Are there significant differences between the Conservative and Labour parties?
Over the last ten years Britain has increasingly become of the opinion that there are, in fact, no significant differences in the policies and organisation of the two leading parties, New Labour and the Conservatives. This is part of a new, post-Thatcherite consensus, where both parties are contesting to achieve a middle ground in order to gain the largest possible support.
Traditionally, Labour’s ideology lies with the working class, and the party has always stood for equality of opportunity above anything else. The party was founded in 1900, under the original name, the Labour Representation Committee. Its aim was to get the working class into government, and it provided funds in order to make this possible. Clause IV of the Labour Party constitution (written by Sidney Webb in 1918) says: “The Labour Party’s object is… to secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange…” This is a commitment to redistributive taxation and nationalisation of major industries, both of which are policies typical of traditional Labour.
