Evaluate the role that minor political parties play in UK politics.
[30 marks]
The role that minor parties play in UK politics is significant. They are able to effectively challenge government policy by persuading voters to change their party preference. They also play major roles within devolved institutions, such as the Scottish Parliament being dominated by the SNP. However, since they rarely hold power in Westminster, some may argue that they have a limited ability to affect UK politics. Despite this, however, this essay will argue that minor parties, overall, have a large role in UK politics.
Firstly, minor parties demonstrate a large role in UK politics through their ability to influence the policies of larger parties. This can be demonstrated through the rise of UKIP between 2009 and 2015. UKIP started gaining support significantly since the 1999 European Parliament election and went on to become the single largest UK party in the European Parliament at the 2014 European Parliament election. Furthermore, two Conservative MPs, Mark Reckless and Douglas Carswell, defected to UKIP in 2014 and won subsequent by-elections. As a result, UKIP’s main policy of holding a referendum on EU membership became manifesto commitments for the Conservative and Labour parties. The Conservatives won a majority at the 2015 general election, and despite UKIP winning 13% of the vote, only won one seat of the 650. The referendum was subsequently held on 23rd June 2016. This demonstrates the ability of minor parties like UKIP to influence the policy of larger parties in power, and thus it can be concluded that minor parties, such as UKIP, play a vital role in UK politics in bringing important issues to the forefront of political debate for the major parties.
Furthermore, minor parties display their influence in UK politics through their prevalence in devolved parliaments. In the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, the SNP won an outright majority of seats, heavily defeating the incumbent Labour government. The SNP have pursued a policy of Scottish Independence and their prevalence from this election victory allowed an independence referendum to be held in 2014. The referendum resulted in Scotland voting to remain in the UK, but the SNP have held a minority government in Scotland since 2016. A parallel can also be drawn to the 2007 Welsh Assembly election, where no party won an overall majority, resulting in a coalition between Labour and Plaid Cymru. This allowed Plaid Cymru to experience governance and power for the first time. The introduction of proportional representation systems in devolved parliaments has allowed minor parties, such as the SNP and Plaid Cymru to experience governance for the first time, and brought important issues in specific regions, such as Scottish independence, to light. This demonstrates the impact that minor parties can have if they manage to gain power in a local area, and so it can therefore be said that minor parties have a relatively large role in UK politics.