Parties

Question 1

Corruption in party funding- Conservatives donations.

Answer 1

2023 Conservatives received £44.5 million from funding, including £20 million from 2 sources.
Concerns of Russian influence: £2m of donations from Russia.
Scandals involving donors: Hester racial attacks on Dianne Abbott but conservatives didn’t return his donations.

Question 2

Corruption in party funding- Labour donations.

Answer 2

2023 received £21.5 million in donations, with only £6 million from Trade Unions.

Question 3

Labour sources of funding

Answer 3

2023/24 Labour received 13% of funding from the state and 10% from Trade Unions.
Membership of 370,000 in 2023/34- membership fees significant in funding.

Question 4

Limits on donations to parties

Answer 4

Electoral Commission means all large donations are transparent and come from people/businesses who are on the UK electoral roll.
Political parties are mandated to ensure that their donations come from permissible sources and to report any that don’t to the Electoral Commission.

Question 5

How does Short money encourage a two- party system?

Answer 5

Mostly available to larger parties: granted in relation to the number of seats won so only benefits parties already succeeding in the FPTP system.

Question 6

Extent of funding: Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat

Answer 6

2023 Labour: £58.6 million
2023 Conservative: £59.3 million
2023 Liberal Democrat: £8 million (next highest)

Question 7

How does Labour’s party funding reflect its support?

Answer 7

Reflects its membership of 370,000.
Funding from contributors eg. Trade Unions like UNISON and GMB which represent the people.

Question 8

Labour’s economic policy under Corbyn

Answer 8

Tax increase 50% income tax for top band, increased corporation tax to 26%.
6 major nationalisations including water, energy, broadband

Question 9

Labour’s economic policy under Starmer: nationalisation

Answer 9

Has nationalised the rail service (Passenger Railway Services Act)
Great British Energy Bill to make energy state- owned

Question 10

Labour’s economic policy under Starmer: pay for workers

Answer 10

Rachel Reeves announced an above- inflation pay rise for public sector workers.
Employment Rights Bill to strengthen statutory sick pay and end zero hours contracts.
More negotiations with striking workers.

Question 11

Labour’s economic policy under Starmer: support for businesses

Answer 11

Labour Investment Summit: attracted over 300 industry leaders and resulted in £63 billion of private investment commitments.

Question 12

Labour’s economic policy under Starmer: NHS

Answer 12

Cut NHS waiting times by putting to use private providers and being ruthless with ‘bureaucratic nonsense’.
Similar to New Labour’s use of PFIs to help deliver public services.

Question 13

Labour’s economic policy under Starmer: Tax

Answer 13

Pledged not to increase tax for businesses or working people- delivered in first budget.
Increased some limited tax- such as private schools’ VAT exemption.
Cautious approach to spending- like New Labour

Question 14

Labour’s Law and Order policy under Starmer: Crime

Answer 14

Blair’s ‘tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime’ reflected in Labour: pledge to recruit 13000 more neighbourhood police, strong stance against low-level anti-social behaviour like use of recreational drugs.
Emphasis on rehabilitation: working alongside youth centres, schools, drug rehab centres etc.

Question 15

Labour’s Law and Order policy under Starmer: Welfare

Answer 15

£6 billion cuts in benefits in order to get people into work: through tougher qualifications for PIP.
Welfare as a ‘hand up’, not a ‘handout’.

Question 16

Old Labour’s Law and Order policy as similar to current Labour’s

Answer 16

Corbyn opposed cuts to police numbers.
Rehabilitative approach.

Question 17

Starmer’s Labour’s immigration policy as different to both Old and New Labour.

Answer 17

Aims to reduce immigration numbers by removing the path to British citizenship for those who enter illegally.
New and Old Labour both supported immigration.

Question 18

Labour’s foreign policy under Starmer: Interventionism

Answer 18

New Labour interventionism: support for Bush’s war on Terror, famously in Iraq invasion.
Current Labour’s strong commitment to NATO and increased defense spending.
Funding for Ukraine

Question 19

Labour’s foreign policy under Starmer: relations

Answer 19

Want to maintain the special relationship with the USA- meeting with Trump.

Question 20

Old Labour’s foreign policy

Answer 20

Opposes Western intervention and supports nuclear proliferation.
Corbyn support for getting rid of trident and warning against strong support for Ukraine- rather prioritising a peace deal.

Question 21

Current Labour agreement with Old Labour

Answer 21

Didn’t strongly pursue anti- interventionist policies- eg. despite Corbyn’s personal views, didn’t advocate for taking the UK out of NATO.
Current Labour’s cut to aid doesn’t reflect either Labour.

Question 22

Current conservatives’ economic policy: Tax

Answer 22

Truss’ mini- budget cut taxes drastically- link to Thatcher reducing top rate of tax from 83% to 40%.
Sunak reduced national insurance contributions from employees 10% to 8%.

Question 23

Current conservatives’ economic policy: Privatisation

Answer 23

Supports.

Question 24

Current conservatives’ economic policy: the welfare state

Answer 24

Sunak critique of amount of money spent on disability benefits- links to Thatcher’s opposition of a welfare state; also echoed by Kemi Badenoch.

Question 25

Sunak's government as an opposition to Thatcherite reforms.

Answer 25

Reversed Truss' tax cuts and pledged to increase some tax to reduce inflation (for example corporation tax). Implies opposition to Thatcherite policy.

Question 26

Current conservatives' policy on Law and Order and the Unions: crime

Answer 26

Thatcher decreased spending for most departments, except for police and armed force, which she increased. Sunak's recruitment of 20,000 new police officers. Sunak's comprehensive anti-social behaviour plan.

Question 27

Current conservatives' policy on Law and Order and the Unions: Trade Unions

Answer 27

Thatcher's 'enemy within' made striking more difficult and police responses more harsh. Sunak's Strikes Act 2023 to limit strikes and Public Order Act to limit disruption made by strikes. Only counter: not AS harsh on strikes as Thatcher: made negotiations with teachers and nurses.

Question 28

Current conservatives' foreign policy: international funding

Answer 28

Thatcher as the 'Iron Lady'- protecting the UK's interests. Sunak significant support and funding for Ukraine- £2.5 billion military funding in 2024.

Question 29

Current conservatives' foreign policy: Defense

Answer 29

Badenoch supportive of increasing defense spending.

Question 30

Current conservatives' foreign policy: The EU

Answer 30

Thatcher's euroscepticism in regard to the political union of the EU, but supported its free trade and econmic union. Current Conservatives much more economically reckless and anti- free trade in regard to the EU.

Question 31

Current conservatives' foreign policy: Immigration

Answer 31

Strongly anti immigration- SORA 2024. Cost a lot, and disregards economic benefits of immigration; Thatcher recognised immigration's economic benefit. Badenoch into of longer waiting times to apply for citizenship for immigrants- 6 to 15 years.

Question 32

Minor parties' importance in politics: electoral success

Answer 32

2024, minor parties received 42% of the vote. Party dominance is fragile, Lib Dems won 61 more seats with a vote increase of 0.6%. Can hinder party support- eg. Reform splitting right-wing support meaning less for tories.

Question 33

Minor parties' unimportance in politics: electoral success

Answer 33

FPTP reduces power and relevance of small parties; 2024 Labour and conservatives combined won 81% of seats. Reform 3rd largest vote share in 2024, but won only 5 seats (14% of votes).

Question 34

Minor parties' unimportance in politics: inability to play a role in government.

Answer 34

Large majorities of 2 major parties in the last two elections means ability to dominate parliament and pass significant legislative changes. Same in Wales- Labour dominance despite devolution. Dominate in coalition: Lib dems forced to support austerity policies and pledge to reduce tuition fees was overruled.

Question 35

Minor parties' importance in politics: ability to play a role in government.

Answer 35

Power in devolved bodies: SNP able to abolish tuition and prescription fees in Scotland. Junior partners in coalition and confidence and supply agreements: LibDems drove policies like increasing personal alliance and DUP influence over Brexit- move to hard Brexit. Popularity in local elections- LibDem and Reform most popular. Reform has higher party membership than the Tories and gains in 18-24 category.

Question 36

Minor parties' unimportance in politics: Lack of influence over policy

Answer 36

Major parties able to massively redirect policy- Thatcher's huge tax cuts and privatisations and Blair's constitutional reforms. Major parties as broad churches- represent many voters and policy positions. Minor party influence is often temporary and watered down by major parties.

Question 37

Minor parties' importance in politics: influence over policy

Answer 37

Able to threaten parties with the 'spoiler effect' (taking votes away from major parties) - and use their influence to get policy on the political agenda. Eg. threat of Farage led to Cameron pledging a Brexit referendum + shifting Tories further right. Reform threat in 2024/5 has led labour to introduce a much tougher immigration policy. Green uplifting environmental issues.