Political parties II - unit 1 Flashcards
UKIP main policies
- fix nhs - 1B invest, 750K hospitaks, social care cap
- grow economy - 20K jobs in 5 years
- Working family - 30hrs free childcare, energy support payment
Green party policies
- free school meals
- carbon tax - 27B road scheme cancelled
- 3hrs free childcare
3
SNP policies
- scot independence
- infrastructure projects in scot
- funding nhs
DUP policies
- more funding for nhs
- anti - immigration
- anti eu
3
How different parties have impacted British politics
- Become power brokers - constitution in 2010-15 - con needed lib dems, dup propped up in may c&s agreement 2017-19
- Devolved gov (SNP power in scotland, propped up by the greens), ni power sharing agreement is functioning - dup and sinn fein power sharing agreement
- UKIP arguably led the uk to leaving eu in 2016 in Brexit referendum - pushed con to the right and led to con calling brexit ref in 2015 manifesto
3
How multiple parties have little significant impact
- locked out from fptp - ukip 2015 - 3.8M votes, 1 seat, 12.6%
- 2 party system inevitabely results in tory or labour pms - havent had a non-lab/con pm since 1920s, over 100 years ago, most of the time only propped
- support is transitory - ukip vote collapsed since brexit - 0.04% in 2019, lost all council seats in 2023
4
How parties achieve party funding
- recieving donations from supporters
- raising loans from wealthy
- events
- membership subscriptions
Northern and Shell Media Group - 1m to ukip
Unite union - 1.8M to lab
3
Political parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
- meant people on uk electoral roll could no longer make sonations (limit foreign influence)
- Place limits on how much can be spent on elections - donations over 500 decalred
- Over 7.5K had to be electoral register
Policy development grants
Can be used to hire advisors on policy
Con value of grants - 476K
Short Money
Funds given to opposition parties to facilitate their parliamentary work - research facilities
Amount based on how many seats and votes gained on previous elections
Cranborne Money
Funds paid to opposition parties in HOL to help with the cost of research and admin to help scrutinise work of gov
2021/22 year - 666K - Labour
Argument for state funding (1)
End opportunities for corrupt use of donations - more transparency 2018 electoral commission investing donations to ukip and leave camp worth 2.3m
(harder to scrutinise priv organisations)
Argument against state funding (1)
taxpayers may object to their money being used in this way - a member of right wing may be irritated if their tax was going to labour
Argument for state funding (2)
will give smaller parties a boost to their electoral chances
con recieved 25m between april and june 2017 companies with 9.5m for lab and only 4.4.m for lib dems in same period
Argument against state funding (2)
- parties may lose their indepedence as a result - since supporters no longer donate, they get the budget of the system - less humanising - party in gov maybe power to change rules but highly unlikely
Argument for state funding (3)
- improve democracy by creating wider participation in democracy - parties reiceved the funding, angus fraser donated 1.1m to con party - undemocratic form of influence
- ukip 380,630 debt before 2017 election
Argument against state funding (3)
- could increase state regulations of parties, which isnt neccessarily a good thing - comes out of tax - harder standard of living, momentum on low budget videos recieve 8m people on facebook during 2017 ge
2017 election results
con - 318
lab - 262
third party - 35
89.2% won by 2 main parties
2019 election results
365 - con
203 - lab
48 - third party
87.4% - two parties
Two party system
2 realisitic chances from gov -2 win maj of votes in elect - not rep
Dominant party system, one party system
Democratic systems that do not allow parties to operate freely - highly stable, lack of accountablity
Multi party system
Several parties competing for votes - 2 have realistic chance of being in gov or coalitio, less volatile but looks fragile
Factors impact that electoral success - leadership
crucial - voters respond to quality of individual for potential pm
qualities voters prefer - experience, decisiveness, ability to lead, media image
2015 - nicholas sturgeon hugley favourable on tv debates - very positive public approval rating in opinion polls
Factors impact that electoral success - party unity
a disunited party has no chance of being elected
1980s - con untied with thatcher while lab split - resulted in 2 large victories - 1983 and 1987 ge
2019
Factors impact that electoral success - media
whatever the policies are, the electorate are influenced by image of the party portrayed in media such as printed press, newspapers, social media - reinforces political affiliation
momentum
