Eric Strawser, Kim Smith, Gretchen Sturm Per. 4

General Party System and Major Issues

• Defence/Terrorism• Race relations/immigration• The NHS• Education• Law and order• Pensions and benefits• The state of the economy• European integration and

the single currency• Housing and house prices• Taxation

Labour Conservative Lib-Dems

Minor national parties

Regional parties

Coalitions

•Founded: 1900

•Ideology: Democratic Socialism

•Leader: Tony Blair

Labour Policy + Issues• Defence: In support of increasing

budget.• Crime: Value tradition of offering safe

haven to those fleeing persecution but won’t tolerate abuse of our asylum system.

• Education: Committed to extending high quality education personalized to each and fair to all.

• Pension: Main priority is to boost in the incomes of poorest pensioner. Wants all pensioners to have a decent & secure income in retirement.

• Economy: Building prosperity, achieving social justice, & maintaining investment in public service.

• Housing: Investing in local communities: safer, cleaner, greener places to live. Improve social housing stock, promote greater homeownership, and give more people a share in their home.

• Blair (not party) turning to Conservatism

• Gordon Brown scandalwas supposed to succeed Blair

• Loss of confidence by people and party in Blair, ie. Smoking ban

Founded: 1830

Ideology: Conservatism

Leader: Michael Howard

(until election results are in)

Conservative Policy + Issues

• Manifesto:• Want more police, cleaner

hospitals, lower taxes, school discipline, controlled immigration and accountability. In support of cutting local taxes and to improve environment of Britain. Want to cut back on government interference and regulation. Increase state pension by earnings. Longer sentences for criminals and improve discipline in schools, and build a more highly-skilled economy.

• Eurosceptic vs. europhile• Traditionalists vs. modernists• Party is unable to keep a

steady leader

Definitions

• Europhile: Person who wants to increase cooperation b/t govt. within the EU. They believe the benefits of sharing sovereignty outweigh the disadvantages and this term can be used in a pejorative (opposing) sense.

• Eurosceptic: 1) Scepticism about, or disagreement with, the purposes of the EU, sometimes coupled with a wish to preserve national sovereignty. 2) Person, especially a politician, who opposes closer connections b/t Britain and the EU.

Founded: 1988

Ideology: Social Liberalism

Political Spectrum: Right & Left

Leader: Charles Kennedy

Lib-Dem’s Policy + Issues

• Support civil liberties, decentralisation of power, propose a substantial non-means tested increase in pensions, abolish university tuition fees, introducing local income tax, in place of current council tax, government to extend protections for gay people, favour of full UK participation in EU.

• Do they stay at current stance or regress to gain more Tory votes

• Iraq war stance• Political factionstension

between laissez-faire or government control economy

Parties/# of Seats

356

198

62

Branches of Parties Political Parties in the United Kingdom

Represented in the House of Commons:

Labour (356) | Conservatives (198) | Liberal Democrats (62) | DUP (9) | SNP (6) | Sinn Féin (5) | Plaid Cymru (3) | SDLP (3) | UUP (1) | IKHH (1) | Respect (1)

Represented in the Scottish Parliament:

Labour (50) | SNP (26) | Conservative and Unionists (17) | Liberal Democrats (17) | Scottish Green Party (7) | Scottish Socialist Party (6) | Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party (1)

Represented in the Welsh Assembly:

Labour (29) | Plaid Cymru (12) | Conservatives (11) | Liberal Democrats (6) | Forward Wales (1)

Represented in the Northern Ireland Assembly (suspended):

DUP (33) | UUP (24) | Sinn Féin (24) | SDLP (18) | Alliance Party (6) | UK Unionist Party (1) | Progressive Unionist Party (1)

Represented in the European Parliament:

Conservative (27) | Labour (19) | Liberal Democrats (12) | UKIP (10) | Green Party of England and Wales (2) | SNP (2) | Plaid Cymru (1) | DUP (1) | UUP (1) | Sinn Féin (1)

Minor parties: British National Party | Veritas | Socialist Labour | Liberal | English Democrats

Chart from Wikipedia

Minor Parties/Coalition Parties

• British National

• Veritas

• Socialist Labour

• Liberal

• English Democrats

• Please go to Wikipedia & look it up under Unity Parties (ie. Scottish Senior Citizens Unity

Party) if you want to know about them.

(there are about 200)

Regional Parties

• Scottish National: center-left political party which

campaigns for Scottish independence.

• Sinn Fein (Irish): advocates united Ireland, leftist values.

• Plaid Cymru (Welsh): center-left political party which

advocates Welsh independence and promotion of Welsh culture. • SDLP (Social Democrat & Labour Party):

the smaller of the two major nationalist parties in Northern Ireland, socialist democratic and affiliated to the Socialist International.

Joke Parties

• Church of the Militant Elvis Party • Fancy Dress Party • Millennium Bean Party • MP3 Party • Official Monster Raving Loony Party, the most well-known

joke party

• Rock'n'roll Loony Party • Stuckist Party • Teddy Bear's Alliance • Vote For Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket

Sources used:• Bloomberg.com• Brittania.com• Conservatives.com• Economist.com• Forbes.com• Labour.org.uk• Libdems.org.uk• Mirror.co.uk• Scotsman.com• Telegraph.co.uk• Timesonline.co.uk• Wikipedia.org

Actual footage of Tony Blair and George W. Bush discussing their decision to invade Iraq -

 "Can we go to war George? Can we? Can we? Please George?

Can we? Pleeease?"

http://www.gagreport.com/bizarrenews%20-%205-6-05%20blaire

%20poodle.htm#