Political Parties in the UK (AQA GCSE Citizenship Studies): Revision Note

The main political parties in the UK

• Political parties are membership-based organisations, made up of citizens who share the same political ideas

  • Parties can be local, regional, national or UK-wide

• The political system in the UK - particularly in England - has been described as a two-party system

  • The Labour and Conservative parties have, in recent decades, been most likely to win a general election

• In recent years we have seen a multi-party system emerge, where a number of parties compete for power

  • Parties with smaller - but significant - membership and a growing representation in Parliament include:

    • The Green Party

    • The Liberal Democrats

    • Reform

• In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland there are political parties who only fight elections in their part of the UK

  • Scotland SNP ( Scottish Nationalist Party)

  • Wales -Plaid Cymru

  • Northern Ireland - DUP ( Democratic Unionist Party), Alliance, UUP (Ulster Unionist Party) and Sinn Féin

Differences between UK political parties

• Political parties are often described as being right- or left-wing based on their views about the economy, society and the role of the state

  • Right-wing parties are generally associated with support for free markets, lower taxes, less government intervention in the economy, individual responsibility and traditional values

    • Examples of right-leaning parties in the UK include the Conservative Party and Reform

  • Left-wing parties are generally associated with support for greater government involvement in the economy, higher spending on public services, reducing inequality and protecting workers’ rights

    • Examples of left-leaning parties in the UK include Labour and The Green Party

• Parties tend to stay close to these positions, but can move to the right or left, especially at elections when they are trying to convince people to support them

• Reform is  a popularist party that is positioned further to the right than the Conservative Party on some issues

  • On other issues it may appear  to have left-wing views, in an attempt to appeal to a broad range of voters