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Summary Edexcel A-level Politics Paper 1 essay plans - TOPIC 2 Political Parties
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Edexcel A-level Politics Paper 1 essay plans - TOPIC 2 Political Parties
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Topic 2: Political partiesDebates about: the consequences of the current party funding system; continuity and change of ideas and policies of
the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat Parties and the factors which affect party success; the influence of
minor parties and whether the UK is a 2 party or multi-party system and the implications for government.
1) How democratic are the two main political parties
Para 1: Choosing party leaders – democratic
- Conservative party – not democratic
- Democratic in the sense that, a new system was introduced in 1998 that allowed party members to vote
for their preferred candidate, giving them the final say on who is to be leader, but only after
Conservative MPs had first voted in stages of ballots to narrow the contest down to just two candidates.
- In fact, this final decision may never even reach the members of the party.
- For example, in 2016, the voting process didn’t reach the members ballot because the second-place
candidate Andrea Leadsom dropped out of the race – meaning that Theresa May was never actually
elected with a mandate from her party's membership.
- This also happened in 2022 when Rishi Sunak was made party leader without being voted in by the
party's members.
- Likewise, the process by which candidates are selected to be presented to the membership is
determined by the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs in consultation with the
Conservative Party Board.
- Labour party – democratic
- Democratic in the sense that it puts great emphasis on the party’s membership in deciding a leader – in
2015 Jeremy Corbyn was elected as leader of the Labour party in a landslide victory with 59.5% of the
vote.
- Over 105,000 new registered supporters participated, with 83.7% voting for Corbyn. As he was not a
popular choice amongst party MPs, the system seemed to provide a democratic model for electing
leaders, giving ordinary members a voice.
- COUNTER: Not democratic
- During June 2016, two-thirds of the Labour shadow cabinet resigned in protest against what
they saw as Corbyn’s weak performance during the build up towards the EU referendum.
- In the same month, 172 Labour MPs supported a motion of no confidence in the Labour leader,
with only 40 MPs voting to support Corbyn.
- Such action arguably undermined the will of the party’s members by forcing the party to call
another leadership election – despite Corbyn’s strong victory just a year earlier.
Para 2: Selection of local candidates – democratic
- The two main parties have approved lists of candidates, which are drawn up by the party leadership once
they have decided which prospective candidates are suitable. Local party associations can then draw up a
local shortlist for members to vote from. This system allows the party leadership to feel comfortable
knowing that they have scrutinised and approved the candidates, while giving local members some choice in
selection.
- Likewise, Both the Conservative and Labour parties used primaries to select their candidates for the 2016
London Mayoral Election. The Conservative Party selected Zac Goldsmith in a primary election open to any
registered voters living in London who were willing to pay a £1 registration fee. Likewise, the Labour Party
selected Sadiq Khan in a closed primary process that was limited to party members and registered
supporters.
- COUNTER: Not democratic – In recent elections the national party leadership has tried to exert more
influence over the selection process.
- The Labour Party has used women-only shortlists, requiring Constituency Labour Parties to draw up
an exclusively female shortlist for members to vote from. This has caused tension when local parties
have wanted to select and vote for a local male candidate.
, - Likewise, controversially, David Cameron created a controversial ‘A-List’ of diverse candidates that
local associations were encouraged to include in their shortlists – however, in 2009, the Conservative
Home website reported that the ‘A-list’ was being quietly dropped and that local party associations
would once again choose freely from the list of approved candidates.
Para 3: The formation of policy – not democratic – ultimately for both parties, party leadership dominates the
formation of policy.
- Labour party
- Historically, the Labour Party conferences held a significant policy-forming role, with members having a
say over the policy direction of their party.
- COUNTER: the party membership largely has an insignificant impact on policy.
- Many critics have argued that the party’s national conference has become a symbolic rubber
stamp of approval, rather than a means for vigorous debate over policy.
- At the 2013 conference, delegates voted unanimously to renationalise the railways and reverse
the coalition’s privatisation of Royal Mail. However, despite strong support for both policies, the
party leadership announced that renationalisation would not make it into the party’s next
election manifesto.
- Conservative party
- The Conservative Party has been more direct in acknowledging that the party leadership takes
responsibility for policy, with conferences more for rallying members and projecting the right image to
the media.
- COUNTER: Party members can speak out when policies are introduced that they do not agree with.
- In 2013, former PM David Cameron introduced same-sex marriage in the UK, despite a lack of
support from party members.
- Several MPs and senior party members spoke out against the decision, accusing Cameron of
‘betraying’ the grassroots of the party by not allowing for “adequate debate or consultation.”
- However, ultimately the party leadership has the final say on policy – especially when they are in
government – in this situation there is very little members can do to challenge these decisions –
for example as of 2018 67% of conservative party members felt as though the “soft Brexit” the
government wanted would be the best outcome for Britian – this didn’t stop Boris Johnson from
executing a hard Brexit when the UK left the EU in 2020.
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