So I’m back from Bristol and feeling pretty hung over. Actually that’s an understatement.
Anyway, while I was there I was showing my friends the campaign, and we got chatting about the other campaigns from the level C media school school students. I thought it would be a good idea to show them Isle of You (which I think is awesome) and Youth Booth – a very similar campaign to kNOw Vote – when I noticed that they have also started a WordPress Blog chronicling their party research! Well, falling behind our sister project is something which I just can’t let happen, so you guys are in for a bit of a treat.
My unfinished party research! Oh yeah!
I noticed Rich has all ready posted his work so far on the Conservative party. It’s a lot more serious than my stuff, but I guess that’s just how the dude rolls. Anyway, enjoy!
Green Party
The Green Party is a relatively new party, and in this sense can be considered successful, having experienced exponential growth and support since their creation in the 1970’s. However, in Britain the Greens remain a fringe party, and while they have many parish councillors, some MEPs (Member of European Parliament), and two members on the London assembly, they have not yet successfully ‘broken through’ and had an elected MP in parliament.
The green party is often perceived as a ‘single-issue’ party, too heavily concentrated on environmental policy. However, they offer a broad spectrum of policies, focusing largely on environmental issues and social equality issues. Their full manifesto can be found on a rather difficult-to-navigate web page, here.
United Kingdom Independence Party
UKIP is Britain’s fourth most popular party. They stand for both economic and cultural withdrawal from the European Union, and the non-discriminatory deportation of immigrants, as well as abolishing human rights in Britain. Like the greens, UKIP are a fringe party.
It could potentially be stated that UKIP are too focused on the idea of independence to form a well-rounded government. They may become something more than a fringe party in the future, should they consider the idea that other factors may contribute to democratic reform than merely withdrawing from the EU. They claim, for example, that democracy is being undermined in Britain by the European Union and ECJ (European Court of Justice), however, were they to be elected they would not reform the House of Lords to be an entirely elected, democratic, second chamber. At kNOw Vote we believe the electorate deserve more consistent democratic reform than this from any government.
Very conservative parties such as UKIP are excellent at recruiting members through a highly rhetorical approach to policy. Often they use rallying, inspirational speeches and characters to persuade voters into their ranks.
With this said, many of their policies appear beneficial to certain segments of society. To read more about some of UKIP’s policies, click here.
Their policies are also outlined in a more detailed fashion here.
Labour
The Labour Party is Britain’s leading social-democrat party. On the face of things, they promote fairness and equal opportunities, as well as a democratic method of governing, involving all of their party members in creating party policy. However, as the incumbent government they have a history of ignoring direct-action, such as protests and online campaigns, effectively making their policy-creation process more closed than they would like to admit.
They are commonly perceived as the party who most try to improve public services and benefits, by spending large amounts of taxpayer money on these services. However, this often means that a Labour government will not be afraid to heavily tax middle-income families and professionals.
The past three terms in office have seen both huge successes (2012 Olympics) and failures (Millennium dome) for Labour, as well as the rise (and debatable fall) of ‘New Labour’, a more media-friendly, middle-class friendly, version of the party.
Labour’s Key policies, along with unashamed Tory-Bashing, can be fond on the party website here.
Scottish Nationalist Party
In Scotland things are a little bit different. Labour are, of course, the Government there, as they are across the whole of the UK. But there is a strong nationalist movement in Scotland. Not British nationalism, however, but Scottish nationalism. The second most successful party in Scotland is the SNP – a separatist movement, hoping to break away from England and make Scotland an entirely separate country.
The SNP website reads like some kind of heavenly manual for building the perfect country. They may as well cut through the red tape, rename themselves the Scottish Utopian Party and be done with it. Of course, the reality of government is far, far harsher than the cosy sofa of opposition, or second party, or whatever they want to call themselves.
If the SNP can actually accomplish everything which they are promising too, then it will result in a lot of people asking a lot of questions, including but not limited too ‘why aren’t our government that good?’ It will also mean that Scotland will probably become an incredibly influential and economically strong country, a world leader in environmental issues such as renewable energy resources and… just about everything you can think of. You can check out their policies here: http://www.snp.org/government
So, why should English, Irish or Welsh (or Cornish, for those of you who really need to hear it) people care about a Scottish separatist movement? Well, there are pretty complex economic issues with anything like this, that no one really fully understands. But in general it’s seen as a bad thing for the rest of us if Scotland were to leave the UK.
In addition, the idea of Scotland breaking away is pretty upsetting too Labour supporters, because the vast majority of Labour’s parliamentary seats are in Scotland. Scotland Leaving the UK would result in a dramatic shift of political power towards the Conservatives, as Labour would loose many, many safe constituencies. Permanently.
On the other hand, the hugely unfair policy of Scottish students having their tuition and maintenance fees paid for them by the government, regardless of where they go to university, would finally end. The Scottish Government would have to pay instead. The SNP are good news for the thousands of students who are massively pissed off by that policy, then.
