The Decline (and Revival?) of the Two-Party System

Question 1

What is a party system?

Answer 1

a particular pattern of competitive and cooperative
interactions displayed by a given set of political
parties

Question 2

Features of a party System

Answer 2

– number of parties
• ‘relevant’ parties have coalition or blackmail potential, & impact on
direction of party competition
– ideological differences between parties
• degree of polarisation (moderate or polarised)
• Same polity, different party systems (Bardi & Mair, 2008)
– vertical divisions: e.g. ethnic party voting in N. Ireland
– horizontal divisions: devolution
– functional: electoral, parliamentary, executive

Question 3

Two-party system, 1945-70

Answer 3

Labour & Conservatives dominated the electoral,
legislative & executive arenas
– together won 91% of the vote & 98% of seats
– closely matched in terms of popular support
– governed alone & usually had strong parliamentary majorities
– held power for similar periods of time
– competed on political centre-ground
• Weakness of third party and ‘Others’
– Liberals best election performance was 12 seats
– ‘Others’ won just 10 seats in total in 8 elections

Question 4

Foundations of the two-party system

Answer 4

Class voting
– social class was main cleavage in British politics
• Partisan alignment
– strong party identification
• Single member plurality electoral system
– difficult for smaller parties to win seats
• Ideological ‘consensus’
– parties close to median voter

Question 5

Pre-1945

Answer 5

State of flux in party system before 1945
– 1886-1914: Conservatives & Liberal Unionists, Liberals, Labour,
Irish Parliamentary Party
– 1918-31: Conservatives, Labour, Liberals
– 1931-40: National Government
• Cleavages
– social class
– religion
– centre-periphery

Question 6

Decline of two-party system, 1974-2015

Answer 6

Combined share of vote for Labour & Cons averaged
72% (low of 65% in 2010)
• Lib Dem support averaged 19%, ‘Others’ 9%
• Rise in seats won by Lib Dems (62 in 2005) & ‘Others’
(79 in 2015)
• 2010 election: no party won a parliamentary majority ->
Con-Lib Dem coalition government
• 2015 election: ‘Others’ won record 24.9% of vote

Question 7

2017 general election

Answer 7

A revival of the two-party system
– highest two-party share of vote (82.4%) since 1970
– both main parties gained votes and polled 40%+ of vote
– decline in support for Liberal Democrats, SNP, UKIP & Greens

Question 8

2017 general election 2

Answer 8

Limits to revival of two-party system
– parties other than Conservatives and Labour won 70 seats
– no party won a parliamentary majority
– Conservative minority government agreed ‘confidence and
supply’ deal with Democratic Unionist Party
– SNP is still the largest party in Scotland
• Traditional two-party system has not returned
– continued decline of class voting
• new cleavages & issues: age; Leave v Remain
– electoral system less likely to deliver a parliamentary majority
– post-2017 decline in support for two main parties

Question 9

Decline of two-party system

Answer 9

Class & partisan dealignment
– weakening of social class cleavage
– weakening of party identity
• End of ‘consensus’ politics
– failure of parties in government
– ideological polarisation in 1970s/80s
– rise of third party (Liberals; ‘Alliance’).
• New issues & values
– identity politics (e.g. nationalism, European integration,
immigration) and new parties
– post-materialism e.g. green politics

Question 10

Two-and-a-half party system

Answer 10

Smaller party exists alongside two major parties, but is far
from their equal
• Lib Dems have been important in UK electoral arena
– but underrepresented in House of Commons
• Lib Dems in coalition government 2010-15
– 1976-7 ‘Lib-Lab pact’
– some cooperation with New Labour in 1990s

Question 11

Predominant party system

Answer 11

One party dominates the electoral & parliamentary arenas
• 1979-97: Conservatives won 4 general elections
– ideological polarisation in 1980s
• 1997-2010: Labour won 3 general elections
– ideological convergence from 1990s
• Discrediting of main opposition party
– less chance of regular alternation in power
– lack of competitiveness in party system

Question 12

Multi-party system

Answer 12

Smaller parties winning more votes (& seats)
– Scottish National Party (SNP) largest party in Scotland
• 2015 won 56 of 59 seats, fell to 35 seats in 2017
– UK Independence Party (UKIP); Brexit Party
– Greens
– Respect
– independents (e.g. Martin Bell, Richard Taylor)
• But GB-wide smaller parties have not broken through at
Westminster
– UKIP achieved 120 second places in 2015, but only 1 MP
– significant hurdles to breakthrough
Multi-party system
• Voters have more sophisticated party preferences
– tactical voting
– split-ticket voting
• GB moving towards moderate pluralism