theme 2- political parties Flashcards
what are the 5 functions of a political party?
representation, participation, creating policies, providing a government, recruiting office holders
How is the conservative party currently funded through donations?
Lord Anthony Bamford’s company donated over £2.5 million between 2019-2021. He has himself personally donated £100,000 out of his own pocket since 2010.
In the conservative party there is such thing as a “leaders’ group” to be apart of this you need to have donated over £50,000 in the last financial year. Two to three lunches are arranged a week with these large donors, to which 12 donors are invited each time. This size is purposely kept relatively small so everyone can ask their own personal questions. There is also the advisory board, for those that have given £250,000 or more in the last financial year.
Peter Cruddas resigned in 2012 after the scandal “cash for Cameron” came about, where he was offering a meal with the PM for £250,000. He told a secret reporter that if you paid this amount you could ask the PM “practically anything you want”.
What is the evaluation to the conservatives being funded through donations?
After the cash for Cameron scandal came about, David Cameron decided more transparency was needed and published a full list of donors who had a meal with ministers in the year 2014. He published which specific minister attended and who had private dinners with the PM one on one. However, this process continued until 2019, and the conservative has not published a list in this much detail since.
It is also important to take into consideration how the conservatives, like any other party, also has a large membership - which has a membership joining fee. This may have a more honest origin for parts of their funding. In 2022, they reported having 172,000 members.
How is the labour party currently funded through donations?
You must be a member of a trade union in order to stand as a labour candidate. In 2014, labour received £11 million in donations from various trade unions, accounting for 58% of their total donations that year.
In 2010, trade unions were given 2.7 million ballots in the labour leadership election – meaning they directly had an impact on the outcome of Ed Miliband becoming Labours new leader. ¾ of the biggest trade unions backed Ed, leaving him to a marginal win against his brother. Due to his reliance on their support to win, he gained the nickname “Red Ed”.
However, labour also receives large donations from individuals. For example, David Sainsbury donated £2 million in 2023 – the owner of Sainsburys. In 2006, he became the first minster questioned in the “cash for peerage” inquiry. Sainsburys, unlike other big donors, donates for specific causes rather than day to day operations. This can be seen as a direct effect on a specific outcome. For example, he was a big ‘remainer’ in the Brexit referendum – donating 2M to labours remain campaign and £2M to the Lib Dems remain campaign.
What is the evaluation to Labour being funded through donations?
There are now heavy regulations on who can make a donation and how much you can donate before it needs to be declared. For example,
-only individuals on a UK electoral register can donate – this avoids international interference in the verdict.
- Laws have been passed (Like the political parties and elections Act) also stating that you must declare how many was given to you, and who from, after a certain threshold – above £1,500 to a constituency and above £7,500 to the central party.
- The Act also states there is a cap that each party is allowed to spend on their campaign.
Labour also has used party membership as a means funding their campaign. for example, Corbyn reduced the party membership fee down to just £1 to try and entice more people to join the party.
What are the two different approaches smaller parties have seemed to adopt?
- focus on a specific issue - like the green party
- focus on a specific region - like the SNP
How has a smaller party gained status by focusing on a specific issue? (Green Party)
Smaller parties like UKIP and the Green party have derived their importance from one main specific message. They have no expectations to win enough seats to form a government as their policies are very specific. Instead, they want to win enough seats to force their agenda onto the winning party, as through seats they can prove legitimacy to their wants. In this sense they have behaved more like a pressure group rather than a political party in recent years.
For example: UKIP campaigned rigorously for Brexit during the 2019 referendum. They would place pressure on the government during PMQs and campaigning to accept their agenda of leaving the EU.
For example: In the seats that Green Party has won, they have trialled new environmental policies in their own constituency Brighton pavilion. Trialled policies include banning pesticides. If these policies are successful in their constituency, they can bring them forward for the government to use nationally.
^Even though the Green party’s seats in Westminster remain small due to FPTP, they are growing in popularity in council elections - winning 200 more seats in the recent May council elections than they had previously.
How has a smaller party gained status by focusing on a specific region?
The SNP is a centre-left party whose main purpose is to secure independence for Scotland. The growing strength of the SNP is what convinced the labour party to start the process of devolution. —-The 2012 Scotland act stated Scotland now had powers over: set drink driving limits, control over air weapons, gave borrowing powers of £5 billion, develop stamp duty, etc.
-in 2014 the Scottish independence referendum was held – with 55% of the country voting NO to independence. However recent calls for a second referendum has emerged following the majority of Scotland voting stay in the EU yet being pulled out of the EU due to the UKs overall verdict. This has re-emerged new calls that Scotland and the rest of the UK are two different countries with two different wants and needs.
-Equally, the DUP and Sein Finn have gained popularity based on how they focus on a specific region. The religious divide in northern ireland has been an historical problem, however it has allowed for these two parties to pick up seats with little competition from the labour or conservative party. Much of the east of Northern Ireland is heavily protestant and remainers in the UK - allowing the DUP to pick up seats here. Whereas much of the west of northern Ireland are catholic and unionists, allowing for Sinn Fein to pick up seats here easily.
^The DUP has been able to influence parliament during Theresa mays confidence and supply agreement, where Theresa promised to spend £1 billion more in Northern Ireland than previously planned.
what are the key principles / beliefs of the green party?
The green party won its first seat in parliament in 2010 and won over 1 million votes in the 2015 election – yet failed to win any more seats. Its two main concerns are environmental policies and social inequality. The green party was a firm supporter of the European union due to their environmental laws. Their manifesto in 2019 stated:
Plant 700 million more trees by 2030
Remove fossil fuels from the economy
Invest more money into the NHS
What are the key principles / beliefs of the SNP?
The SNP has a wider range of policies than the green party, as they’re less focused on a specific issue, and more focused on the overall welfare of Scotland. Their policies in their 2021 manifesto included:
1. Another referendum for Scottish independence
2.Freeze income tax
- provide free school meals for all primary school students
- Pay rise for all NHS staff of 4%
what are the arguments stating that parliament is currently a multi party system?
The movement of labour and the conservatives towards the centre in attempt to win over “swing voters” has left the left and right wings of these parties feeling less represented, causing party factions, but also the emergence of new political parties. For example, Nigel Farage used to be a conservative MP however created his own party UKIP to represent more right-wing ideas. For example, UKIP won 1 seat in 2015, which represented nearly 4 million votes.
^SNP made a clearer stance on Palestine than Labour
^Reform Uk made a clearer stance on immigration - pledging 0 net migration
^Reform party said to win 15% of the vote this year - ahead of the Lib Dem’s
^Green party performed well in local council elections this May after labour abandoned climate pledge
^Lee Anderson’s defection to Reform Uk
The coalition in 2010 shows how we are no longer living in a two-party system, due to partisan dealignment. The conservative party was seen to have to make lots of compromises to keep their partners the Lib Dems on side. It was agreed that a referendum would be held on the electoral system for the Lib Dems and the two parties could campaign differently during the referendum. The Lib Dems also made big demands on how many sat in cabinet – with Nick Clegg sitting as deputy PM and Vince Cable as the minister for business. The Lib Dems also managed to enforce some of their ideas into legislation, like the same sex marriage act of 2014 – quite a liberal idea.
^The QUAD
^Same sex marriage act 2014
^Cleggmania - more popular than Churchill
^collective ministerial responsibility abandoned
Many smaller parties get lots of votes in the UK, just not lots of seats due to FPTP. This is due to emergence of causal political parties, who focus on major issues to exert influence on the two ruling parties. So, although it remains a 2-party system in the sense of governance, it is a multi-party system as the smaller parties can force their agenda onto the other parties, as their cause has legitimacy. For example, the Green Party won Brighton pavilion, and since then have trailed new policies like banning pesticides. If the trial works, they can put pressure on the government to make it a national policy.
For example, the green parties only have 1 seat in parliament, yet this represents 1.2 million votes – showing how there is grand support for another party that isn’t the big two.
What are the arguments that parliament is actually dominated by two parties instead? (evaluation)
The FPTP system can been seen as one of the main reasons why the UK has a two-party system. This can create tactical voting, where people vote for their preferred out of the two main parties, rather than their preference. It was found by researchers POLITICO that 1/3 of voters cast their vote tactically. An example of tactical voting would be how many labour supporters voted for other parties in the 2019 election as they didn’t like Jeremy Corbyn. This led to an increase in votes for other left-wing parties like the Green party, SNP and the Lib Dems.
Coalitions are rare, and few and far between, due to FPTP. Hung parliaments are also rare due to the nature of FPTP. Therefore, although the Lib Dems were successful in 2010, the vast majority of governments are made up of one party. This leads to productive Governments who have a big enough majority to pass bills through parliament – like Tony Blairs 197 seat majority, and he consequently didn’t get defeated for the first 5 years as PM.
What are the 3 factors determining the success of a party?
- the electoral system
- the media
- the leader
How does the electoral system effect whether you are a successful party or not?
FPTP has traditionally supported only Labour and the conservatives, as they have regional, concentrated support. This has hindered many other parties like the Green Party or UKIP to gain more than 1 or 2 seats in an election. For example, the Green party only had 1 seat to represent 1 million votes in 2015. The two main parties are very reluctant to move away from FPTP due to how it benefits them in elections. As these two are the only two ever in power, it unlikely to change. The labour party did say before the 1997 election that they would want to trial proportional representation instead, however they soon dropped this idea after they won a 179-seat majority.
^Green party has 1 seat - representing over 1 million votes
^UKIP had 1 seat in 2015 - representing just under 4 million votes
^Reform Uk currently only has 1 seat - due to a defection (Lee Anderson) not an election
What is the evaluation to this point?
although it is true that FPTP supports regional support, it remains false that this has necessarily supported a 2-party system. For example, the SNP won 56 seats out of the 59 Scottish seats in 2015. They were so successful at breaking the two-party system, due to their regional support.
Equally when parties embody a casual group, they can influence the standing government, even if they can’t make a government themselves.
^UKIP campaign for Brexit referendum - widened party factions in the Conservative Party yet also meant Cameron eventually called the referendum
^Green party trialled banning pesticides in their seat Brighton and pavilion - if successful they have stronger grounds to push it onto government
^SNP campaigned for independence referendum, and in 2019 their manifesto stated another referendum
