Political Parties

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Functions of Parties 104

Representation

  • Parties link govt and the people by responding to and articulating public opinion
  • They develop policies that appeal to the electorate 
  • The winning party claims a mandate to carry out its policies - translates public opinion into govt policy
  • HOWEVER
  • The electorate isn’t always well informed and rational when choosing between parties 
  • FPTP means parties only need the support of 35-40% of the electorate to win 

Policy Formulation

  • Parties develop programmes of govt which means that often initiate policy and also formulate police options to give the electorate choices 
  • HOWEVER
  • Major parties have distanced themselves from their traditional ideologies and are less interested in formulating larger goals for society 
  • Parties are more eager to follow public opinion than shape it 
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Functions of Parties 106

Recruitment of Leaders

  • All senior political careers start with the decision to join a party 
  • Party members can gain experience by debating and help run a constituency party 
  • Party membership opens the door to political office 
  • HOWEVER
  • As govt are appointed from the ranks of the majority party, thy rely on a small pool of talent 
  • Electioneering and other party activities may be poor training for running a large govt dept 

Organisation of Government 

  • Parties:
  • Help to form govts, meaning there is a system of party govt 
  • Give govts a degree of stability and coherence, especially as members of govt are usually drawn from a single party and therefor united by common sympathies and attachments
  • Facilitate cooperation between Parliament and the executive 
  • Provide a source of opposition/criticism to help scrutinise govt policy 
  • HOWEVER
  • Decline in party unity since 1970s has weakened the majority party’s control of the Commons
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Functions of Parties 107

Participation and Mobilisation

  • Parties:
  • Provide opportunities for citizens to join parties and therefore shape policy 
  • Help educate and mobilise the electorate through canvassing, public meetings, advertising, poster campaigns, broadcasts etc. 
  • HOWEVER
  • Voters’ loyalty towards parties has declined (in 1964, 44% had ‘very strong’ attachment to a party, 2005 10%)
  • Turnout has fallen since 1997 (59% voted in 2001 - lowest turnout since 1918)
  • Membership of major parties has fallen (from 3m in 1960s to 384,000 in 2015)
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Who has power within parties? 109

Party Leaders

  • Especially when the leader is PM
  • Political celebrity 
  • Presidentialism 
  • Leaders have a brand image, but this can be a source of vulnerability 
  • Failed leaders are often removed or stand down 

Parliamentary Parties

  • Merely lobby fodder?
  • MPs said to be increasingly more independently minded
  • Decline of party unity weakens authority of the leader 

Members and Constituency Parties

  • Less important - falling membership, tendency for major parties to develop policy through policy committees, forums and task forces has strengthened control that leaders exercise over policy development 
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Who has power within parties? 110

Party Backers 

  • Provide campaigns and political finance 
  • Labour has been controlled by trade unions that provide the bulk of funding (declined recently by still 77% of donations)
  • Conservatives have major business backers (brewers, tobacco companies and construction companies)
  • Rich individuals buy influence 
  • Led to new rules on party funding by the Electoral Commission (parties must announce donations of over £5000)
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Two Party System 112

  • Traditionally a two party system (up until 1974)
  • Two parties with equal prospect of winning 
  • Only two parties likely to win (minority parties can also exist though)
  • One party can run alone with the other as opposition
  • Power regularly alternates between these parties 
  • 19th century - Conservative-Liberal two party system
  • 20th century - Conservative-Labour 
  • An archetypical (typical) two party system existed between 1745 and 1970
  • - Cons and Lab won over 90% of the vote and had 90% of MPs in HofC
  • - power alternated between them 4 times - average electoral gap of 4% between the parties 
  • Two partyism questioned during continuous Cons rule 1957-64 

Advantages of a two party system: 

  • Creates a strong but accountable govt
  • Straight forward choice for the electorate 
  • Reassurance that policies can go ahead without the negotiation involved in a coalition
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Two and a Half Party System 113

  • Two party system started to break down 1974 onwards 
  • Revived support for ‘third’ parties (Liberals, then Lib SDP Alliance 1983-87, then Lib Dems)
  • 1974 - hung Parl (no party had a majority), formation of a minority Labour govt 
  • 1974-97 - two and a half party system, as a result of shift in voting behaviour due to partisan and class dealignment 
  • Result of these shifts = masked by FPTP 
  • 1979-97 - Cons domination bc of divided nature of the non-Cons vote 
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Multiparty System 114

  • Multiparty system since 1997
  • Multiple parties compete for power
  • No single party has sufficient strength to have a chance of winning power alone 
  • Usually coalition/minority
  • Govt power can shift after elections as coalition partnerships break down  
  • Two party system continued in HofC bc FPTP
  • - suffered blow in 2010 election due to hung Parl and formation of coalition govt 
  • 1974 - 38 MPs from parties other than Lab or Cons vs. 2010 where there were 85 
  • 2015 = the first election were parties other than Lib Dems, Lab and Cons together won over 1/4 of the vote

Elsewhere, the picture is more complex and diverse bc:

  • Devolution made nationalist parties more prominent (now major parties in Scot and Wales)
  • PR systems for newly created bodies since 1997 has improved ‘third’ and minor party representation 
  • New issues have emerged that cut across traditional party politics battle lines e.g Europe, war, the environment - made way for parties like UKIP and Greens 
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Left and Right 115

Left

  • Socialism
  • Collectivism
  • Equality, fraternity and freedom 
  • Social justice
  • Interests of the wider community important
  • Universal distribution of benefits e.g. health, education and insurance
  • Positive view of human nature - humans are social animals, not self seeking 

Right

  • Conservatism                                               -Importance of the individual and individual choice
  • Free markets                                                -People have a flawed human nature so need discipline
  • Nationalism                                                  -The role of the state in peoples' lives should be limited
  • Strong position on law and order                 -Peace and security more important than rights & freedom
  • Tradition                                                       -Inequality can be good and be an incentive for others
  • Selfish                                                          -Not collectivism  
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Post War Social Democracy 117

  • Labour and socialism influences by Attlee govt reforms 1945-51
  • - social democracy - watered down socialism
  • - humanised capitalism - capitalist market economy
  • - generate wealth but not distribute 
  • - greater equality in capitalist society 
  • - Social justice - reduce material inequalities 
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Post War Social Democracy 119

Social democracy 

  • A mixed economy 
  • - nationalisation (state control over the economy - transfer of industries from private to public sector)
  • Economic management 
  • - the economy regulated by govt, Keynesianism reflects belief that govt achieve full employment and stimulate grown the reflating the economy through higher levels of public spending 
  • Comprehensive social welfare 
  • Attlee govt expanded welfare state in Beverage Report - set out to attack ‘five giants’: 
  • — Want (poverty)
  • — Disease (illness)
  • — Ignorance (lack of education)
  • — Squalor (poor housing)
  • — Idleness (unemployment)
  • - Sought to protect citizens from cradle to grave 
  • - Funded by progressive taxation (rich may proportionally more tax than poor) 
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Thatcherism 122

Thatcherism

  • Self interest
  • Radicalism
  • Individualism
  • Personal advancement
  • Roll back the state
  • Free market economics

Social Thatcherism (neoconservatism)

  • Tough law and order 
  • - custodial sentences more widely used, prison terms lengthened, and in some cases tougher prison regimes
  • Traditional values
  • - enemy of social Thatcherism = spread of liberal or permissive values (allow people to make their own moral choices), instead tradition ‘Christian’/‘family’ values were defended
  • National patriotism
  • - strengthen national identity, Euroscepticism 
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Thatcherism 121

Economic Thatcherism (neoliberalism)

  • Privatisation 
  • - the transfer of industries fro the public to the private sector 
  • - the mixed economy transformed by privatisation, the state lost direct control of major industries
  • Reduced union power 
  • - new laws restricted the ability of trade unions to take industrial action 
  • - created a more flexible labour market and led to growth of a low-wage low-skill economy in many sectors
  • Low taxes
  • - failed to reduce overall level of taxation, but created shift in the burden from direct to indirect taxes 
  • - this reduced the progressive nature of the tax system and widened inequality 
  • Deregulation
  • - removed lots of restrictions on the economy e.g. controls on the exchange rate (allowing the £ to ‘float’)
  • - supports that helped failing industries were scald down or scrapped 
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Post-Thatcherite Consensus 123

  • The period after Thatcher being in power (Labour govt)
  • Consensus politics gave way to adversary politics 
  • Softening of social policies
  • Some Thatcherite economic policies maintained up to Blair 
  • Blair modernised Labour - Clause Four 
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Post-Thatcherite Consensus 124

New Labour

  • Market economics
  • - the economy should be regulated by the market and not by the state 
  • - Blairism therefore built on Thatcherism, not reverse it 
  • Constitutional reform
  • - lots of constitutional reforms made 1997-2001
  • - argued that Labour’s conversion to constitutional liberalism was only partial
  • ‘Third way’ welfare 
  • - Blair’s approach to welfare different to Thatcher (standing on your own two feet) and social democracy (cradle to grave) 
  • - wider use of ‘targeted’ benefits (not universal)
  • - welfare-to-work (programme to boost employability skills and incentive to work)
  • Strengthening responsibility 
  • - rights should be balanced against responsibilities 
  • - communitarianism (people are happier and more secure if they live in communities that have clear values and strong culture)
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From Boom to Bust 125

  • Politics lived in the shadow of the 2008 recession
  • Opened up new political dividing lines
  • David Cameron - ‘age of austerity’
  • George Osbourne - age of ‘no money politics’
  • People from the coalition said ‘Labour’s debt crisis’ was a consequence of reckless public spending by the Labour govt
  • — the solution would be to cut spending
  • Labour said it was the impact of a global financial crisis (they has little control so took no responsibility)
  • — solution would be to promote growth and avoid anything that would prolong it 
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Conservative Ideas and Policies 127

  • Shifts in the Conservatives created the coalition - Thatcherite ideas - because:
  • — maintain party unity (majority of Cons MPs were Thatcherite)
  • — Cons poll lead over Labour reduced pressure over modernisation 
  • — belief that a smaller state is ideologically desirable 
  • Recession marked a point - leaderships previous emphasis on detoxifying the party’s image started changing
  • 2008-10 - reengage with economic Thatcherism
  • — major parties said they’d reduce the budget deficit 
  • — Cons - substantial spending cuts to remove the structural deficit (part if budget deficit that stems from imbalance between tax revenues and its spending level - this wasn’t achieved)
  • Impact of emergency budget 2010 increased VAT
  • Cuts in govt spending 2010 showed that the coalitions embraces Cons commitment to robust deficit reduction 
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Conservative Ideas and Policies 129

The coalition approach to the deficit and other policies were similar to Thatcherism:

  • Political choice 
  • - the coalitions cuts were a political choice, they were more severe than choices made by countries in a similar position
  • Spending cuts rather than tax rises
  • showed a willingness to reduce the size of the state and a Thatcherite desire to keep taxes low
  • Growth strategy 
  • - as the public sector contracts, the private sector will grow
  • Privatisation 
  • - plans to cut spending involved a shift from public provision to private provision (transfer of industries from the public sector to private sector)
  • Welfare cuts
  • - spending cuts affected the welfare state and benefits system, Thatcher said welfare creates a ‘culture of dependency’ and hampers the economy
  • Big society philosophy 
  • - controversial term associated with regeneration of community groups, local activism and volunteering, instead of public provision 
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Conservative Ideas and Policies 130

The coalition approach differed from Thatcherism:

  • Health spending 
  • - promise to increase health spending, reorganisation that placed more control in the hands of GPs
  • Welfare reform
  • - despite cuts, there was a long term commitment to create a unified tax and welfare system, third way/Blairite welfare thinking
  • Criminal justice
  • - laws were tough for years - neoconservatism, wanted to reduce prison population and have non custodial sentences, liberal view to rehabilitate not deter wrong doers

Pledges

  • Eliminate deficit
  • Increase NHS spending
  • Brett referendum
  • Cut welfare spending by £12b
  • Prevent EU migrants from claiming benefits for 4 years 
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Labour Ideas and Policies 131

  • Responding the the deficit
  • - recapitalise banking system by giving banks £37 billion of taxpayers money
  • - interest rates reduced - monetary stimulus - make borrowing easier 
  • - reliance on fiscal stimulus - promote financial growth by allowing govt spending to exceed tax revenues 
  • Thought that the best response to a recessions is to ‘inject’ more money into the economy through public spending, then it ‘withdraws’ through taxation
  • - stimulus demands and promotes growth
  • Use nationalisation a political tool
  • - New Labour leaving as Old Labour returned 
  • - however nationalisation was used reluctantly and temporarily 
  • Ed Miliband more Brown Blair 
  • - “New Labour is dead” - Ed Miliband (what does he mean by this?)
  • Ed needed to create an alternative to the coalition’s budget reduction programme, without allowing Labour to be seen as ‘deficit deniers’ 
  • - reduce borrowing from levels too high
  • - coalition went too far and fast in reducing the deficit 
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Labour Ideas and Policies 133

  • Ed criticised the coalition - failure to develop strategy for economic growth
  • - severe spending cuts were part of the problem, not solution
  • Economy started to revive in 2014
  • Labour moved focus to squeeze on living standards and that the economic recovery only benefited some people
  • One Nation Labour - Lab not Cons the true heir of One Nation tradition
  • - decreasing attention, no one cared

Pledges

  • Cut deficit every year
  • Increase NHS spending
  • No UK to EU transfer of powers until Brexit
  • Raise minimum wage to £8
  • Abolish the bedroom tax
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Lib Dem Ideas and Policies 134

  • Liberal Party and Social Democrat Party merged in 1987
  • Minimal state and free market = classic liberal
  • Social and economic intervention = modern liberal/social democracy 
  • Set out to break a mould in politics 
  • Stop two party system - centralist alternative 
  • Similar to New Labour 
  • Left - increase income tax to fund education better and abolish uni tuition fees, and opposition to Iraq War 2003 
  • Surprise over Cons-Lib Dems coalition as Labour are more similar to the Lib Dems than Cons 
  • Cons - detoxify Cons brand, support public services, poverty 
  • - social liberalism (commitment to social welfare to promote equal opportunities and help people help themselves)
  • Lib Dems shifted in opposite direction 
  • - support within Lib Dems grew for a more free market economic strategy 
  • - shift from centre-left to centre-right 
  • Had little influence on party’s policy programme up to 2010 election
  • During election campaign, Lib Dems and Lab - Keynesian approach to budget deficit 
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Lib Dem Ideas and Policies 136

  • Cons and Lib Dems getting closer towards 2010 election
  • - but still represented competing political traditions
  • - ‘wedge’ issues became more prominent 
  • Lib Dems needed to make distinctive identity in the coalition
  • Tuition fees to bankers bonuses etc created tension
  • Disagreement and Europe, Trident electoral reform, Lord reform, welfare, immigration, NHS reform, nuclear powers, civil liberties 
  • - strained unity of coalition 

Pledges

  • Eliminate deficit 
  • Increase NHS spending
  • Brett referendum 
  • STV electoral system in local and national elections
  • Education funding
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UKIP, SNP and The Greens 137

Their rise can be linked to 3 broad developments

  • Centre ground strategies and their drawbacks 
  • - Lab and Cons modernising, detaching from traditional views, more central
  • - swing voters in swing seats (small proportion of people)
  • - drawn to centre, creating ideological vacuums that small parties quickly fill
  • The rise of populism 
  • - emerging parties share similar populist character (appeal to people - give expression to their deepest hopes and fears)
  • - can be treated as anti-politics (when people feel alienated from politics and don’t participate, they often get drawn in by smaller parties)
  • outsider status for parties 
  • Decline of the Liberal Democrats 
  • - fringe parties all made a breakthrough 2010-15
  • - due to opportunities emerged from the transformation of the Lib Dems from protest parties to serious through its participation in the coalition 
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UKIP 138

UKIP

  • Right wing Eurosceptics
  • Focus on leaving the EU and immigration

Pledges

  • Brett referendum
  • Increase NHS spending 
  • Eliminate deficit
  • Immigration points system
  • No inheritance tax
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SNP 139

SNP

  • Scottish Party + National Party of Scotland joined in 1934 
  • Focus on Scottish independence or devolution
  • Social democracy
  • 1979 devolution referendum failure was damaging 
  • Nicola Sturgeon is great for them

Pledges

  • Mansion tax
  • Build 100,000 new affordable houses
  • No Brexit
  • Increase minimum wage to £8.70
  • No new nuclear weapons - Trident
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Green Party 140

Green Party

  • Green Party of Great Britain split into 3 in 1990
  • - Green Party, Scotland Green Party, and Northern Ireland Green Party 
  • Commitment to social and affirmative action
  • Preservation pf other species
  • Sustainable society
  • Basic material security 
  • Non violent solutions to conflict 

Pledges

  • Increase minimum wage to £8.10
  • End privatisation of the NHS
  • Stop the temperature rising by over 2 degrees
  • Send £85b on renewable energy
  • Return railways to public hands 
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Glossary

Faction - small group of politicians that share a common interest in policies or a leader

Capitalism - wealth owned privately, economic life organised around market

Conviction politics - policies are shaped by the ideological conviction of their leaders

Social justice - moral distribution of wealth - reduce material inequalities 

Nationalisation - transfer of industries from private to public ownership 

Paternalism - helping people that can’t help themselves 

Progressive taxation - tax paid in proportion to how much you earn

Consensus politics - overlap in ideologies/agreement between parties 

Individualism - people are self interested and self reliant 

Collectivism - work together, support one another

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Glossary

Free market - unrestricted market competition, free from govt interference 

Privatisation - transfer of industries from public to private sector

Minimal state - a state that leaves all matters to the individual, apart from maintaining domestic order, enforcing legal agreements, and protecting against external attack 

Social conservatism - tradition, order, and common moralist provide basis for stable and healthy economy

Permissiveness - people make their own moral choices and do their own thing - no authoritative values

Euroscepticism - oppose EU, like national sovereignty and identity 

Adversary politics - deep ideological conflicts between major parties 

Third way - alternative to Keynesian social democracy and free market policies of Thatcherism

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Glossary

One Nation Conservatism - paternalism, tradition, organic society, social duty, pragmatic intervention, ‘middle way’ economics 

Communitarianism - people are happier and more secure living in communities that have clear values and strong culture 

Old Labour - ideological, working class, managed economy, social justice, universal benefits, cradle to grave welfare, traditional constitution

New Labour - pragmatic, ‘big tent’ politics, market economy, social inclusion, targeted benefits, welfare-to-work, constitutional reform 

Recession/deficit - loans less available due to banks not lending to one another

Structural deficit - part of deficit that stems from imbalance of tax revenues and its spending level

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Glossary

‘Big society' - controversial, regeneration of community groups, local activism and volunteering (as an alternative to public provision)

Monetary stimulus - policy to stimulate economic growth by reducing interest rates - makes borrowing easier

Fiscal stimulus - policy for economic growth - allowing govt spending to exceed tax revenues

Social liberalism - commitment to social welfare to promote equal opportunities and help people help themselves

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