- A minimum standard of living for all
- Private sector involvement in public services and
- Equal opportunity for all
- Less reliance on the state
- Increase of free market like the US
- Strong health and education provisions
- Many rights for individual workers
- Trade union rights should be limited
- Pro-European
- Constitution reform especially the house of lords
- High emphasis Consumer sovereignty
Conclusions
The labour party has undergone series of changes in recent years to change in order to appeal better to the public. This has accumulated in the ‘third way’. This party has successfully reinvented itself following the decades of Tory rule in order to make it appear more electable with the accumulation of a landslide victory in 1997 and another in 2001.
The conservative party
The conservative party has been described as the most successful party in the 20th century as they have won the most general elections under such leaders as Thatcher and Major. They have been associated with right wing attitudes of self sufficiency and laissez faire policies regarding business. The attitudes of the party has made them either desirable for government or completely the opposite depending on the social conditions. The latter has been truer in recent years as they don’t appear to be a credible alternative to labour under Hague.
Structure of the party
The conservative party is a very much ‘top down’ party, whereas the leader decides the policy and the grass roots has little influence over the policy introduced by the leaders. It is solely the job of the leader to make policy as it is seen by Margaret Thatcher’s government as she was in effect a dictatorship within the party as she had the full support in the early years to her policies as the cabinet had little opposition to her style of presidential government and therefore she was the main influence on the development of the policy and the removal of the post war consensus.
Grass roots
The conservative party once had the largest membership in western Europe with over 2 million members however by the late 1990s it had declined to 400,000 with the majority of member over the age of 60. The falling party membership has been an indication of the falling popularity of the conservative party in recent years. The once pragmatic policies are now out of favour with the British public. There was several campaigns to increase the party size to ‘a million for the millennium’ however it still remained to decline to 330,000 by the year 2000.
Financial background and sources
The conservative party has an annual income of around £6.5 million. About 65% of which are from party members. Due to the decline in party membership they have lost an estimate income of £3 million . Another $0.5 million comes from commercial and other activities.
Election of the leader
There have been radical changes over the past few years to how the leader is established. Only the party elite used to be able to decide who should become the leader. Then there was a period where only the MPs could decide on the leader. Under Hague however; he established a system where the candidates were nominated by the MPs. There would then be a series of votes until only two candidates were left. They would then be put in front of a ballot of the party membership. This was introduced in order to try to encourage the participation of the ever dwindling party, in an attempt to make them feel that there leader represented them.
How are the policies made?
The policies are made by the leader of the party and they have to be supported by party members. It should be noted that the policies are decided on behalf of the party membership and do not have to consult with them in any way. The role of the normal party member is to support the elective party and not to be able to control it.
Historic overview of the party
The conservative party emerged from the Tories in the 1830s, who were traditionally right-wing. They formed part of a coalition government in 1915 with the liberals and by either coalition or one their own virtually remained in power until the end of the second world war, whereby there were promptly ousted by labour by a landslide. They were elected again in t 1951 and had 13 years of unbroken rule. Until 1964, where labour won by a majority of only 4. They were in and out of power for the next decade, until Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman prime minister in 1979 and remained so until 1990, whereby John Major takes over the leadership of the conservative party, they remain in government until 1997 when they are again ousted by a large labour majority of 179 seats, a similar situation remains today with labour retaining a majority of 166, in the house of commons.
Post war consensus
After the post second world war elections the conservative governments of Churchill, Eden, Macmillan and Douglas-Home accepted the policies made by the post war labour government, although they may not of agreed on a whole a party to the electorate they appeared to be united on the policies of higher education for all; developed welfare state e.g. introduction of NHS; nationalisation of industries, e.g. coal, steel etc.; government intervention in the economy and a corporatist style of government (with the inclusion of pressure groups e.g. trade unions in policy making)
The conservatives under Thatcher
Thatcher was the first women leader of the conservative party. She decided to as leader to challenge the idea of the ‘post war consensus’. She felt that the most important thing was low inflation so that people would be encourages to buy, over the levels of unemployment. She privatised many of the nationalised industry raising capital for the country in the process. She rejected the role of pressure groups in policy making. She even tried to intervene with the role by the welfare state, although she was unsuccessful in this.
The conservatives under Major
John Major has been described as ‘Thatcher with a human face’ although it is true that the policies were similar, it is perhaps down to majors more relaxed leadership style over Thatcher’s. The conservatives were in the period after they had lost a influential leader to the party. They could hardly discard the policies that were proposed by a former leader. For the majority of Major’s governments he continued with the programme of changes. in the 1997 general elections the conservatives went into with the policy never to join in with the Euro for the foreseeable future, and they were the only mainstream party to do so. There was even stronger policy within the party to rule out joining the Euro completely.
The conservatives under Hague
After the disastrous defeat by the labour in the 1997 elections by a landslide majority of 179, then Hague was elected as leader and started a vast programme of radical policy change. They no longer opposed devolution for Scotland and Wales, the abolition of hereditary peers, or the introduction of the minimum wage. The policies were displayed in the traditional conservative common sense way, attempting to give the impression that labour was out of touch with public feeling. They kept up with their policy to ‘keep the pound’ and not to convert to the Euro, as the party developed into a Eurosceptic position, it has since become the most so of the main parties, this is perhaps because the labour party has become increasingly more Europhile as an alternative in an attempt to create a differential between labour and the liberal democrats.
Conclusion
The conservatives has always appeared to be very pragmatic a party, this has meant that they have been one of the most successful parties in the 20th century. So they developed when they needed to attract public attention and reason. However in recent years their policies have been more widely adopted by the labour party and as a result they have lost out. The development in the way that the leaders have been elected have shown that the party is perhaps more right wing than there MPs and by electing Ian Duncan Smith as a leader it is perhaps hoped that the party feel that they are better represented however it could also be clamed that because of it they run the risk of alienating the general public,
The liberal democrats
This party has often been described as the third party, it remains true that they are the smallest party in that has been elected to the house of commons. Traditionally they have also been described as the centre party, the one that was in between labour and the conservatives, however this is also questionable under the present political conditions as it is hard to distinguish between new labour and the conservatives.
Historic overview of the party
The social and liberal democrats was formed from the social democratic party and the alliance party in 1988. However the liberal parties base is found with the Whigs in the mid 18th century. The liberals was one of the two main parties until 1922 when labour emerged as the main government oppostion. They have remained a minority party ever since. They changed their name 1989 after disastrous European elections results that placed them 4th behind the green party with 6% of the votes. The party saw its greatest success in modern years under an alliance between fractions of the labour party and the early 1980s, when in the general election of 1983 they received only two percentage points lower than labour where they receive 26% of the vote however they only have 23 seats in the House Of Commons. After the two parties joined they saw about a 5% drop in votes, to about 18% which is the around the number of votes it has in 2001 general elections. However they are enjoying record numbers of seats in the House Of Commons with 52 seats.
Party organisation
The liberal democrats pride themselves in being ‘less top down’ than both labour and the conservatives. Party members are allowed to participate in the policy making role, more often than the conservatives and the labour. Since it was formed in the late 1980s from two separate parties, there is a complicated structure that has been adopted from its predecessors .
The election of the leader of the party
The party use a system of one member one vote in order to elect their leaders, the issue of electing a new leader is arguably more important for the liberal democrats than for the other two main parties as there is a lack other significant liberal democrat MPs with the exception of the ones like Phil Marsten that has changed parties. To some people the leader of the liberal democrats is the party itself naming the role of leader fart more important to the liberal democrats then the leaders of the conservative party. It should be noted that there has only been two leaders in the history of the party, Paddy Ashdown and Charles Kennedy.
The liberals under Paddy Ashdown
As the liberals were only formed in 1988 then its main objective was to survive, and thrive in British politics and create a recognisable identity for themselves. Under paddy Ashdown they succeeded. Their policies of; increase in the basic rate of taxation; the increase on upper band of tax earners; a desire for constitutional reform (including the electoral system); strong support for a PR system of government; enthusiastic support for the Europe (inherited from its founding body and the willingness to raise controversial issues such as homosexual marriage; the legalisation of cannabis, as well as radical policies on the environment, has meant that their identity has now been formed, as the policies that the liberals have adopted mean that there are
The liberal democrats under Charles Kennedy
Charles Kennedy is the present leader of the liberal democrats. His policies have appeared to make the party appear more left-wing than the labour party in recent years. They have also under Kennedy moved closer to new labour working with them on constitutional reform and in the coalition government of Scotland and Wales. His ideas means than he wants a strong emphasis on individuals and rights. More extensive and radical constitutional reform than the labour party. And increase in the importance of local democracy over the nation level. A higher degree of redistribution of income through tax. Retaining the mixed economy of the UK. Equality on education. Pro European attitude and keen importance on the environment.
How policies are made
The policies reflect the merged parties methods. There is a strong federal structure for policy making as well as nation-wide conferences which is where the most of the policies are made. The liberal democrats are proud of this system as there is a greater emphasis on the party as a whole deciding on issues rather than the leader of certain individuals that have been the criticisms of both the labour party and the conservative parties.
How the leader is elected
The leader is elected on the same way as labours is. The one member one vote system seems to be a fair one as it prevents some votes meaning more than the others. I.e. the members will have the same vote regardless of position within the party. Like labour the vote takes place at the annual party conference.
Conclusion
The liberal democrats have had little time to change and develop as they have only recently been formed. Their policies have remained similar throughout the years since its development. However it should be noted that the liberal democrats have strong influences from its predecessors, and this remains the foundation of the party to this day. The only major sense which the party has developed is it no longer is viewed as the ‘middle party’ with some of its views more to the left of labour as labour and the conservatives move ever so much closer together.
