Political Parties Flashcards
(38 cards)
Political Party
voluntary organisation whose members share broadly similar views and their purpose is to participate in government by securing elections of their candidates
role of political party
- encourage political participation
- recruit leaders
- win elections
- form a government
- create policy from a set of beliefs
features of conservative and labour
Con:
- middle class
- europhile
- traditional
Lab:
- lower class
- eurosceptic
- progressive
left wing social and economic wishes
social:
- individual liberty
- equality and human rights
economic:
- redistribution of wealth
- high taxes
- large state and regulated market
right wing social and economic wishes
social:
- preservation
- harsh on immigration
- personal freedom
- religion
economic:
- low tax
- free market
authoritarian
government dominance of individuals
two party system
where 2 equally matched parties compete for power at an election ; where only 2 parties are likely to form a government
single party system
where 1 party dominates, bans other parties and exercises total control over candidacy at elections
multi party system
where many parties compete for power and the government consists of a series of coalitions
dominant party system
where a number of parties exist but only one holds government power generally
single issue parties + eg
tend to focus on a narrower set of policies eg. UKIP - brexit party
‘niche’ parties +eg
parties which are popular with either a smaller portion of the electorate or represent issues relevant to a geographical area (SNP)
mainstream parties
a party likely to stand candidates in all 650 constituencies and achieve broad support across large parts of the electorate
is britain a 2 party or multi party
multi:
- 2024 GE, Con and Lab polled 60% of vote (contrast to 1951 where received 96%)
• partisan dealignment
• electorate voting for minor, non-dominating parties (e.g green)
- multiple parties succeeding at local levels
• local council assemblies there are 73/248 councils which are No Overall Control (NOC) with around 3000 LibDem and 700 Green councillors
• large proportion of seats and influence and decline in Labour and Conservative incorporation to national political agenda
2 party:
- 21 UK governments since 1945, all being Labour and Conservative
• 1997-2010 Lab in office for 13 years and succeeded by Con from 2010-24 for 14 years
• dominating parties have power for lengthy periods of time
• minor parties never been close to winning elections
-2019 GE: Con and Lab polled 78% of votes and 87% seats in westminster
• dominated election
• minor parties failed to reach even 1/4 of votes and not attaining success to win seats and have influence to agenda
• voters still voting for historically dominating parties and aligned to vote traditionally
Faction
different views within a political party
Thatcherism
- focuses on personal responsibility
and self help - succeeded many years after Margaret Thatcher’s time in office (eg Rishi Sunak, previously saying ‘I am a Thatcherite and I will govern like a Thatcherite’
• reiterated with his policy of 2p tax cut on NI to approx 27 million workers. - prioritises small state and a free market with several aims to decrease taxation in order to increase incentives to work ~ improves economy and generates money for gov
One nation Conservatism
- those with power and privilege have a duty to concern themselves with those lower in the societal ladder and that society itself has a natural order
• 2019, Boris Johnson’s victory speech mentions ‘one nation’ , embracing the idea of those in power helping the vulnerable - seen in 2024 GE manifesto, pledged to give £20 million to 30 disadvantaged towns to help them ‘level up’ their local area
• using states money to improve quality of life for those lower in the ladder
Traditionalism
- preservation and pledging allegiance to the nation
• 2023 Con gov. proposed a bill about sending immigrants to Rwanda, attempting to reduce the number in UK - firm like on immigration policy
- extremely patriotic and authoritarian
- wish to preserve traditional values and institution of marriage
-condemns social reforms
PPERA (2000)
Political Parties, Elections and Referendums ACT 2000.
- states all political parties must register with Electoral Commision and provide regular returns of income and expenditure as well as regulating campaign spending
- threshold of £10,000
(easy to avoid with loans)
PPEA 2008
Political Parties and Elections Act 2009.
- strengthens provisions of PPERA by increasing the powers of Electoral Commission and placed further requirements on parties and donors to clarify donation sources
2007 Phillips Report
- suggests that parties should receive state fundings and cap donations and election spending to £25mil state funding a year
Statistics of party funding
2023 Sept : parties received over £24mil in donations over past 3 months
• C = £10m
• L = £7.5m
• LD = £1.5m
(parties required to submit 1/4 to EC)
2023 Con: received £22mil (business and wealthy individuals)
e.g £5mil from healthcare tycoon Frank Hester and £1m from billionaire hedge fund manager, Alan Howard
2023 Lab: received £11.9mil
e.g £739,000 from GMB (trade union) and £3m from Lord Sainsbury
Conservatives factions
- One nation
- Buskellite pragmatism
- traditionalism
- thatcherism
Labours factions
- economic socialism
- trade unionism
- global internationalism
- new labour/ 3rd way socialism
