Political Parties Flashcards
What are the functions of political parties in a democratic system?
- Representation. Parties represent the views of people with certain set of beliefs i.e Conservatives with right wing and Labour with left wing
- Participation. Parties encourage people to participate in politics - to vote, join a party and to support it through funding. The Labour Party increased its membership by allowing supports to join for an annual subscription of £3, was significant in allowing Jeremy Corbyn to become leader in September 2015
- Formulate policy. Parties generate policies that embody the ideas for which they stand. Presented to the electorate in the form of a manifesto, at the 2015 GE the NHS was a key battleground with the Conservatives promising people GP access 7 days a week whilst Labour pledged that patentees would be given an appointment within 48 hours
- Providing government. The winning party at a general election has the ability to form a government. A prime minister who loses the confidence of their party is very vulnerable as shown by Margret Thatcher’s failure to win a leadership contest in November 1990
How is the Labour party funded?
- Traditionally been funded by the trade unions however their importance has declined. In 2001, 81% of all Labour funding came from trade unions. In 2016 trade funding attributed to 46% of revenue. However Conservatives still remain that Labour is ‘bought and paid for by militant unions’
- During New Labour, Tony Blair attempted to compete with the Tories by raising million from wealthy individuals such as JK Rowling. However the integrity of such donations was questioned after Formula 1 was deemed exempt from cigarette advertising restrictions after Bernie Ecclestone had donated in excess of £1 million prior to the 1997 GE
- Whilst in opposition, Labour has benefitted from ‘Short Money’ which is the sole example of state funding. Between 2018 and 2019, Labour received £7.8 million in short money
How is the Conservative party funded?
- Historically viewed as the party of big business. Donations including from JCB owner, Anthony Bamford, and Lord Ashcroft, raised £34.4 million in 2017. There are 7 different donor clubs, each with an increasing annual cost and offering different perks. The Leader’s Groups requires donations in excess of £50,000 for membership
- Labour have accused the Conservatives of being ‘dependent as ever on finance and industry magnets as ever’ prior to the 2017 GE. 11% of all individual Tory donors have registered their donations using honorific titles such as ‘Lady’ or ‘Sir’
- However the European election has undermined such argument with many individual donors pledging their wealth behind the Brexit Party. The Conservatives received donations totalling £3.7m in the first quarter of 2019, down from £7.5m in the last three months of 2018.
Reforms to Party Funding
- Blair introduced the 2000 Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act which attempted to overcome the perception that party funding had become a undemocratic feature of UK politics. However did little resolve the issue as shown by the ‘Cash for peerage’ Scandal of 2006 which identified that several wealthy individuals such as Richard Caring, had loaned money to the Labour Party in return for nominations for honours
- Prior to the 2015 GE, both the Lib Dems and Labour were committed to impose limits on individual donations. However the debate was complicated as the Conservative party wanted to place corresponding restrictions on Labour’s trade union backers.
- 2016 Trade Union Act obliged new trade union members to choose whether to ‘opt in’ to making payments to the political levy. Iain McNicol, general secretary of Labour in 2018, stated that the party lost £8 million as a result in the first year after its introduction
What are the main sources of disagreement in the Labour Party?
Austerity, Charter for Budget Responsibility (2015). Centrist MPs argued that Labour had to support austerity in order to rebuild economic credibility whilst the left wing MPs argued that austerity was actually slowing economic growth. Led to 21 Labour MPs rebel by abstaining rather than opposing
Trident, 2015 Labour Party Conference. Corbyn wanted a vote on Trident, but MPs and Unions oppose. The left wing of the Labour Party has long considered it wasteful to spend millions of pounds on nuclear weapons, while the right considers it essential for national defence
Europe, Confirmatory Referendum. Purple Labour supporters suspecting Jeremy Corbyn of attempting to ‘ride two horses’. Len McCluskey and Co are against a confirmatory referendum whilst other Cabinet ministers such as Emily Thornberry demanding such. Led to the expulsion of Tony Blair’s press secretary, Alistair Campbell, after confessing that he supported the Liberal Democrats in the recent European Elections
What are the main factions in the Conservative Party?
- Tory Reform Group (ON). Founded in 1975 to promote more moderate policies influenced by Benjamin Disraeli’s ‘One Nation’ Conservatism and Harold MacMillan’s ‘Middle Way’. Conflicted with the Thatcher government of the 1980s, arguing that economic policy ‘took insufficient account of the consequences’
- Conservative Way Forward (NR). Founded in 1991 to ‘defend and build upon the achievements under Margaret Thatcher’s leadership’. Has come to represent mainstream Conservative thinking, and is currently the largest pressure group within the party
- Cornerstone Group (TC). Founded in 2005 with the motto ‘Faith, Flag and Family’. Supports a strong, unitary British state, opposing the transfer of power to the EU or regional governments. The group firmly opposed David Cameron’s support for same-sex marriage
- ERG. First formed in 1992, the ERG is an alliance made up eurosceptic Conservatives who lobby on issues surrounding Brexit
Chaired by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the group has been highly influential in shaping Conservative Brexit policy
What are the main sources of disagreement in the Conservative Party?
Same Sex Marriage, Marriage Act 2013. 129 against in a free vote, highlighting the divisions between the Conservatives more religious, traditionally members and more socially liberal members
The European Union, October 2011 EU Referendum Debate. 81 MPs support a motion in support for a referendum. Large rebellion helped lead to Cameron’s 2013 Bloomberg speech, in which he finally promised an EU referendum after the 2015 General Election
Budget and Taxation, 2017 Budget - Philip Hammond makes U-turn on National Insurance increases
Pressure from MPs and voters led the Government to delay a planned 1% rise in national insurance contributions for the self employed. Hammond and May conceded that the move was not in the ‘spirit’ of the 2015 Manifesto
Economically liberal Conservative MPs argued that the rise penalised entrepreneurs and ‘risk takers’
What are the main factions in the Liberal Democrats?
- Economic Liberals (Orange Book Liberals). Argue for a smaller state and less government intervention
One of the key members, David Laws, denounced ‘soggy socialism’ and has argued to shift the centre of gravity in the party away from big government solutions and from tax and spend - Social Liberals (Beveridge Liberals). Point to the need for continued government action, in particular to reduce inequality and deal with the growing environmental challenge
2007 publication of Reinventing the State: Social Liberalism for the 21st Century
What are the main sources of disagreement in the Liberal Democrat party?
Tuition Fees. December 2010 - 21 Liberal Democrat MPs rebel against a rise to tuition fees. Orange Book Liberals believed that those who get most benefit from higher education should pay a contribution when they graduate and the more they earn, the more they should pay. Beveridge Liberals hold the belief that education is a right not a privilege and increases in fees would acarce off people from modest backgrounds from going on to higher education
Alliance, May 2019. Jo Swinson, deputy leader, called on supports of both the Greens and Change UK to work with the Lib Dems. Ed Davey, party spokesperson, is less willing on the concept of a formal alliance, drawing experience from coalition experience
What is the importance of other parties in the UK?
Lobbying the government. Lobby the government on single issues. The ‘We Demand a Referendum’ party was formed in June 2012 by Nikki Sinclaire, a former member of UKIP. In October 2011, Sinclaire delivered a petition containing 100,000 signatures requesting a debate on an EU referendum which in accordance with the rules of E-petitions was forwarded to the Backbench Business Committee. 81 Conservative MPs defied the whip and voted in favour for a referendum on EU membership. Play a vital democratic role in our electoral system of first past the post where single issues can be largely marginalised
- Nationalistic parties. Plaid Cymru have played a paramount role in the preservation of Welsh language and culture. Despite never having more than 4 MPs at Westminster at any one time, in the 2019 European Elections they make 2nd in the polls, the first time they had beaten the Labour party in 93 years.
Legitimacy. In a case of a hung parliament, as was the case in the 2017 general election where the Conservative party only won 317 seats, minority parties play a vital role in granting any government legitimacy and a mandate to implement their manifesto. Confidence and supply arrangement between the DUP and the Conservative party
