2.1- political parties

what are the features of political parties

• members share similar views, options, values and goals

• the group has a hierarchy or formal organisation outlining who the leaders are , how members join, the structure of membership, their agenda and policy stances

• the group seeks election via a chosen candidate to represent their interests and implement their policies.

how do parties seek candidates

applicants must be a member of their chosen party and go through a national selection process to be approved as a candidate. if a candidate wins a seat they can claim to have the electoral mandate to represent that constituency in the House of Commons.

how do Political parties make polices (the manifesto)

• for the opposition they make proposals and suggest ideas

• for the ruling party’s

• labour: consult with party members over the development of policy.

• conservative: encourages consultation with members but the manifesto is likely drawn up by a senior member.

• liberal democrats and green party: give membership final say over what appears in the party manifesto.

how and why do political parties campaign

• campaigning is key to the Democratic process

• party activists raise awareness of their party and help voters understand the choice between candidates by delivering leaflets to voters and organising political events.

• the internet and social media is becoming more popular during the campaigning process

whats the process of campaigning

1. supply candidates

2. promoting the election

3. encouraging voters to turn out

4. providing information in policy and manifesto

5. be present during vote counting

what is representation

political parties allows everyone eligible to vote have a say with their opinion. this makes voters feel seen as in 2019 75.7% of people felt as if their political opinions were represented by the conservative and labour party.

what is a mandate

the authority a government has to carry out the policies it promised during an election. the idea is that the government has permission from the people to put those polices into action.

what is a manifesto

A public declaration of policies and aims, typically issued by a political party or candidate, outlining their goals for governance.

whats a representative democracy

A system of government in which elected officials represent the people, making decisions and creating laws on their behalf.

What is collectivism

those on the left of British politics who value the role of the state and have a collectivist view of society.

e.g. thoes on the left think the government should reduce inequality and create a sense of community (social cohesion) through the welfare stake- NHS.

they believe the government should also play a major role in the economy by nationalising key industrys (e.g NHS)

what is individualism

thoes on the right wing of British politics who focus on the importance of the individual having control over their lives with the role of the government being more limited.

the economy works best when there is competition between industry- privatisation

list the forms of funding

• membership subscriptions

• fundraising events

• donations from individuals and groups

• self-financing by candidates

• 2m pounds per party from electoral commission

why is private funding controversial

• the wealthy can “bankroll” a political party to achieve their own political objectives

• funding systems can be biased towards two biggest parties conservative and labour

• party funding promotes inequity making it harder for the already struggling smaller parties

what funding does the UK rely on

private funding although they do have some limited access on the public funds

what are policy development grants

they allocate 2 million pounds to all main parties so they can employ policy advisers.

what is short money

(named after labour politician Ted Short) it allocates money to the opposition parties for their work in the House of Commons. its based on the number of seats the party has

how much does the leader of the opposition get

funded almost 800,000 pounds for running their office.

whats cranbourne money

(named after conservative peer Lord Cranbourne) its money given to opposition parties in the house of Lords to help them carry out parliamentary work.

describe memberships

a political party will have subscriptions for people to buy to become a party member allowing them more funds to run. the conservative party has traditionally received large scale donations from big businesses, that see the conservative government being in their interest.

where do labour traditionally get most of their donations from

in 2019 93% of donations came from trade unions

who gets the advantage from private funding/ donations

the conservatives, in the 2019 general elections 63% of all donations went to them.

how much did labour declare in donations during the 2024 election period

9.5 million pounds, 2.4 million came from trade unions, 1.49 million being from unison and the rest from individual donors and companies

why was labours funding lower from trade unions in 2024 than usual

labours funding from trade unions dripped from 5 million in 2019 to 2.4 million in 2024 because labour is has moved more into the middle of the political scale

what is the political parties, elections and referendums act 2000

• states some rules regarding party funding

• designed to encourage greater transparency and fairness

• an independent electoral commission was established to record and make public how political parties are funded

• the amount a political can spend in a constituency during an election is limited to 30,000 pounds

• political parties must register large sca;e donations (over 7500 pounds) and not accept donations from non-UK citizens

• donations over 500 pounds have to be declared

what are some of the proposals to restrict funding in the future

• restrict the total amount of donations a party can receive, as seen in the USA

• restrict the total amount that parties can spend making excessive fundraising pointless

• restrict big donations from businesses

• remove donations entirely and have parties only funded by the state

one party dominate system

there are multiple parties but only one has a realistic chance of forming a government

two party system

two parties are the only ones that have a viable chance of forming a government, single party governments are the norm  

two and a half party system

two parties are the main players but a third party grows large enough to be able to deny a majority to the two main parties. the third party becomes a ‘kingmaker’ and joins with one of the major parties to form a coalition government

multi party system

multiple smaller parties have a chance of joining a coalition government with one of the major parties.