politics - political parties

what is a political party

a group of people drawn together by a similar set of beliefs , known as an ideology , even if they do not have identical views -on some issues they may be deeply divided

aim of political parties

to form a govt and adopt an agreed programme of policy commitments ,linked to their core ideas

can a party be defined by a single issue

yes e.g. UKIP’s only goal has been withdrawal from EU

parties vs pressure groups

• pressure groups may present a single sectional interest or be concerned with a narrow range of ideas , such as the environment

• pressure groups may try to influence parties to adopt their ideas , but do not usually enter their own candidates at elections

right wing

supporting the status quo for little or no change. supporters of right-wing parties stress the importance of order,stability hierarchy and private property

left wing

desiring change , reform and alteration to the way that society operates , including socialists who are critical of the capitalist or free market economy

functions that political parties perform within a democratic system

• representation = the main function of parties is to represent the views of people with a certain set of beliefs

• participation = in order to win power or influence , parties encourage people to participate in politics - to vote , join a party and to support it through funding to get its message across. parties vary in how far they allow their members to shape party policy , but all the main UK parties have procedures that involve members in selecting candidates to stand for local and national elections , and in choosing the party leader

• recruiting office holders = for a small number of people , party membership leads to recruitment as candidates for public office and thus participation in the UK’s representative democracy . candidates can learn political skills as campaigners and organisers . parties also have the right to reject or ‘deselect’ candidates who fail to live up to their expectation so that they cannot stand for that party in any upcoming election

• formulating policy = parties generate policies that embody the ideas for which they stand for. at a general election they put these proposals before the electorate in a manifesto . parties can also have an educative function, by communicating and explaining their ideas to the public

• providing govt = the winning party at a general election has the opportunity to form a govt. the party then controls the business of parliament with a view to passing its manifesto into law. the PM is not directly elected by the people, but is usually the leader of the largest party . a PM who loses the confidence of its party is vulnerable.

what is the basic annual salary of an MP (april 2017)

£76,000

what are MPs allowed to claim expenses for

to cover the cost of running an office , living in westminster and their constituency , and travelling between the two

has there been resistance to state funding of parties in the UK

yes

alternative to state funding of parties in the UK

parties must meet most of their election costs from the voluntary subscriptions of their membership and from fundraising events in MPs constituencies . however there is special state provision to support the activities of the opposition in parliament , known as short money.

why is party funding controversial

because of the suspicion that powerful interests offer financial support in return for political influence

who has labour been traditionally funded by

trade unions

which party criticises their opponents for being bankrolled by the wealthy

the liberal democrats

what have the large parties been accused of doing for their most generous benefactors

offering political honours , such as places in the house of lords

what did the blair govt do in an attempt to overcome the perception that party funding had become an undemocratic feature of the UK political system

passed the 2000 political parties ,elections and referendums act

what happened as a result of the 2000 act

• an independent electoral commission was set up to supervise party spending on election campaigns

• the amount that a party could spend was capped at £30,000 in a constituency

• donations of more than £5000(nationally) or £1000 (to a constituency party) had to be declared and parties had to publish details of donations at regular intervals

• donations from individuals not on the UK electoral roll were banned

did the 2000 act help put the issue of funding to rest

no

what was the ‘cash for peerages’ scandal in 2006

• several wealthy individuals who had loaned money to the labour party had been nominated for honours - it seemed as if the party was exploiting a loophole in the law, which only regulated outright gifts

• blair was interviewed by the police and two of his aides also faced questioning

• although no charges were brought , the affair cast a shadow over blair’s last months in office

• it was later decided that loans would be subject to same rules as donations and spending limits for parties were revised in the run-up to the 2010 election

potential reforms of donations to political parties

• in 2007 a report by a former civil servant , sir hayden phillips , proposed to address the problem of private donations by moving towards a system where parties are funded from taxpayers’ money

• HOWEVER no subsequent govt has acted on this recommendation

• pressure to make public spending cuts under the coalition govt meant that this was not the time to place an additional burden on the taxpayer

• a suggestion supported by labour and the liberal democrats at the 2015 election was to impose limits on individual donations to parties. this debate was complicated by issues of party political advantage because the conservatives who stood to lose most from such a move, wanted to place corresponding restrictions on labour’s trade union backers

• the conservative govt’s 2016 trade union act obliged new trade union members to choose whether to ‘opt in’ to making payments towards the political levy - this was expected to lead to a significant drop in the funding received by the labour party from the unions

arguments for state funding of parties

• parties play an important role in representative democracy , so deserve public funding

• public funding would remove the great disparity in resources available to different sized parties

• if the state matched donations by party members it might encourage participation by the public and recruitment to parties

• it would curb the possible corrupt influence of private backers on party policy

arguments against state funding

• increased state funding could lead to calls for greater state regulation, possibly reducing parties’ independence

• it is hard to decide how much support a party should have to qualify for funding

• public funding could isolate parties from the wishes of the voters

• taxpayers would resent compulsory contributions to parties of which they disapprove

types of conservatism

• traditional conservatism

• one nation conservatism

• thatcherism and the new right

• a post thatcherite party

traditional conservatism

• the conservative party can trace its origins back to the tory party of the 17th century, an aristocratic groping that first came together in defence of the historic privieleges of the crown and the church of england as powerful landowinging insitiutions

• by the 1830s under the leadership of sir robert ppeel