Very detailed notes on the 2022 A-Level advanced information for the Political Parties topic in Paper 1 of the course. The notes include case studies, tables of arguments that can be used in essay planning, and overall necessary knowledge that earned me an A* in the 2022 exams.
Features
• Organisation of people with the same political values and views which seek to convert their
goals and policies into action by obtaining o ce government
• Parties seek either to secure the election of their candidates as representatives or to form
government at various levels
• They have some kind of organisation which develops policy, recruits candidates and identi es
leaders
• Often parties seek to adopt a broad issue focus to address multiple areas in which the
government can seek to improve - smaller parties often have a smaller issue focus e.g. BNP
focus mainly on immigration policy
Variations in parties include
• Some are mass membership parties with many members (Labour) and others have a small
leadership group that seek supporters rather than members (US parties)
• Some parties are highly organised with formal permanent organisation whilst others have
loose, less permanent organisations
• Some parties have a very narrow range of values and views and are intensely united around
those views (Brexit), whilst others have a broad range of views and may be divided into
factions (conservative)
• Some parties are very focussed on gaining power (major parties) whilst others will not gain
power but seek merely to in uence the political system (greens)
Functions
• Policy making
Most policy is set by ministers and their advisors. The policy-formulating function its also often
known as aggregation (process undertaken by political parties of converting policies, demands
and ideals into practical policy programmes for government. Involves eliminating contradictions
and making compromises.
• Representation
Parties claim to have a representative function in the form they represent a speci c section of
society e.g. Labour working class. However, this has since changed with many parties now
claiming they represent the national interest and not just speci c interests.
There has also been an emergence of populist parties (a movement of campaigning that appeals
to peoples and emotions by telling them what they want to hear) although these tend to appear
and disappear rapidly - they often represent people who don’t feel represented at all.
There has also been the rise of issue parties who represent a very speci c cause e.g. green
parties or parties advancing women’s rights in Europe.
• Selecting candidates
Need to nd candidates for devolved bodies as well as Westminster.
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, • Identifying leaders
The party decides on the chosen leader based on a democratic vote - can often go wrong e.g.
Corbyn split the party rather than united it following the resignation of Miliband.
• Contesting elections
Ensuring they represent their party to a high level around election times.
• Political education
Informing people on the political issues of the day and explaining the main areas of con ict and
outlining their own solutions to the problems identi ed. e.g. Greens on environmental awareness
This function is becoming less important as the media and think tanks have taken over the role
with the growth of social media marginalising the party role
• Reinforcing contest
The ‘hidden’ function of the mobilisation and reinforcement of the contest where all the main
parties support parliamentary democracy - if parties were to challenge the nature of the political
system it would con ict society.
How they are funded and debates on the consequences on the current funding system
How are they funded?
- Collected membership subscriptions from members
- Holding fundraising events such as fairs, festivals, conferences and dinner
- Receiving donations from supporters
- Raising loans from wealthy individuals or banks
- The self- nancing of candidates for o ce
- Up to £2 million available in grants from the electoral commission
- Money granted to opposition parties in the commons and the lords
• Larger parties, therefore, have greater access to funds than smaller counterparts. The
conservative party attract large donations from wealthy individuals and businesses and labour
receive contributions from trace unions. —> These amounted to nearly 60% of the party’s
total income in 2014-15
• However, the rules for union donations are changing making it easier for individual union
members to opt out of contributing to the party which caused an 11% decline in total labour
income 2017.
• Smaller parties have no regular income and this is to the fact that they have small membership
• The funding of parties was regulated in 2000 by the political parties, elections and
referendums act which made the following stipulations;
• People not on the electoral role could no longer make donations (less foreign in uence)
• Limits were placed on how much could be spent on parliamentary elections
• Donations over £500 had to be declared
• Donations over £7500 were to be placed on an electoral register
• This aimed to stress transparency rather than any serious limits on the amounts being
donated - state funding was rejected as a solution at that time and election spending controls
were extremely generous
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, • These regulations were further developed in 2009 by the political parties and elections act
which gave the electoral commission power to investigate and impose nes, restricted
donations from non-UK residents and imposed tighter regulations in the run up to elections
How much do they receive 2019?
Conservatives - £5,805,980
Labour - £5,512,406
Green - £115,839
Lib Dem - £3,345,220
Brexit party - £3,390,000
Why is party funding controversial?
• Funding by large donors represented a hidden and unaccountable form of political in uence -
parties are not allowed to change speci c policies or propose legislation as a direct result of
donations, but donors must expect some kind of political return for their investment e.g. Trade
unions and business investments
• Aspects of funding may well verge on being corrupt - morally, if not legally as some donors
expect to receive an honour for their donation e.g. peerage or knighthood - known as ‘cash for
honours’ and it cannot be proved but was investigated by the police in 2006-7
• The steady decline of party membership means they are increasingly reliant on donors which
further opens up the possibility of corruption and the purchase of political in uence.
The electoral commission which monitors the income of some political parties has reported late
donations with some interesting examples being;
- Between 2015-2017 the conservative party received £11.3 million from the prominent gures
and companies in the nancial sector
- In the same period they received £3.6 million from property companies
- One individual donated £1.1 million to tories in this period
- The Unite trade union gave labour just over half a million in 2017
- At the same time UNISON the public service union donated almost £400,000 to labour
Case study
In 2016, labour was ned £20,000 by the electoral commission for breaching nance rules. The
investigation was launched after over £7000 went missing from the party election return for the
cost of the Milliband ‘tombstone’.
The investigation then found 24 other undeclared election expenses totalling over £100,000
In 2017, the conservatives were ned £70,000 for breaches in its expenses for the 2015 election.
The commission found the conservatives had failed to report over £100,000 of expenses and
incorrect reporting of a further £118,000 - the chairman of the condition said the failure to follow
the rules undermines voters con dence in democratic process and there was a risk political
parties were seeing such nes and a ‘cost of doing business’
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