Breakthrough: Can Smaller Parties Really Change the UK’s Political Landscape?
Observably, it has been a strenuous challenge for smaller parties in making their voices heard within the United Kingdom’s (UK) political stage, most notably within Parliament. Despite the plethora of representational challenges faced by smaller parties, in the post-1974 political era, areas such as national issues, environmental problems, and issues regarding immigration have given rise to smaller parties within Parliament (Webb and Bale, 2021). In turn, this blog post will explore the credible impact smaller parties have had on British politics.
The Conservatives and the DUP: Confidence and Supply Deal
The UK general election of 2017, called by former Prime Minister Theresa May, seen the Conservatives win 317 seats, at a loss of 13 (Apostolova et. al, 2019), thus, resulting in the party not meeting the requirements to form a majority. In turn, the Conservative party relied on the Democratic Unionist Party’s (DUP) 10 seats in order to prop up the Conservatives into a majority. In turn, the Conservatives depended on the DUP to pass key votes which included key economic and Brexit ballots (Birrell and Heenan, 2019). As a result of the DUP agreeing to these key parliamentary votes, the Conservatives granted the Northern Ireland (NI) executive, with a financial package amounting £1 billion to be utilised for investment into key NI sectors such as education, health and an investment into mental wellbeing services (Birrell and Heenan, 2019.
The DUP viewed the Conservative’s funding as a victory for NI, as they secured a generous financial package which benefitted all citizens of NI, despite the community in which they belonged to, and was also not subject to the reinstating of the NI government (Tonge, 2017). In turn, furthering the idea that smaller parties, while not directly entering government, can undergo agreements with the largest parties to aid them with votes to accrue generous financial packages for their local region, as seen with the DUP.
The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats: Coalition Governments
Following the 2010 general election, which produced the first hung parliament since 1974, the Conservatives emerged victorious with 306 seats, compared to Labour’s 258 (Cracknell et. al, 2011). Following this result, a competition between the Labour Party and Conservatives ensued, vying for the Liberal Democrat’s (LD) support within a coalition government. In turn, David Cameron and Nick Clegg, the respective former leaders of the Conservatives and the LD’s allowed for the formation of a coalition government (Debus, 2011). Once entering government, the LD’s found themselves dealing with insignificant governmental sections but were successful in securing a portfolio within ecological realms, a major factor within their bid for government in 2010 (Debus, 2011).
Despite the LD’s having failed in their recent electoral endeavours, it is important to explore the party’s successes while in coalition government. These include, ensuring an agreement with the government to order a nationwide poll on altering the UK’s voting procedures, increasing the rate at which people began to pay their tax, and the introduction of communal equity boards (Dommett, 2013).
Therefore, despite the recent failures of the LD’s to make waves in British politics, it is important to recognise that small parties, on eventful occasions, can enter government and make important change.
Regional Party Voices in Government
The 2019 general election was a particularly watershed moment for NI politics in Parliament. In that, this election overseen the loss of the Unionist majority from NI within Westminster.
Emphasis is placed on the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and the Alliance Party for providing the voice of those from NI who voted to remain in the Brexit referendum, something which seemingly benefitted the two parties in the 2019 election (Hayward, 2020).
This was observed through the SDLP’s leader Colum Eastwood, gaining the seat for Foyle from Sinn Féin (SF), while also winning a seat in South Belfast, taking the seat away from the DUP.
With regards to Scotland, the Scottish National Party (SNP), has been a key player in British politics, as seen in the past by the party’s insistence for the UK government to provide a devolved government for the people of Scotland (Lindsey, 2019). Along with this, the party has a further three main factors for fighting in Westminster elections, which include, putting in jeopardy, long-held seats by members of Parliament (MPs), holding key votes in the event that no party wins an overall majority in an election, and potentially constructing electoral pacts with other nationalist parties in Parliament (Lindsey, 2019).
Despite the initial failure to provide Scotland with a devolved parliament, the SNP remains a key factor in pushing for an independent Scotland in parliament.
Bibliography
Bate, A., Baker, C., Uberoi, E., Audickas, L., Dempsey, N., Hawkins, O., Cracknell, R., McInnes, R., Rutherford, T. and Apostolova, V. (2019). General Election 2017: full results and analysis. commonslibrary.parliament.uk. [online] Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7979/.
Birrell, D. and Heenan, D. (2019). The Confidence and Supply Agreement between the Conservative Party and the Democratic Unionist Party: Implications for the Barnett Formula and Intergovernmental Relations in the UK. Parliamentary Affairs. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsz012.
DEBUS, M. (2011). Portfolio Allocation and Policy Compromises: How and Why the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats Formed a Coalition Government. The Political Quarterly, 82(2), pp.293–304. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-923x.2011.02191.x.
Dommett, K. (2013). A Miserable Little Compromise? Exploring Liberal Democrat Fortunes in the UK Coalition. The Political Quarterly, [online] 84(2), pp.218–227. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-923x.2013.12013.x.
Hayward, K. (2020). The 2019 General Election in Northern Ireland: the Rise of the Centre Ground? The Political Quarterly, 91(1), pp.49–55. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923x.12835.
Lindsay, I. (2019) ‘The SNP and Westminster’, in G. Hassan (ed.) The Modern SNP: From Protest to Power. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, Cop, pp. 93-106.
Rhodes, C., McGuinness, F. and Cracknell, R. (2011). General Election 2010. commonslibrary.parliament.uk. [online] Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/rp10-36/.
Tonge, J. (2017). Supplying Confidence or Trouble? The Deal Between the Democratic Unionist Party and the Conservative Party. The Political Quarterly, 88(3), pp.412–416. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923x.12411.
Webb, P. and Bale, T. (2021). Party systems in the UK: An overview. academic.oup.com. [online] doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199217236.003.0001.
This is a very engaging blog post, and the author clearly has extensive knowledge on the subject. I found the role of the Scottish National Party in British politics especially interesting and engaging. While the author provides good examples of smaller parties being able to impact the political landscape of the UK with the 2011 coalition and the DUP-Conservative confidence and supply deal, smaller parties have only been able to significantly impact politics due to a lack of a majority in parliament. During times of a majority in parliament, smaller parties are not able to impact the political landscape significantly. While during the coalition and the DUP deal the conservatives relied on smaller parties to win votes in parliament, during a majority they can effectively ignore the smaller parties as they can rely on their high numbers of seats.
The first-past-the-post electoral system does not usually allow smaller parties to enter government or even win seats in parliament despite a relatively high number of popular votes. For example, in 2015 UKIP won 12.6% of the popular vote but this didn’t result in any seats in parliament. While UKIP arguably pushed the conservatives towards a Brexit referendum the role of the leaders of Brexit was taken by the conservatives post-referendum.
I found this to be an engaging and interesting blog post. The author begins by stating that they will explore the impact that smaller parties have had on British politics, leading them to the case files of the Supply and Demand deal, the DUP, and the SNP. I found the examples used to demonstrate the role that smaller parties have successfully played in large scale British politics to be interesting and very useful in backing up their argument. I particularly liked how they examined the power that the DUP could hold in partnership with the Liberal Democrats in 2017, whilst comparing it the Unionist loss of majority in Westminster in 2019.
The only critique would be to perhaps look at small parties that are not the majority in their own parliaments. The author has addressed the major parties from the devolved parliaments within the UK, as small parties in the UK Parliament as a whole. While this is true, parties like DUP and SNP will always be small parties in Westminster as they do not run for election outside of NI and Scotland, unlike the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives do. It may have been useful to look at the smaller parties within the devolved parliaments to see how they too can make a difference e.g., Alliance in Stormont.
I found it interesting that this blog post has a positive take on third party participation in the UK party system. In the introduction the author mentions how single issues such as immigration and the environment have led to the establishment of smaller parties. This is reflective of the phenomenon that Peter Ferdinand explains whereby the number of political parties in a given party system are reflective of the social cleavages within the given society. As UK politics has historically been divided by middle or working class, there have been two dominating parties that represent their respective class interests. As the UK’s social demographics and political priorities change, it would have been interesting for the author to give their insight about whether third parties will become more or less relevant as political parties change to reflect their voters. On one hand, single issue parties such as UKIP could lose their relevance after their specific issue (Brexit) gets resolved. On the other hand, they could better represent the wider interests and ideologies of the changing identities associated with voting behaviour.
This post provides a strong overview of how smaller parties have influenced the UK’s political landscape through various means, from confidence and supply deals to coalition governments and regional representation. Another aspect that smaller parties contribute to the UK’s political landscape is their role in promoting diversity and representing marginalised voices within the political arena. They often champion niche issues as well as representing communities that may be overlooked or underrepresented by larger parties. The Green Party, for example, advocates for environmental sustainability and social justice, providing a platform for these issues which are being increasingly pushed to the sidelines by mainstream parties – Keir Starmer, for instance, has majorly backtracked on his early environmental pledges. Moreover, by introducing fresh perspectives into political discourse, smaller parties can serve as catalysts for political change and contribute to a more vibrant and dynamic political landscape. This post does a good job of recognising the value that smaller parties have in shaping the direction of British politics.