party system Flashcards

(18 cards)

1
Q

what parties have won since 1912?

A

argument for a dominant two party system is the fact that labour or cons has won elections since 2012 with the exception of the coalition, which eventhen cons were still dominating in policy and gov overall, severely undermining libdes gov competency as seen in there extreme plummet of seats won in 2015

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2
Q

arguments there is a two and a half party system with libdems, reform, greens?

A

libdem coalition in 2010 with cons and the fact that libdems have secured 72 seats. arguably due to tactical votinng and the fall of the cons party

reform uk have also won 4m votes and 5 seats but have been disadvantaged due to fptp and have a strong party opinion poll and membership.

green has also won 4 seats

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3
Q

argument there is a multiparty system

A

coalition in 2010 and also coalition during the war, but this was a necessity so a weaker argument.

2024 seat share for other parties is 18% which is a 5% increase from 2019
2024 vote share is 43% almost doubled from last election

however, lab and cons have been in gov mainly so weak argument

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4
Q

argument there is a two party alternate system when considering seat share

A

lab ad cons have 80-90% since ww2

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5
Q

argument that there is a multiparty system when looking at other parties vote share for 2024?

A

43% almost doubling from 24% in the last GE.

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6
Q

there is a two party system three points for this argument?

-seats won
-gov formed
-votes cast

A

1) majority of seats won have been by two main parties. only other time is in 2024 election where 118 seats were won by other parties and this was even less than a 1/6 of the seats.

2) there has almost always been a majority for one of the two major parties with a few minor exceptions of the 2010 coalition but even then cons dominated policy wise as seen in lib dems support collapsing in the 2015 election, the 2017 minority gov which arguably was due to the issue of brexit where voters were more concerned with brexit

3) votes cast have declined but that could be due to the recent declining turnout ex 2001 where it was 59% and 2024 60%. also cons were punished due to their gov competency being undermined by their poor leadership and their weak stance on immigration failing to pass rwanda, and therefore many moved to reform. some may have voted lib dem so to push out cons.

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7
Q

there is NOT a two party system three points for this argument?

-seat share
-gov formed
-votes cast

A

-decline in proportion of seats held by two main parties. started off around 90% but by 1997 fell below 90% and has never recovered remaining just below that number in 2024 82%

-ability to form single giv is diminishing seen in 2010 and minority gov that needed confidence and supply in 2017. lab only had 34% of the vote meaning they could struggle to win in the future

-fptp encourages people to vote for two major parties due to wasted votes meaning smaller parties are discriminated against. smaller parties are constantly at a disadvantage. for example, 2024 4m votes for reform yet they won 5 seats and had 14% of the vote share but libdems had 12 and got 72 seats. voting for thebtwo major parties has significaty decreased from post war where they had 90% or more of the vote share and 2024 have under 60%

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8
Q

there is a two party system one points for this argument, one against?

-seat share

A

1) majority of seats won have been by two main parties. only other time is in 2024 election where 118 seats were won by other parties and this was even less than a 1/6 of the seats.

-decline in proportion of seats held by two main parties. started off around 90% but by 1997 fell below 90% and has never recovered remaining just below that number in 2024 82%

evealuation: clear most of seats belong to two parties but this is decreasing, cons barely have 20% of seats and libdems is closely second so this could change by the next election. other parties also influence hoc like snp who has held a majority of the seats for multiple GE, and libdems who formed coalition in 2010

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9
Q

there is a two party system one points for this argument, one against?

-gov formed

A

2) there has almost always been a majority for one of the two major parties with a few minor exceptions of the 2010 coalition but even then cons dominated policy wise as seen in lib dems support collapsing in the 2015 election, the 2017 minority gov which arguably was due to the issue of brexit where voters were more concerned with brexit

-ability to form single giv is diminishing seen in 2010 and minority gov that needed confidence and supply in 2017. lab only had 34% of the vote meaning they could struggle to win in the future

evaluation: clear most gov hav been cons or lab, the minority gov was due to the parties having a close vote share so it does not mean support is decreasing for the two parties overall. though 2010 has shown a shift in the two party system, this has been a single time issue and it is wrong to predict the future of governments based on this sole exception.

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10
Q

there is a two party system one points for this argument, one against?

-votes cast

A

3) votes cast have declined but that could be due to the recent declining turnout ex 2001 where it was 59% and 2024 60%. also cons were punished due to their gov competency being undermined by their poor leadership and their weak stance on immigration failing to pass rwanda, and therefore many moved to reform. some may have voted lib dem so to push out cons.

-fptp encourages people to vote for two major parties due to wasted votes meaning smaller parties are discriminated against. smaller parties are constantly at a disadvantage. for example, 2024 4m votes for reform yet they won 5 seats and had 14% of the vote share but lib dems had 12 and got 72 seats. voting for the two major parties has significantly decreased from post war where they had 90% or more of the vote share and 2024 have under 60%

evaluation: though fptp encourages voting for the two main parties, in 2024 only 57% of votes were for the two main parties, so attitudes towards fptp have changed, as seen in the surge of reform uk votes.

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11
Q

what is one argument and evaluation the uk has a dominant party system?

A
  • 1979-97 thatcher and cons were in power for 18y and a dominant party, and then this changed to the labour party who were in power for 13 years after that. however, it can be seen that conservatives have been dominaitng the political sphere with the return of the party in 2010-2024 another 14y of consecutive power. labour have only been in gov in 1945-51 in 1964-70 in 74-79 and 79-2010 and now in 2024. the cons have been in power for nearly 50y in the past 80y.

-however, it is clear cons were dominant under thatcher but towards the end of their 18 major took over and formed a weak gov with weak gov competency, with many of his cabinet opposing the maastricht treaty whether they were pro or anti eu. after 2010, the gov was in a coalition, with weak leadership, in 2017 had a minority gov but won a good majority in 2019, but their graso was weak as this election was more concerned with brexit and we can see this as in 2024 people have now moved away from the cons who protested brexit anti-eu stances.

evaluation: while cons dominated in 79-97 theres not been a return of this since.

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12
Q

an argument for and against the uk having a two party system and an evaluation

A

-dominance of cons in 1980 can be seen as the vote against them was split between lab and libdems. so the lib dems were the half party that won a lot of votes but had less seats to compensate. therefore for the cons to win they had to keep a majority of 43% of the vote to win.

-since 1997 the lib dems have increased their vote share. although they had a setback in 2015 due to the coalition tuition fee policy not being kept, their votes have been slowly increasing as they are taking seats from lab and cons. this can be seen in 2024 where they have 12% of the vote share and 72 seats. thus it is not two and a half rather a multiparty. this can also be seen in reform and green party

evaluation: the only reason cons were in power was not due to their dominance or vote share being their advantage, but rather lib-dems disadvantage of winning seats due to fptp, and lab weakness as a party. many voters weakness the labour party by voting lib dems even if they knew their vote would be wasted.

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13
Q

what is an argument for or against the uk having a multiparty system and an evaluation?

A

-libdems declined after 2015 buy snp had become an important party. though snp now has lost seats in 2024 libdems have gained 72 and the greens have 4 seats while reform have 5 and 4m votes. ukip has also had a major impact in votes.

-the 2017 and 19 elections show a return to 2 party voting and the competition is now between lab and cons and this can be seen in the long years of power theyve each held before being overthrown by the other. 2017 shows how close each party was to winning hence the formation of a minority gov not being due to lack of support rather the vote share being split between the two parties.

evaluation: 2024 settles this lab won 34% and cons won 24% and the other parties won a significant number of votes even if this is not reflected in the seats due to the distortion of the winners bonus and fptp.

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14
Q

scottish parliament 2021 election turnout

A

SNP 48%
CONS AND LAB- 22% each
greens - 1%
libdems - 7%

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15
Q

welsh assembly vote share in 2021 election

A

40% lab
cons - 26%
plaid cymru- 20%

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16
Q

when was the greatest two party vote

when did it start breaking down

A

1951 together cons and lab had 97% of the vote share

but began to break down by 1974 had 75% combined

17
Q

when did the half party or third party begin to show in elecitons?

A

SDP LIB ALLIANCE- 25%
LAB- 27%

in 1983

18
Q

lib dem seats in 2005 vs 2024