The Electoral Function is the idea that candidates can ally themselves with a certain party in order to get the support of that party for their campaign and therefore parties are the main paths for the selection of MP’s. It is because of this that there have been very few independent candidates since the introduction of party politics. Parties provide candidates with support, money and an infrastructure. It also allows voters to easily identify a candidate’s political standpoint. A prime example of how parties can affect election came in the form of Sid Bidwell, the former long time Labour MP for Ealing Southall. Bidwell was deselected by his local party and stood as an independent candidate against the Labour candidate in the 1992 election. This new candidate defeated him because he had lost the support of a party. Only Dick Taverne, a former Labour candidate who stood against Labour in Lincoln in 1974 and Martin Bell who profited from the fall of Neil Hamilton have been successful in recent times and Taverne lost his seat in the second election of 1974 anyway. The role of parties is even more important when it comes to leadership because they are the organisations that pick our potential national leaders. The Prime Minister effectively owes his or her power to their political party for their backing and choice. Parties also affect the makeup of Parliament, with their own policies such as quotas. This was highlighted in the now illegal compulsory inclusion of women on candidate shortlists employed by the Labour Party. Inside Parliament, parties try to impose the towing of the party line, largely through the whip system. This means that the Government and Opposition are as strong and non-erratic as is humanly possible. Nonetheless like most human beings, MP’s have a conscience and a personal opinion as was shown clearly in the Labour backbench rebellion on University Tuition Fees. This very nearly brought down the vote, which was passed by a majority of five votes. However, the party system can also harm the interests of MP’s if they are from the party of an unpopular Government, especially in swing seats. The parties in the UK fulfil this function pretty well. Candidates are well supported and election campaigns are well run and on a vast scale (admittedly not in comparison with the US). The effect of having a party backing has been shown by the fate of most of those MP’s who re-stood for their seat and lost, despite in some cases having been the MP in that constituency for some time.
The idea that parties represent different sections of society is the ‘Representative Function.’ In the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties, members influence and to an extent determine policy and it therefore appeals to a wider range of people than the sort of oligarchic and hierarchical policy employed in the Conservative Party. This is a more sensible system of making policy bearing in mind that voters seem to be breaking the boundaries of class voting and now shop around looking for the policies that match their interests. It is because of this that parties have to be in touch with public opinion and get the balance right on the ideas they put forward. Parties offer a voice to opinion and interests within the UK, for example the pro-Euro Labour and Liberal democrats and the anti-Euro Conservatives. They link public opinion and the state to some extent and provide representation of views. Class voting is no longer as widespread as it used to be, in order to gain power parties need to reach out to as much of society as possible. Evidence that class voting is waning lies in the fact that if the vast majority of working class people voted Labour, then the party would never be out of office such is the wide base of support at the bottom of the social triangle. Thus the main political parties say that they do not favour different areas of society and simply represent major opinions within the population, in a sense bouncing ideas off each other to make the best decisions for the country. In the ‘British Election Survey’ of 1992 the Liberal democrats came out as the only party to be seen as ‘fundamentally classless,’ as is shown in the table below. This would contradict the ideas put out by parties that they do not favour different parts of the population.
If voters feel that the parties do not represent their views then some turn to pressure groups instead if they feel strongly about one issue in particular. Others have questioned how far parties resemble the population as a whole, saying that surely Parliament and parties should be demographically representative, i.e. have a representative proportion from ethnic minorities and the female gender for instance. Parties tend to resist this, fearing that it may have a bad effect on party discipline, as MP’s would be more likely to vote with opinions and a conscience rather than towing the party line. This form of Parliamentary make up is not likely although Labour tried to force more women into Parliament through the all – women shortlists. However, party discipline can be compromised by backbench revolts, whether in order to give the leadership a kick or as a conscientious decision. The MP’s who make up their own minds despite the implications of party discipline are following the Burkian idea that not making up your own idea is letting down the electorate. Depending on whether the politician is voting against the wishes of his party or constituents, representation may be compromised. British parties reflect quite a narrow band of opinion although in the UK this is not such a problem, as most people lie more in the centre of politics than towards the extremes. However this makes British politics quite tedious in the way that there is little or no difference between the main parties save on very divided issues such as Europe. There is little representation of views that do not lie within the centre ground – although in the cases of real extremists this may not be such a bad thing. Representation is not as wide as it could be because of this, the fact that Parliament is still predominantly middle-aged, white and male is also a concern for those who advocate a more demographic legislative and executive.
The Policy Function is the idea that parties formulate policies and help refine those formulated by the Government. However a party as a whole does not generally formulate policy, rather the leadership tend to mark out the strategy with a little consultation with members and the public. It is here where the internal democracy of political parties can be called into question. As was stated earlier, the Conservative Party in particular is an incredibly hierarchical organisation with little consultation with members used in policy making. Policy formulation and implementation is dependant on external factors such as the economy. Party policies also need to appear at least to be all things to all people and therefore all the main parties are fighting for the centre ground of British politics. The original ideas for policy seem to often emerge from parties, not necessarily at conferences but also from internal committees and the leadership. The Conservative Party will always suffer when it comes to direct representation such as Referenda as their support is statistically the least likely to approve or participate in such activity. This means that the Tory side in a Referendum will logically suffer. Parties tend to perform the policy function quite well, but parties could be more internally democratic and listen to their grass-roots members. The danger of having a small group of people deciding policy is that it could be contrary to public opinion or party opinion or both.
The Recruitment Function is the name given to the way that parties recruit almost all Parliamentary candidates. Parties run on unpaid volunteer workand recruit members in order to bring in money for campaigns. They also aim to recruit the brightest young politicians in order to promote their image and provide more choice for the future. This is one major reason that the Conservative Party is losing members; the lack of internal democracy within the party deters young people and new members from joining. This has left the Conservative Party literally dieing, with the vast majority over 60 years of age and losing 64,000 members a year. Those who get elected in most cases have their party to thank, having been selected and thanked. As mentioned in the Electoral function, those who are deselected stand a far smaller chance of being elected because of the lack of money, support and infrastructure. Greater representation also means greater turnout at election time and it is this that is also incredibly important to the main parties in particular. A large base of support can only favour a party when it comes to election time. Recruitment in parties has been a problem for quite a few years. The average man on the street may take a passing interest in politics but the most find it boring and ‘what does it change anyway?’ Recruitment of young politicians remains reasonably steady but programs like the ‘Young Tory’ scheme are being abandoned. Party recruitment will not increase drastically unless members feel that they are personally influencing the decisions and being consulted.
Political parties therefore have quite a few functions. They link the public with the state and authority and also provide links between opposing points of view and a vehicle for discussion and debate. They provide a channel for ideas to be brought to the attention of those with power in theory, but it can also be argued that they have little practical affect on Governmental action. However, it does seem that party politics is in decline, particularly right of centre and therefore are not as effective as they should be. The Tory Party has 750,000 members but is losing them at a rate of 64,000 a year. Political parties are essential to the running of the UK political arena because they perform the functions mentioned earlier. Parties vary in their policies and success, but this is to be expected as it depends on the political and economic circumstances in which they find themselves. It is hard to see what effect the removal of parties from the political system would bring, but one thing is for sure, we would have to find another way to sustain the functions, as democracy needs them. It is difficult to be sure whether parties are in decline and are therefore not as able to fulfil the functions but there is evidence both ways including the idea that voters have become more like consumers instead of the old idea of class voting. Class voting has less relevance now because all the main parties look to place themselves on the centre ground and as such there is little difference in opinion save for on Europe. As people have become more disillusioned with politics, parties have found it harder and harder to complete and uphold the functions that maintain or political system. Having said that, there is cause for optimism in issues such as the breakdown of class voting, meaning that more people make decisions on policy rather than social position.
Bibliography:
The British System of Government – Anthony Birch
British Political Parties
The Guardian - October 14th 1994
The Press Association
