Political Parties Flashcards
(49 cards)
How do the left and right differ on taxation?
- The left want higher taxes on the wealthy
- The right want tax cuts and generally lower taxes
How do the left and right differ on government spending and public services?
- The left want higher government spending to finance a high quality of goods and services available to the people
- The right want private provision with only basic public services
How do the left and right differ on welfare and benefits?
- The left favour an extensive welfare and benefits system
- The right believe in the bare minimum for those on benefits to incentivise them to work
How do the left and right differ on foreign policy?
- The left strive for international cooperation
- The right strive for national security and strength
What are the 5 main functions of political parties?
- To represent
- To encourage participation amongst the population
- Recruiting office holders
- Formulating policy
- Providing government
How are MPs paid?
General taxation
How do parties fund campaigns?
Membership, donor money, fundraising and if the party is the opposition party it gets a special state provision known as “short money”
What were the effects of Blair’s 2000 Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act?
- Independent electoral commission to supervise party spending on election campaigns
- Donations of more than £5,000 nationally and £1,000 to constituency party have to be declared and parties have to post details of donations
- Donations from individuals not on the UK electoral roll were banned
Pros of state funded political parties
- Play a huge part in our representative democracy
- Curbs possibility of corrupt monetary influence
- Would remove resource disparities between parties meaning more equal campaigning capabilities
Cons of state funded political parties
- Greater state regulation reduces party independence
- Taxpayers are forced to fund parties that they strongly disagree with
- How much support do parties really need for funding?
How did Labour used to be mainly funded?
Trade Union membership fees, however, you can pick whether or not you would like to donate as a trade union member
What is conservative policy on the health service?
They support the NHS but would like to see more private services and contracting within the NHS including PFI contracting
What is conservative policy on race relations?
Success is built off of individual merit and ability, race has no factor. This is just conservative popular opinion in the party, not official party policy.
What is Conservative policy on taxation and government spending?
Low taxation and reduced government spending (this has been changed by COVID though)
What is Conservative policy on law and order?
Strong belief in law and order and punishment of those who break the law
What is Conservative policy on Education?
They support more grammar schools, and support selective education and tuition fees
What is Conservative policy on immigration?
They support reducing immigration, particularly unskilled migrant workers
What is Conservative policy on welfare and benefits?
They support universal credit (one monthly payment for all benefits)
What were the original principles of the Tories?
In the late 1600s they represented defence of the monarchy, the Church of England and the land owning aristocracy. In the mid 1800s they became the party of defence of property and authority against the threat of revolution.
What is/was One Nation Toryism?
It was first pioneered by PM Disraeli in late 19th C, it included:
- A social obligation of the privileged to look after the disadvantaged
- Social reform
- National unity of classes under patriotic banner
- Patriotic foreign policy
- Was a form of moderate/centrist conservatism
Was the dominant party until Thatcher
Why was Thatcher opposed to ONTs?
She wished to dismantle the welfare state and saw ONTs as too soft
What were the principles of Thatcherism?
- Control of public spending and tax cuts
- Mass Privatisation
- Limits to trade union powers
- Tough approach to law and order
- Strong defence of British interests abroad
- Protection of loss of sovereignty to the EU
- Individuals take more responsibility of themselves and their families
- “Roll back the state”
What was Thatcher’s famous economic policy?
Monetarism. This included reducing inflation by cutting the money supply in the economy
What did Thatcher’s government do in 1981?
They increased interest rates in order to get people to save more and spend less which destroyed millions of pounds of paper cash, the economy went into recession and unemployment shot up
