2. Political Parties [Key Points] Flashcards
What are the functions of a political party
FUNCTIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES : overview
- representation
- encourage participation
- formulate policy via manifesto
- recruiting office holders
- providing gov. With a winning party
Functions of political parties : examples
Representation [e.g 45 MPs define themselves as part of the LGBTQ - representing within parliament]
Participation [e.g Labour lowering its membership to £3 during 2015-2017 (Corbyn’s premiership) to attract more supporters]
Formulating Policy [e.g 2015 gen elec, NHS was a key battleground, so you had cons promising to give access o their GPs for 7 days a week and LAB promising that within 48hrs they’d be given an appointment]
Recruiting office holders [e.g before 2015 CONS activists in Thirsk and Malton didn’t allow their sitting MPs to gain as candidates]
Proving the government [e.g creating a winning party w generally its leader as PM and they remain in office so long they have the confidence of their party / 1990 Thatcher lost confidence in her party so they made her resin by going against her and replaced her w Major]
How has the funding of political party caused problems (undemocratic) ?
- Generally the most well funded party was CONS
- post New LAB, LAB has been traditionally funded by the Trade Unions (major in shaping their policies)
- Lib Dem’s have (generally been the least well funded party) often criticised their opponents of being bankrolled by the wealthy
Example.. BLAIR AND ECCLESTONE
- Blair faced criticism within months of becoming PM in 1997 following the revelation that Bernie ECCLESTONE, motor racing boss, had donated 1mil to LAB
- he was then forced to justify himself on TV, to which the money was subsequently returned
How has the funding of political party improved (democratic) ?
- passing of the 2000 POLITICAL PARTIES, ELECTIONS AND REFERENDUMS ACT implemented by Blair trying to fix or over come the Ecclestone perception
It consisted of :
- the party spending amount was capped to £30,000
- donos from individuals not on the electoral roll were banned
- created of an independent electoral commission to supervise spending on election campaigns
- donos £5,000+ had to be declared and spoken about in detail
Potential State funding REFORMS
Arguments FOR : State funding of parties
- parties play a significant role in making a representative democracy, so deserve public funding
- public funding would remove the great disparity in resources available to different sized parties [i.e it could help smaller parties]
- if state matched donos by party members, it could encourage participation by the public and recruitment to parties
- it would curb the possibility of private backers on party policy
Arguments AGAINST : State funding of parties
- increased state funding, could lead to increased state regulation and less party independence
- public funding could isolate parties from the wishes of the electorate
- tax payers would resent compulsory contributions to parties of which thy disapprove
- hard to decide how much support is needed to qualify for funding
Funding of the Conservative Party
- mostly funded by large corporations and individuals, small amount is raised through membership fees
- e.g 6 days in the lead up of 2017 election they received £3 million in donos
Controversies
- in 2018, it was revealed that in 2014 that the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, played tennis with a former Russian minister in return of £160,000 donation
- hence why indivuals were suspicious when Russian millionaires (with dual citizenship) donated
Funding of the Labour Party
- this party is predominantly funded by the trade unions (who consider themselves as different from corporate funding) / there corporate and individual funding is much lower than the CONS
- the amount that comes from membership fees has increased by a lot in the most recent years / due to the 2015 decrease in membership fees £3 by Milliband
Controversies
- there was also controversy when Blair was associated with the ‘cash for honours’ scandal
- e.g BLAIR AND ECCLESTONE
Ecclestone f1 racing donated £1mil to LAB, so that when smoking ads were banned in motor racing f1 was exempt. They both deny the relation. But it raises concerns as to whether party funding can cause corruption
Short Money
This funding is given to the HofC to balance work which is funded out for public spending for the governing party
Proposed by Edward Short, as he first proposed the payments
Cranbourne Money
This is annual payment given to opposition parties to carry out their roles (i.e scrutiny and active check and balance for government)
Named after Lord Cranbourne, who was leader of HofL when it was introduced
What are some cases against state ?
- people would rather prioritise other spending (i.e schools, hospitals and libraries)
- the state would have to also fund extremist parties
- state funding would entrench the advantage of the big parties
- some also argue that state funding would also separate parties form those who seek to represent
Conservative Party : Traditional
- traces its origins back to the Tory Party, a group of aristocrats with historical privileges of the Crown (17th century)
- Sir Robert Peel (1830s) evolved the party dedicated to defence of property and protection against ideological revolution / stresses the need to allow for an organic and gradual reform to prevent revolution
- the party was remarkably successful in 19th and 20th century, appealing the middle classes
Conservative Party : One Nation
- Advocated for by Benjamin Disraeli, who believed that the ‘natural leaders’ had an obligation to act benevolently towards the disadvantaged, in return for the acceptance of the right to rule.
- Continued Burke’s ‘nobles oblige’
- One nationisms thrived post Second World War when poverty struck individuals
