Political parties Flashcards
what are major parties in the uk?
- conservative
2.Labour - scottish national party(SNP)
what are minor parties?
1.LIberal Democrats
2. Green Party
3. Democratic Unionist Party
what are the functions of political parties?
- Making policy
- representation
- identifying leader
- political education
how do political parties make policy?
this role is important when a party is in opposition and is seeking to replace the gov one day
- for example, in the labour party, a national policy forum consults with party members over the development of policy and before the 2017 GE them and the national executive council worked closely with leadership to form a manifesto that fairly represented the political opinions of the labour movement
how do political parties represent?
representation ensures that the opinions of everyone in society are given a mouthpiece
- for example, in the 2017 GE, 82.4% of those who voted felt that their political opinions were represented by the cons party (42.4%) or the labour party (40%)
- for example, UK labour party was developed in the early 20th century to represent the working classes and especially trade union members
- for example, the conservative party of the 20th century largely exited to protect the interests of the landed gentry and aristocracy
how do political parties identify leaders?
parties need leaders and, in the case of main parties, this means potential gov ministers
- for example, following to the 2015 election defeat, the former leader Ed miliband, resigned. this left behind a power vacuum. the party membership voted overwhelmingly for corbyn, however, corbyn’s views were far too left for labour MP’s and peers but he was the party leader till 2020
- for example, the conservative party lost faith in its leader Theresa May in 2019, this was due to her failure of not being able to unify the party to delver an agreed version of brexit
how do political parties offer political education?
parties are continuosly involved in the process of informing people about the political issues of the day, explaining the main areas of conflict and outlining their own solutions to the problem
- for example, the Green Party raised awareness about environmental issues, while UKIP made the role and position a source for debate
- for example, labour raised awareness of the issues of low pay, zero hour contracts and funding the “bedroom tax”
how are political parties funded?
- party membership
- trade unions
- public funding
- donations
how do party membership fund political parties?
party members pay a subscription to join a party and so funds are generated in this way
- for example, in 2014, membership income was 23% of green party income, 15% of labour’s income, 9% of libdems income and 2% of cons income
how do trade unions fund political parties?
trade unions have been liked to the labour party since its been founded in 1900
- for example, in 2014, it provided 27% of labours income. the large unions such as UNISON and UNITE are affiliated
how does public funding help political parties?
short money is given to the opposition from public funds and ensures that opposition parties can also develop policies and carry out research
- for example, the electoral commision allocates £2 million a year to the parties to help them develop policies for inclusion in their election manifestos
how do donations help fund political parties?
- the large parties have been accused of offering political honours to their most generous benefactors
- libdems often criticise their opponents for being bankrolled by the wealthy
how is party funding regulated?
- the amount that a party can spend was capped at 30,000 in a constituency
- donations of more than £5000 (nationally) or £1000 (to a constituency party) had to be declared and parties had to publish details of donations at regular intervals
what are case studies for political parties in 1997?
- tony blair faced criticism within months of becoming PM in 1997 following the revelation that ecclestone(motor racing boss) had donated 1 million to labour
- blair was forced to justify himself in a TV interview in which he described himself as a “ pretty straight sort of guy” and the money was returned
what are case studies for political parties in 2014-2015?
- labour receives contributions from trade unions which amounted to nearly 60% of the party’s total income
what are case studies for 2017?
- the three months before the election saw a record amount donated (£40 million)
- tories received £25 million, labour received £9.5 million, libdems received £4.4 million, SNP received £600,000, UKIP received £150,000 and greens received £175,000
what is a two party system?
only two parties have a realistic chance of forming a gov as they win vast majority of votes in elections and seats in assemblies
what is a three party system?
two parties dominate but not enough to govern alone.
what is a multi party system?
several or multiple parties competing for votes and power
what makes a political party successful?
- public support (less public support means less votes )
- funding (having several wealthy sources of income means that politicians can focus on representing their constituents through electoral campaigns
- positive media coverage (influences the public in a positive way could potentially increase voter turnout)
- how well they carry out their manifesto pledges
