The Party Political System

The electoral system depends to a large extent upon the party political system, which has existed since the seventeenth century. Organized political parties present their policies in the form of manifestos to the electorate for consideration during the intensive few weeks of canvassing and campaigning before General Election Day. A party candidate in a constituency is elected to Parliament on a combination of election manifesto, the personality of the candidate and the attraction of the national party. But party activity continues outside the election period itself, as the politicians battle for power and the ears of the electorate.

Since 1945 there have been seven Labour and eight Conservative governments in Britain. Some have had large majorities in the House of Commons, while others have had small ones. Some, like the Labour governments in the 1970s, have had to rely on the support of smaller parties, such as the Liberals and various nationalist parties, in order to remain in power.

The great majority of the MPs in the House of Commons belong to either the Conservative or the Labour Party, which are the largest political parties. This division emphasizes the continuation of the traditional two-party system in British politics, in which power has alternated between two major parties.

The Labour Party has traditionally gathered its support from the trade unions, the working class and some middle-class backing. Its electoral strongholds have always been in south Wales, Scotland, and the Midland and northern English indus­trial cities. But, although the 1997 general election continued to reflect this national division, the previous patterns of support are altering as social and job mobility changes. In recent years the Labour Party has embarked on wide-ranging reviews of its policies in order to broaden its appeal, take account of changing economic and social conditions, and remain a major force in British politics.

The Conservative Party has traditionally regarded itself as a national party, which appeals to people across the class barriers. Although it has often criticized what it sees as the dogmatic and ideological fervour of the Labour Party, the Conservative Party has also become more radical in recent years, and has departed from what used to be considered as the consensus view of British politics. The party's support comes mainly from business interests and the middle and upper classes, but a sizeable percentage of skilled and unskilled workers, and women have always voted Conservative. The party's strongholds tend to be in southern England, with scattered support elsewhere in the country, although it has suffered serious setbacks in Scotland.

Smaller political parties also have some representation in the House of Commons. Among these have been the Liberals and Social Democrats; the Scottish National Party; Plaid Cymru (the Welsh National Party); the Protestant Northern Irish parties of the Official Unionists, the Democratic Unionists and the Ulster Popular Unionists; the Social Democratic and Labour Party (moderate Roman Catholic Northern Irish party); and Sinn Fein (Republican Northern Irish party). Other small parties such as the Greens and Communist Party, as well as publicity-seeking fringe groups, may also contest a general election. But a party which does not achieve a certain number of votes in the election loses its deposit - the sum paid when a party registers to fight an election.

An innovation in British party politics during 1982-7 was the emergence of the Alliance as an electoral force. This was formed by the co-operation for electoral purposes of the Liberals and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which was founded in 1981 by defectors from the Labour Party. The Alliance gained substantial support in public opinion polls, won some dramatic by-elections, and achieved considerable success in local government elections. But it did not make a comparable breakthrough into national politics and the House of Commons. The Liberals and the SDP saw themselves in this period as an alternative political force to the Conservative and Labour Parties, based on the centre or centre-left of British politics. They tried to 'break the mould' of the traditional two-party system, but their performance in the 1987 general election did not achieve this aim. In 1988 a majority of the two parties merged into one party called the Social and Liberal Democratic Party (or SLD or Liberal Democrats for short). But small groups of Liberals and SDP members continued as separate parties, until the SDP ceased to exist as a political party in 1990. At present, the support for the Liberal Democrats

General election results, 1997

Party Popular vole (%) Members elected

Conservative 30 165

Labour 43 418

Liberal Democrat 17 48

All others parties

has sunk to some 16 per cent, and it seems that the centre ground in British politics has been largely recaptured by the Labour and Conservative Parties. However, the SLD and other smaller par­ties do allow alternative political parties to be represented in the House of Commons.

The party which wins most parliamentary seats at a general election, or which has the support of a majority of MPs in the House of Commons, usually forms the new government. Under the British system, that government need not have obtained an overall majority of the popular vote (representing the actual number of votes cast by the voting population). It is estimated that a party will generally have to gather more than 33 per cent of the popular vote before winning a substantial number of seats, and nearly 40 per cent in order to expand that representation and have a chance of forming a government with an overall majority. These figures will also depend upon whether support is concentrated in particular geographical areas, for a party may gain seats by its local strength. Smaller parties, which do not approach these percentages, will not gain many seats in the Commons. It is this system of representation that proponents of would like to change, in order to reflect more accurately the Popular vote and the anneal of minority parties.

Once the results of a general election are known, the majority party in the Commons normally forms the new government, and the largest minority party becomes the official opposition. The opposition has its own leader and 'shadow government'. It plays an important constitutional role in the parliamentary system, which is based on adversarial and confrontational politics. The seating arrangements in the House of Commons reflect this system, since leaders of the government and opposition parties sit on facing 'front benches', with their supporting MPs, or 'backbenchers', sitting behind them. The effectiveness of parlia­mentary arrangements is supposed to rest on the relationship between the government and opposition parties, in which the members are required to observe procedural conventions.

The opposition parties may try to overthrow the government by defeating it on a 'vote of no confidence' or a 'vote of censure'. In general these techniques are not successful if the government has a comfortable majority and can count on the support of its MPs. The opposition parties consequently attempt to influence the formation of national policies by their criticism of pending legislation; by trying to obtain concessions on bills by proposing amendments to them; and by striving to increase support for their performance and policies inside and outside the Commons. They take advantage of any publicity and opportunity which they think might improve their chances at the next general election.

Inside Parliament, party discipline is exercised by the Whips,

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