Political Parties Flashcards
Function: action
converts policies into political action
Function: influence
influence the gov currently in power
Function: public
mobilise public opinion
Function: candidates
selecting candidates for election
Function: competing
competing at elections
Function: leaders
identifying suitable leaders
Features: organisation
an organisation of people
Features: values
who share similar political values
Features: goals
they have a similar set of goals or policies
Features: office
and they attempt to gain gov office
Membership statistics?
Labour - 432,000
Tory - 172,000
Lib Dems - 74,000
Three main ways parties receive funding
Memberships subscriptions
Fundraising events
Donations
What’re the stipulations with donations?
> £500 must be declared
£7,500 must be put on the electoral register
How is funding limited?
P.P.E.R.A. (2000)
The Electoral Commission (2001)
What is short money?
Based off seats
What is the PDG?
£2 million pot, first million spread equally amongst all who qualify (2 seats or 1 seat + 150,000 votes), then the second million is spread based off how many constituencies your party stands in
What is cranborne money?
Money provided to the house of lords
Positives of state funding: corrupt, advantage, representation
No corrupt donations
Reduces advantages of bigger parties
Encourages more participation as representation of everyone would be easier
Negatives of state funding: distribution, independence, regulation
How would we distribute it?
Parties would lose independence
May lead to excessive state regulation of parties
Donations statistics
Tory - £19.4m
Labour - £5.4m
