Party Politics in the UK Today

Party Politics in the UK Today

Since the 1970s, and the decline to the two party system, party

politics in the UK has emerged as a multi-party society with an ever

increasing sense on global politics. However, despite the 'new'

system of a multi-party political system, there have been episodes of

one party dominance in government.

Political parties pre-1970 were mainly built upon the class divide

that existed in Britain. Over time, the class divisions (for example

working class, middle class, and upper class) began to erode as the

times changed, due to more employment, and a greater spread of wealth

among the population. During Thatcher’s term in office at Number 10,

the class divisions that were prominent in the United Kingdom began to

break down, with the working class becoming (almost) nonexistent due

to the explosion of employment and ‘white collar’ work. These days,

it is the North-South Divide that tends to show divisions in politics

and not class. Although, some elements of class can still be seen in

politics and within the electorate. Over the last half of the

twentieth century, the Conservative Party had a large proportion of

the electorate in the south of Britain, with the Labour Party doing

the same in the north of Britain. This therefore leads some to wonder

how can a party call itself a national party if it only attracts

voters from certain regions of the country - this then mirrors the

class divide. Nonetheless, these divisions were not so evident during

the Conservative victory of 1979 and, more recently, the Labour

landslide victory in 1997. Regardless of this, there is an increasing

amount of voter apat...

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... party leaving

behind the days of Old Labour (along with the factions and shackles of

deep trade union links) bringing forward a 'new' political party for

the twenty first century. Which would prove to be a highly effective

opposition party, and ‘stabilise’ government in Britain. At the same

time as this, the Scottish Nationalist Party and Plaid Cymru were

developing their own forms/styles of devolved government form

Westminster. This began to change the face of British politics (and

indeed the constitution) in a way it had never been changed before.

In conclusion, British politics today is varied, but once again it is

dominated by one party (the Labour Party). The question is, how long

can the Labour Party stay in power? Will the new Leader of the

Opposition (Michael Howard) prove to be an effective opposition?