Evaluate the extent to which the UK has become a multi-party democracy/Evaluate the extent to which the UK is no longer a two-party system.

Para 1 for, 2 party system, PE

P - Traditionally UK has been a 2-party system with only Conservative & Labour capable of achieving political power at Westminster. Since 1979 it could be more accurate to define the UK as a one-party dominant system.

E - The two main parties, Labour and Conservative, won on average a combined 91% of votes and almost 98% of seats in the Commons during this period, suggesting that there was little to no chance of any of the other parties, such as the Liberals, breaking their monopoly of voter support and political power.

Para 1 against, 1 party system, PEE

P - the period after until 2010 can be seen as one of single-party dominance

E - either the Conservatives or the Labour Party dominated government for long periods of time and both would win at least 3 consecutive general elections

E - either the Conservatives or the Labour Party dominated government for long periods of time and both would win at least 3 consecutive general elections

Para 2 for, The continuing domination of the 2 main parties in their share of the seats in the Commons PEE

P - The distorting effect that FPTP has on the ability of smaller parties' being able to win seats in the Commons, especially if its electoral support is geographically widespread,

E - means that the Conservatives and Labour have continued to win on average 91% of the seats in Parliament

E - For example, in the present Parliament the seats of the Conservatives and Labour combined is 567 seats out of 650 is 87% (or 89% without Northern Ireland). Therefore, the two parties largely continue to monopolise power without the participation of any of the UK's other parties.

Para 2 against, declining votes in the general elections PEE

P - the two parties are receiving consistently less votes and support from the electorate.

E - Many voters have recently been voting for smaller parties such as the lib dems and green party.

E - Their combined support has been as low as 2/3 of voters in 2005 and 2010 and in 2019 only 76% voted for the two main parties. This means that 1 in 4 voters chose to vote for another party and the only thing that prevents that being translated into greater representation and the strong likelihood of a multi-party coalition government is the electoral system, FPTP.

Para 3 for, changing voting behaviour and a 2 and a half party system PEE

P - The Lib Dems were initially one of the main beneficiaries of a major change in the voting behaviour of the UK electorate.

E - Partisan dealignment or the gradual decline of party identification largely based on class meant that voters increasingly decided how to vote on the basis of issues and this meant they were less loyal to the two main parties. Hence other parties had more of an opportunity to break the two-party system.

E - e.g. The lib dems support has been rising since the 1990's and this is shown with their increase in votes they gained 22% of the vote and 62 seats in 2005.

2010 when they received 23% of the vote and 57 seats, which was enough for the Lib Dems to be the junior partner in a coalition government with the Conservatives.

Para 3 against, collapse of Lib Dems in 2015 PEE and SNP a regional party PE

P - this was a short-lived moment for the Lib Dems

E - the 2015 general election saw a return to 'business as usual' for the Lib Dems

E - their electoral support plummeted to 7.9% and they lost all but 20 seats leaving them as a very small and minor party at Westminster both in terms of voters and seats.

P - the SNP are a regional party

E - will never be a contender for single-party power at Westminster even if they may one day be in a coalition or able to influence votes in the Commons when the government majority is small.

Para 4 against, 2017 election PEE

P - A number of the minor parties that had done well in the 2015 general election saw their number and share of the vote decline in the 2017 general election.

E - It was argued that this was because the voters now had a clear choice between the Conservative and Labour parties, who offered substantially different policies. For some commentators this was evidence of the traditional two-party system reasserting its dominance.

E - The most dramatic example of this was UKIP who went from 12.6% of the vote in 2015 to 1.8% of the vote. The Conservatives and Labour combined also won just over 82% of the vote, the highest share since before 1979

Para 4 for, 2019 election

BUT the fact that 24% of the UK electorate voted for parties other than the main two in 2019 suggests that 2017 may be a momentary return to the old two-party system in terms of voting behaviour. Furthermore, in 2017 the Conservatives still ended up relying on the DUP to keep it in power.

Para 5 for, The devolved assemblies and PR systems

P - The use of PR systems for the devolved assemblies suggests that the UK is a multi-party system in the regions.

E - This is evident in the 2016 elections in Scotland that saw the SNP form a minority government with both the Lib Dems and Greens also gaining 6 and 5 seats out of the 129 available. While there have also been coalition governments of Labour and the Lib Dems between 1999 and 2007 in Scotland. Similarly in Wales there have been coalition governments of Labour and the Lib Dems, as well as Labour and Plaid Cymru, who regularly win 20% of the vote in Wales.

E - Coalition government has also been a constant electoral result in the Northern Ireland Assembly due to STV, which is fully proportional. This, of course, was deliberate to ensure that power would have to be shared between the main Protestant Unionist party and the main Catholic nationalist party, which have been the DUP and Sinn Fein in recent times.