusted

Question 15

NEO LIBERALISM summary

Answer 15

mostly focused on the economy and aims to strip back any interference of the state and encourage individualism
low taxes incentivise people to work and making people work minimises dependency culture

eg thatcher letting people buy their council houses expanded her electoral stability because people were owning properties

Question 16

NEO CONSERVATISM summary

Answer 16

a strong state to keep control
law and order are crucial, restore traditional values and suspicious of multinational associations such as the EU
strong authoritarian state to prevent social conflict

eg thatcher refusing to increase the wages of miners because that market wasn’t ‘competitive’.

Question 17

similarities between conservatism stands

Answer 17

• both support low taxation and free market
• both are nationalist and pursue british national interests eg BREXIT was expansionist and the referendum was what the people wanted
• both have authoritarian views on law and order:

Question 18

how are pol parties funded

Answer 18

membership
fundraising events
donations
loans from wealthy individuals

Question 19

how to larger parties benefit from funding

Answer 19

more access
eg conservative attratcs large donations from wealthy individuals
eg labour recieves a lot from trade unions: £11 million in 2015 which made up 60% of the partys total income

Question 20

how are smaller parties affected by funding

Answer 20

no regular source
small membership
their prospects of winning are less, so donors are less likely to donate
donors who do give money to small parties are acting out of idealism rather than any prospect of gaining influence

Question 21

what regulated party fundign

Answer 21

the political parties, elections and referendums act 2000

• limits on how much spent for parl elections
• donations over £500 to be declared
• donations over £7500 had to be placed in a electoral register

this stressed transparacy rather than serious limits on how much was being donated

Question 22

why is funding controversial

Answer 22

funding is biased towards two biggest parties
eg in 2015 Labour had £51.2 million and cons had £41.9 million
therefore larger parties are at a bigger advantage and small parties at great disadvantage which promotes political inequality

Question 23

what is cash of honours

Answer 23

phrase used by media to describe the suspicion that some donations to parties are made in the hope and expectation that the giver will receive an honour such as peerage in the HOL or knighthood
considered unlawful but is difficult to prove

Question 24

examples of some large donations to parties

Answer 24

• 2015-2017 CONSERVATIVES recieved £3.6 million from property companies
• one indiv called Angus Fraser donated over £1.1 million to the conservatives
• The Unite trade union donated £650,000 to labour in 2017

Question 25

what are three possible solutions to reform to funding

Answer 25

• restrictions on size on indiv donations (system used in usa) but to be effective the cap would have to be low
• tight restrictions on how much parties can spend
• replace all funding with state grants for parties paid out of general taxation

Question 26

the electoral commission

Answer 26

The Electoral Commission is the independent body which oversees elections and regulates political finance in the UK
they give some state funding to parties called POLICY DEVELOPMENT GRANTS and can be used to hire advisors on policy - over £2million is available to do this

Question 27

the electoral commission

Answer 27

The Electoral Commission is the independent body which oversees elections and regulates political finance in the UK
they give some state funding to parties called POLICY DEVELOPMENT GRANTS and can be used to hire advisors on policy - over £2million is available to do this

Question 28

what is short money

Answer 28

Named after ted short the politician who introduced it
funds given to opposition parties to facilitate their parl work
the amount is based on how many seats and votes each party won at the previous election

Question 29

downsides to short money

Answer 29

heavily biased to large parties because they have the most seats
eg labour got £6.7 million in short money in 2015