(YES) ‘Evaluate the view that the UK has decisively moved away from a two-party system’

Intro

A party system is the way in which the successes of parties are grouped, and a two-party system is defined as a political system whereby two main parties compete for power. Traditionally, the UK has been dominated by two parties, the right-leaning Conservative party and the left-leaning Labour party; both of which have alternated the position of government consistently and often garner the majority of votes. The idea that we have decisively moved away from a two-party system suggests that the UK is embracing a strong multi party system, which gives increased political opportunities to minor parties

C.) Outline your thesis?

However, in this essay it will be argued that due to minor parties not being able to get into government, the Liberal Democrats decline since the coalition and the dominance of the Labour and Conservative party in EU elections that the UK has never moved away from their traditional two-party system.

Para 1 (FOR):

Point:

Minor parties in the UK, such as UKIP, have managed to have significant influence on UK politics, suggesting the UK has decisively moved away from a two-party system.

Evidence: 

-UKIP was founded in 1993, and it’s main objectives have been to secure the UKs withdrawal from the EU. It made it’s first significant breakthrough in the 2013 local elections, and played a key role in the LEAVE campaign (Brexit 2016).

Analysis:

-UKIP made its way into politics as a result of their emphasis on the benefits of leaving the EU, one of which being there’d be tighter control on immigration, which touched many nationalist voters, and according to Tony Blair was the ‘driving force behind Brexit’.

-This impacted UK politics; Farage was able to build enthusiasm around LEAVE through his message that ‘we’re better out than in’. Whilst REMAIN played on ‘project fear’, Farage and UKIP was able to harness the desires of the public, leading to the LEAVE campaign winning 52% of the vote and causing the UK to withdraw from the EU in 2020.

-This demonstrates a decisive shift away from a two-party system has occurred as a minor party was able to impact democracy so much that it administered leaving the EU.

Para 2 (Against):

Point:

However, due to our FPTP system, it’s unlikely any party outside the main two will ever hold government, limiting their role to just influence and suggesting this shift hasn’t occurred.

Evidence:

-FPTP helps to create this two-party system as smaller parties, without a geographical location, find it harder to win majorities, meaning people often vote Conservative or Labour as they dominate in most regions, in order to avoid wasting their vote.

Analysis:

-This has impacted minor parties as it means that the Conservatives and Labour win the majority of seats in Parliament; the 2017 election saw the Conservative and Labour parties combined seats reach almost 90% of Parliament, and around 70% of votes cast did not make a difference.

-Despite attempts to reform our electoral system through the AV referendum proposed in 2011, mainly as a result of the Lib Dems involvement in the Coalition government, the results saw 67.9% of participants reject the proposal, mainly due to campaign leaflets overcomplicating the AV electoral system.

-This demonstrates this shift hasn’t occurred as the extent to which minor parties can impact our system doesn’t stretch beyond influencing the public as they can’t form a government, as well as our FPTP system making it hard to gain seats.

Para 3 (FOR):

Point:

The Lib Dems 2010 electoral success, which lead to them having an active position in the UK government and Clegg and deputy PM, suggests a tri-party system has emerged.

Evidence:

-The Lib Dems were founded in 1988 when the SPD merged with the Liberals. In 2010, the Lib Dems won 57 seats and formed a Coalition with the Conservatives due to the hung Parliament.

Analysis:

-This came as a result of the media playing a large role in

the election; the Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, was invited into the first ever UK TV debated, which had 9.4 million viewers, creating ‘Cleggmania’ and seeing him gain 43% of audience support.

-This was significant as it allowed them a say in polices, such as pupil premium which helped the most disadvantaged pupils in the education system, a policy which the Conservatives most likely wouldn’t have passed as the Conservatives have enacted a ‘decade of cuts to schools branded the worst since the Second World War’ (Mirror 2021).

-This shows a decisive shift has occurred as a party outside the Conservatives and Labour managed to hold a position in government.

Para 4 (Against):

Point:

After winning 23% of votes in the 2010 election, the Lib Dems lost 15.2% of their vote share in the 2010 election, demonstrating the limited significance of the party and suggesting this idea of a ‘tri-party’ system is incorrect.

Evidence:

-After the Lib Dems entered a coalition government with the Conservatives in 2010, a 2011 YouGov poll revealed that 63% of people believed the Lib Dems had ‘broken their promises and betrayed their supporters’.

Analysis:

-This loss of trust came from their breaking of the promises they made prior to the election, making commitments not to raise tuition fees. However, in the following months they increased tuition fees to £9,000, mainly as a result to make concessions over certain policies to restrain the extremity of the Conservatives’ austerity plans.

-This is significant as it caused the Lib Dems to lose the trust of millions of supporters, including students who are more likely to vote ‘left’ parties like the Lib Dems. The problem for the Lib Dems is that it joined a party with a conflicting ideology, which explains why it’s policies lost them support.

-This shows a decisive shift away from a two-party system hasn’t occurred as evidence of an emerging tri-party system was undermined by the Lib Dems fall.

Para 5 (FOR):

Point:

During the UKs participation in EU elections from 1979-2019, the traditional dominance of the Conservative and Labour party declined as minor parties began to win more seats.

Evidence:

-From 1999 minor parties gained 27/87 seats in 1999, and then increased their share 20 years later to 59/73 seats, giving the major two parties just 14 seats.

Analysis:

-This may have come as a result of the electoral system being used by the EU being changed in 1999 from FPTP to PL- the fact that the EU is now embracing a system of PR helps to explain this shift to a ‘multi-party system’ as votes cast now directly translate into seats, eliminating wasted votes.

-This is significant as it means that British representatives in the EU Parliament come from a wide range of parties, and therefore possess a wide range of ideas, which is beneficial as it means when the EU oversees legislation it takes a more ‘pluralistic approach’, increasing the efficiency of the EU as it allows the generation of debate to explore different ideas.

-This demonstrates a decisive shift away from a two-party system as the UK has demonstrated the electorate is capable of expressing a multi-party system through EU elections.

Para 6 (Against):

Point:

However, the fact that Britain has left the EU as of 2020 means the EU as a ‘multi-party body’ is now irrelevant, suggesting this decisive shift hasn’t occurred.

Evidence:

-Britain left the EU after the 2016 referendum proposed by David Cameron, which was first discussed at a 2012 NATO summit between Cameron Hague and Llewellyn. The results were 52% for LEAVE and 48% for REMAIN.

Analysis:

-The reason behind the referendum may have been due to Conservative voters were increasingly moving to UKIP, causing Cameron to promise the referendum during his 2015 campaign.

-However this had significant impacts as it meant that a key democratic body which allowed for an increase in the role of minor parties through a more proportionally representative system no longer exists, reverting the UK back to a democracy which embraces the FPTP system which acts as a barrier to minor parties gaining seats again due to this lack of geographical link.

-This demonstrates this decisive shift hasn’t occurred as minor parties, who found adequate representation alongside that of the Labour and Conservative party, no longer have this.