political parties knowledge test 2.1 and 2.2

Question 1

what is a political party?

Answer 1

a political party is a group of people who share a broadly similar ideology/ politically ideological beliefs

Question 2

What features are associated with “right- wing” ideas?

Answer 2

Small state, low taxation, protection of individual liberties, strong law and order, national sovereignty, strong defence

Question 3

What features are associated with “left- wing” ideas?

Answer 3

Large state, nationalisation, beliefs about class conflict, higher taxes, extensive welfare provision, greater state influence on the economy, socially progressive, an internationalist approach to global problems

Question 4

What are the main functions of a political party?

Answer 4

1- selecting candidates
2- Providing the personnel of government
3-Electing a leader
4-Policy formulation (the manifesto)
5-Campaigning
6-Representation
7-Mobilising consent for government

Question 5

how are political parties funded?

Answer 5

1- policy development grants for the main political parties (£2m)
2-short money for opposition parties ( Edward short came up with the idea of short money)
3-donations
4-membership fees
5- trade union donations e.g the labour party recieves a large amount of it’s donations through donations from trade unions

Question 6

How much did the Conservative Party receive in donations in the six weeks leading up to the 2019 election?

Answer 6

£19k. Which meant that they got 63% of all donations.

Question 7

How much did the Labour Party receive in donations in the six weeks leading up to the 2019 election?

Answer 7

£5k which was 17.5% of all donations

Question 8

What proportion of donations to the Labour Party in the 2019 elections came from Trade Unions?

Answer 8

93% of donations for the labour party in the lead up to the 2019 general election came from trade unions, many would argue that this makes the labour party very closely affiliated with the interests of trade unions over other groups

Question 9

how much did the brexit party receive in donations in the 6 weeks leading up to the 2019 general election ?

Answer 9

£4k in donations which meant that overall they recieved 13.5% of the total donations made during the lead up to the 2019 general election.
- most of these donations came from private individuals which suggests that many wealthy private individuals have a disproportionate influence on politics within the UK and this can often make elections very centred around pay to win- this is a good argument for the use of state funding for political parties within the UK

Question 10

State four rules that the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 has put in place to encourage greater transparency and fairness in elections

Answer 10

1-An independent Electoral Commission was established to record and make public how parties are funded
2-The amount a political party can spend in a constituency during an election is limited to £30,000
3-Political parties must register large-scale donations (over £7,500) withe the Electoral Commission
4- Parties must not accept donations from non- UK citizens.

Question 11

following the cash for honour scandal in 2006/2007 Tony Blair commissioned the Phillips report, state two reccomendations which were made by the Phillips report (2007)

Answer 11

1- political parties should be primarily funded through the use of taxation
2-a limit of £50,000 should be put on donations from individiuals and organisations

• none of these recomendations have been acted upon due to the labour party being unwilling to loose the support which they gain from trade union donations and the conservative party being unwilling to loose the support that they gain from the donations of private individuals and companies

Question 12

examples of big donors to political parties being awarded peerages

Answer 12

peter cruddas who was a former conservative co- treasurer was recomended for a peerage by Boris Johnson following a £3m donation to the conservative party, crudass was acused of cronyism in 2021

Question 13

what are some arguements for the state funding of political parties - state 6

Answer 13

1-The disproportionate amount of money that the two main political parties receive reinforces a duopoly. (in 2019 The Conservative and Labour parties were responsible for 80.5% of total campaign spending)
2-It would create a more level playing field so that smaller parties would not be so disadvantaged in elections
3-It would break the connections that the Conservative Party has with big businesses and that the Labour Party has with trade unions. This would make both parties more responsive to the public.
4-Despite the Electoral Commission reforms, there have been further controversy about donors receiving peerages. State funding would put an end to accusations of corruption.
5-The cost of state funding of political parties would be relatively small (Phillips Report said £25 million)
6-It would encourage greater transparency and trust in politics

Question 14

what are some arguements against the state funding of political parties? - state 6

Answer 14

1-In a free democracy people should be able to support who they wish e.g. charities, pressure groups or political parties
2-State funding would lead to controversy over how much each party should receive. If funding was based on existing electoral success, this could reinforce Conservative and
3-Labour dominance. In the 2019 election, 87 parties received more than 500 votes. Some of these parties were fringe or extremists.
Philisophically state funding would make parties servants of the state
4-There may well be little connection between the funding a political party gets and its success. In 2019, despite the Brexit Party spending £4,150,000 (13.5% of total spending) it won no seats. The Scottish National Party received £24,929 in donations (0.1% of total spending) and won 48 seats.
5-All political parties raise money through charging membership dues. If they were publicly funded there would be less of an incentive for them to encourage political activism and engage with the public as they would get the money anyway.
6-Some people would object to taxpayers’ money being used to fund extreme parties.

Question 15

state the two main strands of conservatism which can be found in the conservative party?

Answer 15

• the new right
• one nation conservatism/ one nation tories

Question 16

what are two principles of one nation conservatism?

Answer 16

1- the party should protect and advance the interests of everyone/ society as a whole, not just the
richest in society
2- paternalistic views- the responsibility of those who are better off in society to ensure that the needs of those who are worse off are met eg. more feudal society

Question 17

what are four principles of neo- liberal conservative thinking ?

Answer 17

1- minimal taxation
2- reduce inflation and interest rates to encourage more investment to be made into the economy
3-discourage a dependancy culture which is based on an extremely extensive welfare state- more targeted welfare state
4-limit the influence of trade unions due to them being extremely disruptive of the smooth operation of the free market by demanding their extensive pay claims

Question 18

four more principles of neo- conservative thinking

Answer 18

1- discoraging permisssive and alternative lifestyles which threaten the traditional family unit
2-government needs extensive powers to fight crime and disorder
3- protection of the national interest rate though the use of strong foreign policy
4- sovereignity of national borders (scepticsism of the EU)

Question 19

what are two current conservative party economic policies ?

Answer 19

• lowering national insurance tax from 10% to 8% with the aim of abolishing national insurance tax altogether
  -corporation tax reduced from 25% to 19%, still the lowest in the G7

Question 20

State three current Conservative Party welfare policies

Answer 20

1-Energy Price Guarantee. Under the scheme, the Government set maximum prices for gas and electricity which were below those under the existing price cap. This helped protect people from sudden and enormous increases in their energy bills during the cost of living crisis.
2-Lifted the annual limit on tax-free pension contributions from £40,000 to £60,000 and abolished the lifetime cap, to tempt higher-paid older workers, such as doctors, to remain in the workplace. “No one should be pushed out of the workplace for tax reasons,”
3-Extending free childcare provision (stolen from the labour party)

Question 21

State two current Conservative Party law and order policies

Answer 21

1- sunak’s rwanda scheme, Illegal Migration Bill, ensuring that those considered to have arrived in the UK illegally will be detained and removed (back to their home country or Rwanda) (2023)
2-The 2023 King’s Speech announced tougher sentences for killers convicted of the most horrific murders.

Question 22

State three current Conservative Party foreign policies

Answer 22

1- to carry out brexit
2-support ukraine in the ukraine v russia wae
3- closest possible ties with the USA, develop a strong relationship with the USA

Question 23

what are three current conservative climate change policies ?

Answer 23

1- new cars with combustion engines due to be banned in 2030, has now been pushed back to 2035
2- weaken the plan to phase out the installation of gas boilers by 2035, only aiming for an 80% phase out of gas boilers
3- 2026 ban on off grid boilers pushed back to 2035, only an 80% phase out target in 2035

Question 24

what are three factional groups within the conservative party?

Answer 24

1- blue collar conservatives
2- cornerstone
3-european research group

Question 25

what are the two main strands within the labour party?

Answer 25

• new labour
  -old labour

Question 26

seven principles which are associated with old labour

Answer 26

1- large state
2- high level of social justice
3- redistributive taxation
4-cradle to the grave welfare state
5-universal services
6-nationalisation
7-trade union links

Question 27

what are seven principles which are associated with new labour ?

Answer 27

1- primacy of the market over the state
2-targetted welfare
3- the state is the enabler not the provider
4- tough law and order
5- consititutional reform
6- rights and responsibilities
7- social justice

Question 28

what are two current labour economic policies ?

Answer 28

1-Stick to tough fiscal rules with economic stability at their heart. (5 pledges/ Labour Party website Feb 2024)
2-Reversed commitments for a nationalised energy company; some commitment remains for rail nationalisation. (2023)

Question 29

State three current Labour Party welfare policies

Answer 29

1- extend free childcare for working parents
2-breakfast clubs for school children
3-reversed commitments to scrapping tuition fees
as of 2023

Question 30

State two current Labour Party law and order policies

Answer 30

1-Town centre police patrols in every community to tackle gangs, drug dealers and fly tippers – paid for by cutting outside contractors and waste.
2-‘Respect Orders’, a tough new order with criminal sanctions for antisocial behaviour

Question 31

State three current Labour Party foreign policies

Answer 31

1-Smash the criminal gangs by using counter-terror style tactics – strengthening powers and using the full force of Britain’s intelligence and policing to 2-destroy the evil business model of human trafficking.
3-Support Ukraine in war with Russia
Good relations with USA

Question 32

State two current Labour Party climate change policie

Answer 32

Reversed commitment to spend £28billion green investment pledge
Create Great British Energy, a new publicly-owned clean power generation company to cut your energy bills and deliver good jobs.

Question 33

State three factional groups within the Labour Party

Answer 33

1- momeuntum
2- labour to win
3- blue labour