UK Politcal Parties: The Role Played By Minor Parties In Politcal Debate And Setting The Politcal Agenda Flashcards
Define minor parties ?
Smaller political parties that often have few or no MP’s e.g the Green Party and the Brexit party
Define politcal agenda ?
Issues that are the subject of decision making and debate by those with political power. The agenda varies depending to time and circumstance as well as which party is in power
What nationalist party in Scotland has strong regional concentrated power ?
-Scottish national party (SNP)
How many seats and total voted did the SNP won in 2019 at Scotland ?
-party won 48 seats and 45% of the total vote in Scotland
In wales which party won 4 out of 40 Welsh seat and secured just over 10% of the vote ?
Plaid Cymru
Define party system ?
The way in which political parties operate in a country. The uk is usually said to have a two party system although this is much less true in the regions, where multiparty systems prevail
Which region has its own party system based largely on the nationalist/ unionist divide ?
Northern Ireland
Why did the conservative only contested four seats and 0.7% of the vote share in the Northern Ireland 2019 elections ?
Because the main British political parties are almost entirely absent from ulster politics and in Northern Ireland ulster politics is entirely dominated by minor parties
Which are the dominant minor parties in ulster politics ?
Unionist DUP (democratic unionist party)
Nationalist SDLP and Sinn Fein
What’s the significance of ulster politics ?
The significance of ulster parties was cast into the spotlight when the DUP ended up holding the balance of power in Westminster after the 2017 general election and struck a supply and confidence deal with the conservatives
Which party in 2014 won over 26% of the vote defeating the three main parties
-Fargae’s UKIP
Which party went on to win the 2019 European Parliament election by an even bigger margin of 31% ?
Brexit party
What impact did Eurosceptic parties have on the Conservative Party ?
Pushed the Conservative Party into a more resolute position on Brexit, so that it would avoid losing votes and potentially seats
What example is there that eurosceptic parties have less of an impact ?
-eurosceptic parties have only ever won one Westminster seat, Clacton when the sitting Tory MP Douglas Carswell defected the UKIP and won a by election after resigning and then held the seat at the 2015 election
How did eurospectic parties and Nigel Farage high public profile led to Conservative to change their politcal agenda ?
-to debate over the UK’s future relationship with the EU
How has the Green Party to change the politcal agenda ?
-it has ensured that environmental issues remain on the political radar
