Having done a considerable amount of work on ideology and the policies of parties today, do you think that there is now a consensus in British politics? Just how different are the main political parties?
Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)
3 Responses to “Does a consensus exist in modern British politics?”
Leave a Reply
Whilsts it’s easy to argue no, i think it’s not just a question of consensus but consumerism. In order to make politics and their own parties more appealing to the declining number of voters they change and adapt to a more ‘moderate’ or ‘electable’ stance. If every party does this then you have no true differences in policy goals, simply the means and even then not a vast difference. There is no consensus as parties fight bitterly due to the fight becoming more difficult with all parties attempting to market roughly the same ‘product’.
There is a general consensus between all parties on the issue that they all feel they should be elected and they all feel that thier views are the right ones to follow. A consensus about what parties stand for nowadays is a different matter, since most parties are leaving their outstretched roots and are becoming more moderate in their stance. In order to be elected, parties are coming to realise that sharng some views about policy matters does have its positive points, creating a slight consensus about certain issues. However, there obviously is still some difference in Modern British Politis since all parties haven’t been elected.
all parties not being elected does not denote differences merely the lack of a coalition government. The public, it would appear don’t want to and never have wanted to elect a party for it’s ideology. Labour’s nuclear disarmament policy crippled the party’s odds at elections yet it was a key tenet of socialism. The people want a party that can run the nation effectively and with little cost, any surprise that the Tories were in for so long from the 80’s to the late 90’s when they offered a strong economy. Labour only attained a general election victory when they showed they could handle the economy. This shows that as the electorate all desire roughly the same criteria, most parties must adapt to fit the criteria rendering ideological differences as hinderances. However, this also, as stated earlier makes the fight harder as all parties are seen to be the same.