UK parties Flashcards
how many seats do the SNP have in Westminster
48 out of 59 available
what are examples of elections where smaller parties do better than general elections
European elections - in 2019 elections Brexit Party got 29 seats and Green got more than conservatives
Also do a lot better in local elections
how many registered voters didn’t vote in 2015 and what does this mean for the uk having a multiparty system?
33.8% in 2015
This means any party able to mobilise non-voters would stand a chance
how much of the vote and seats did labour and conservatives get in 2015
67.2% winning 86.5% of the seats available
how many Scottish voters backed parties other than ‘the big two’ in the 2015 general election?
61%
how much of the vote did the lib dems get in 2019 and how many seats did they get compared to labour?
11.6% of the vote and only 11 seats (191 seats behind labour)
what are some strands of conservatism?
traditional conservatism (a desire for continuity with emphasis upon traditions and heritage)
neo-liberal conservatism (a desire to focus upon the economy primarily by lowering taxes and taking away regulations from companies)
neo-conservatism (a desire to focus on law and order as well as public morality)
one-nation conservatism (a desire for the state to be just big enough to provide a safety-net when people need it, but encouraging people to be aspirational themselves)
thatcherism (combining a neo-liberal economic policy with a more orthodox conservative policy)
who are some significant prime ministers of the conservative party?
William Pitt the Younger, Robert Peel, Benjamin Disraeli, Margaret Thatcher
what are some conservative policies from 2019?
- Increase the number of nurses by 50,000
- Leave the EU in January
- Spend £6.3bn on 2.2 million disadvantaged homes
- Introduce a points based immigration system
- No income tax, VAT or national insurance rises
- Pensions will rise by at least 2.5% per year (or by the CPI measure of inflation or wage growth if they are higher)
who were some significant labour prime ministers?
Ramsay MacDonald, Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, Tony Blair
what are some strands of the labour party currently?
- momentum (democratic socialism) (a group which believes that the government should pursue socialism via democratic means)
- old labour (social democracy) (a group which believes that the state should play an active part in peoples lives and that capitalism needs to be tamed in order to not be harmful to peoples lives)
- New Labour (Third way) (a group that believe that there is a balance to be struck between Thatcherite capitalism and traditional socialism)
- Future Britain Group (Centrism) (A group that seeks to pursue “achievable, possible and affordable policies”)
what were some of labours policies in 2019?
- Raise the minimum wage from £8.21 to £10
- Introduce a National Care Service
- Free bus Travel for Under 25s and bring railways back into public ownership
- Hold a second referendum on Brexit
- Increase Health budget by 4.3%
- Build 100,000 council homes a year
who and what was significant in the revival of the liberal democrats?
1997 when conservatives collapsed Lib dems somewhat benefited. Their stance on the Iraq war helped them become more popular and gave them a distinct identity. making themselves more visible in the media also helped, which Nick Clegg was good at.
Paddy Ashdown, Charles Kennedy and Nick Clegg were significant
what were some lib dem policies in 2019?
- Stop Brexit
- A penny income tax rise for the NHS
- Free Childcare
- Generate 80% of electricity from renewables
- Tax frequent flyers
- Recruit 20,000 more teachers
what environmental policies do the labour party and conservatives have?
Labour has a policy to bring forward the net-zero target to put the UK on track for a net-zero carbon energy system within the 2030s and the Conservatives policy to reach net zero by 2050
