Political Competition United Kingdom

How do groups in the UK compete for political power? United Kingdom intro How do groups in the UK compete for political power?

Party System United Kingdom

Majoritarian system makes parties very important United Kingdom Party Systems Party System Majoritarian system makes parties very important From WW2 to 1970 there was basically a 2 party system: Conservative & Labour After 1974 centrist Liberal Democratic Party emerged along with the gradual surge of support for nationalist parties in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland People refer to this as a two and a half party system. Liberals are significantly behind the other two The party system makeup differs regionally because of the national political parties

Labour Party United Kingdom

United Kingdom Labour Labour Party Formed in 1900 as an outgrowth of trade unions to give working class a voice The expansion of suffrage in 1918 (WW1) gave surge of new support for Labour and led to significant progress at the polls The return of veterans from WW2 led to landslide victory for Labour in 1945 and emergence of two dominant parties in British Politics

Considers socialism to be its dominant ideological characteristic United Kingdom Labour Labour Party Considers socialism to be its dominant ideological characteristic They want to work within the parliamentary system to bring about social democratic change They advocated for a strong welfare state and some state ownership of industry They party has always been moderate enough that it never advocated that capitalism should be replaced

United Kingdom Labour Supporters Relied on the support of working class voters. Had support of two thirds of all of Britain’s manual laborers By 1970s class structures began to change and far less people were blue collar laborers Solid identification of Britain’s working class with the Labour party began to erode, creating challenges for the party

United Kingdom Labour Internal Division Party was divided in mid 1970s between moderates who wanted the party to move to the center to attract more support and radicals who wanted the party to move to the left to gain more working class support Supporters split over the relationship with trade unions and its economic & foreign policies More conservative groups within the party left the party in 1980 and Labour lost every election from 1979 to 1997

United Kingdom Labour Moderation In the 1990s they began ideological and organizational moderation Party constitution was rewritten to weaken the ability of trade unions to control party policy They began advocating for cross class appeal instead of its commitment to socialism They began advocating for moderate free market policies and constitutional reforms The party chose Tony Blair as its leader in 1994

These changes led to more victories in elections in 2001 and 2005 United Kingdom Labour New Labour Blair led the party to landslide victory in 1997 on platform known as Third Way The party was rebranded as “New Labour” to stand apart from old party stances and support for the welfare state These changes led to more victories in elections in 2001 and 2005 Blair became less popular and handed party control over to Gordon Brown in 2007

Brown stepped down as party leader United Kingdom Labour New Labour Brown led the party during the 2010 elections, where it lost the majority Brown stepped down as party leader Ed Miliband defeated his brother to become leader of the Labour Party thanks to the support of trade unions He stepped down after the party was defeated again in the 2015 election

This is the biggest increase in the support for Labour since 1945 United Kingdom Labour Today’s Labour Jeremy Corbyn was elected party leader following Miliband’s resignation Under his leadership since late 2015, the party has shifted back to the left and away from the centrist policies of Tony Blair In the June 2017 election, Labour’s share of the popular vote increased 40% and they gained 32 seats – resulting in a hung parliament This is the biggest increase in the support for Labour since 1945

United Kingdom Labour Popularity

Conservative Party United Kingdom

United Kingdom Conservatives Conservatives Conservative Party emerged in the late 1700s They are associated with the democratization of the UK and with the post World War 2 consensus They have always embraced democratic rule and have been practical conservatives They have widespread support from a wide range of voters in the UK In 1997 they got one third of the working class vote

United Kingdom Conservatives Divisions Ideological divisions began in the 1970s – like they did with Labour party They were divided among traditional moderate conservatives and radical neoliberal free market reformers These divisions coincided with the rise of Margaret Thatcher in the ranks of party leadership The selection of Thatcher as party leader in 1975 marked the dominance of the neoliberal factions The party split further over UK joining the EU – “Euroskeptics” fought against those that wanted more European integration

United Kingdom Conservatives Cameron After several electoral defeats from 1997 on, they selected David Cameron to lead He was young, charismatic, and shifted the party to a more centrist ideology Cameron led the party to win a plurality in 2010 election, and he negotiated a coalition with Liberal Democrats The coalition forced several ideological compromises for both parties Cameron led the party to outright victory in 2015

United Kingdom Conservatives Cameron He called for austerity measures in the face of economic downtown, angering some in his own party He promised to hold a referendum on UK after renegotiating UK’s membership The referendum took place June 2016 and Cameron campaigned hard for the UK to remain in the EU Some of his Conservative MPs left the party and joined the UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) Voters chose to leave the EU and Cameron resigned his party leadership

United Kingdom Conservatives Theresa May Upon Cameron’s resignation, she announced that she would run for Conservative Party leader She promised to move forward with the “Brexit” not have another vote She won party leadership and was appointed Prime Minister in July 2016 She replaced most of Cameron’s cabinet ministers with Conservatives who were advocates of the Brexit & more right wing

Conservatives formed a coalition with the Democratic Union Party United Kingdom Conservatives Theresa May She first announced that she would not be holding new elections, but changed her mind in April 2017. She said the election was to confirm people’ s support in her leadership and confirm support for “the decisions she would make” In the election the Conservative Party lost seats and the Labour party gained seats, so Conservatives had to form a coalition to retain a majority in House of Commons Conservatives formed a coalition with the Democratic Union Party

Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg Tim Farron NOT CUTE United Kingdom Much Better: Nick Clegg Tim Farron NOT CUTE Liberal Democrats United Kingdom

Liberals had basically been replaced by Labour throughout the 1900s United Kingdom Liberals Liberals Formed in 1988 as a merger of the Liberals and people that defected from Labour They advocate a mix of liberalism’s emphasis on individual freedom with social democracy’s emphasis on equality Liberals had basically been replaced by Labour throughout the 1900s This party is “left of center” but is critical of Labour for not advocating enough for increased taxes and social spending.

United Kingdom Liberals Clegg In 2007 Liberals elected Nick Clegg who became the UK’s youngest party leader He led the party in 2010 to its highest share of the popular vote (23%) and into a coalition with Conservatives Liberals were able to demand a referendum on electoral reform to join the coalition They also got Conservatives to promise reform in the House of Lords, but backbenchers prevented this from coming to a vote

United Kingdom Liberals Decline The coalition from 2010-2015 caused them to lose a lot of voter support Its supporters felt the party & Clegg gave in too much to Conservatives in order to keep the coalition together. Less than half of voters showed up to vote in their electoral referendum & only a third of those voted for it. In 2015 they only got 8% of the vote (down from 23%) and lost seats and leadership They picked this guy, Vince Cable, as leader in 2017. He already led the party once in 2007

Other Parties United Kingdom

United Kingdom Others Small parties Small parties are hampered by the SMD plurality system Regionally based parties can find some success because their voters are concentrated They can concentrate enough votes within a district, in order to win a seat in Commons All current justices are law lords from the House of Lords who will serve until they retire Their replacements will be appointed by a commission

United Kingdom Others Scottish National Party A party based in Scotland that campaigns for Scottish independence It’s currently the third largest party in the House of Commons (35 seats) It has a majority of seats in the Scottish Parliament It currently has no members in the House of Lords (Because they advocate for the abolishment of the House of Lords!) Their replacements will be appointed by a commission

United Kingdom Others Democratic Unionist Party A right wing party based in Ireland and Northern Ireland It’s currently the fifth largest party in the House of Commons (12 seats) They are currently in a coalition with the Conservatives to form a majority It ‘s a unionist party so they want to keep up a political union with Great Britain Here’s Arlene Foster, the party’s leader since 2015.

United Kingdom Others Sinn Fein (SHIN FAYN) A left wing party based in Ireland and Northern Ireland It’s currently the sixth largest party in the House of Commons (7 seats) They are “abstentionist” which means they refuse to take their own seats It doesn’t matter because non-majority parties don’t do anything anyway. Here’s Gerry Adams, the party’s leader since 1983.

United Kingdom Others Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) A social democratic party based in Wales It’s currently the seventh largest party in the House of Commons (4 seats) They advocate for Welsh independence from the UK but stay in the EU Here’s Leanne Wood, the party’s leader since 2012.

United Kingdom Others Green Party A left wing party based in England and Wales It’s currently tied for last place – it’s got one seat in the House of Commons They advocate for environmentalism and expanded public services Here’s Caroline Lucas & Jonathan Bartley in front of a tree! They share the job of leading the party.

United Kingdom Others UK Independence Party A right wing populist party in the UK It has no seats in the House of Commons. It does have 3 in the House of Lords! They advocate for withdrawal from the EU and now most of its members call for disbanding the party Here’s Nigel Farage. He quit after the 2016 “Brexit” referendum.

Elections United Kingdom

United Kingdom Elections Elections Fixed Term Parliaments Act of 2011 set up regular elections for House of Commons starting in 2015 Usually voter turnout in general elections is between 60% and 70% Campaigns usually last less than a month. The parties are very self disciplined, so voters don’t have to learn much about candidates since they know about what the parties do Candidates don’t have to live in the district they serve. Voters don’t really care.

Who wants you to pass? United Kingdom

Main Ideas United Kingdom Tony’s Tips! Labour Party Conservative Party Liberal Democrats Barely anything about the others except that regional ones can win seats! Tony’s Tips!