The Student Room Group

Fair summarry of the UKs 4 main Political Parties?

I have not known british politics long enough to be fully versed in each parties history and principles but my reading of the current parties is as below-

Conservatives - technically sound and good at financial and money management of the economy, but elitist and a little immoral


Labour - morally well intentioned but incapable and inept economically, good at wasting money in long term.

Liberal Democrats - even more moral and inclusive, but without ability or direction and untrustworthy

UKIP - one dimensional and attracts the fringes of oddball extremists from other areas. A protest vote not one of government


Is this a fair summarry of uk political system?
(edited 9 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Original post by Meenglishnogood

Is this a fair summarry of uk political system?


I wouldn't say so.
Original post by InnerTemple
I wouldn't say so.
ok
Original post by Meenglishnogood
X
Is this a fair summarry of uk political system?


:nah: I'm guessing you've never heard of Black Wednesday?

While Labour was in government up until 2007, the economy boomed while crucial investments in the health service, education and infrastructure were made. The debt-to-GDP ratio went down under Labour up to 2007 (i.e. Labour was essentially paying off our debt)

When the global financial crisis hit (and please, are you going to blame the American subprime mortgage market on Labour? Really?), the deficit went up, to be sure; by May 2010, the economy was growing again at a healthy clip. And then the ConDem coalition took power, slashing public spending and raising taxes, and drove the economy into a ditch.

Labour is the natural party of government, it's time to put the adults back in charge. Roll on 2015
Original post by Meenglishnogood
I have not known british politics long enough to be fully versed in each parties history and principles but my reading of the current parties is as below-

Conservatives - technically sound and good at financial and money management of the economy, but elitist and a little immoral


Labour - morally well intentioned but incapable and inept economically, good at wasting money in long term.

Liberal Democrats - even more moral and inclusive, but without ability or direction and untrustworthy

UKIP - one dimensional and attracts the fringes of oddball extremists from other areas. A protest vote not one of government


Is this a fair summarry of uk political system?


Nope.


You need to take into account that for the conservatives, labour didn't actually give the banks enough freedom. Imagine what the recession would have been like if they had had their way...

In terms of labour 'wasting money' this is only true if you follow the belief that the public sector is a waste of money.
Thirty achivements of the Blair administration

1. Longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s.

2. Low mortgage rates.

3. Introduced the National Minimum Wage and raised it to £5.52.

4. Over 14,000 more police in England and Wales.

5. Cut overall crime by 32 per cent.

6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools.

7. Young people achieving some of the best ever results at 14, 16, and 18.

8. Funding for every pupil in England has doubled.

9. Employment is at its highest level ever.

10. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries.

11. 85,000 more nurses.

12. 32,000 more doctors.

13. Brought back matrons to hospital wards.

14. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament.

15. Devolved power to the Welsh Assembly.

16. Dads now get paternity leave of 2 weeks for the first time.

17. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice.

18. Gift aid was worth £828 million to charities last year.

19. Restored city-wide government to London.

20. Record number of students in higher education.

21. Child benefit up 26 per cent since 1997.

22. Delivered 2,200 Sure Start Children’s Centres.

23. Introduced the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

24. £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & up to £300 for over-80s.

25. On course to exceed our Kyoto target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

26. Restored devolved government to Northern Ireland.

27. Over 36,000 more teachers in England and 274,000 more support staff and teaching assistants.

28. All full time workers now have a right to 24 days paid holiday.

29. A million pensioners lifted out of poverty.

30. 600,000 children lifted out of relative poverty.
Original post by MostUncivilised
:nah: I'm guessing you've never heard of Black Wednesday?

While Labour was in government up until 2007, the economy boomed while crucial investments in the health service, education and infrastructure were made. The debt-to-GDP ratio went down under Labour up to 2007 (i.e. Labour was essentially paying off our debt)

When the global financial crisis hit (and please, are you going to blame the American subprime mortgage market on Labour? Really?), the deficit went up, to be sure; by May 2010, the economy was growing again at a healthy clip. And then the ConDem coalition took power, slashing public spending and raising taxes, and drove the economy into a ditch.

Labour is the natural party of government, it's time to put the adults back in charge. Roll on 2015

im not really fully verses in that far back. mainly looking at more recent governments. from waht i saw of last labour government, they had a period of boom and kept spending all public money, till there was little left and very high national debt (highest ever?). according to the figures mentioned in parliament today , the current governemnt has made the best economic recovery for a decade and big reduction in debt
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by redferry

In terms of labour 'wasting money' this is only true if you follow the belief that the public sector is a waste of money.


Well said. Right-wing nitwits act as though public sector workers are some kind of charity case, as if it is not a fair swap of money from the taxpayer to services provided. It's not like public sector employees are some kind of charity, they operate on precisely the same basis as any other employee (exchange of money for labour)

And public sector functions are some of the most important (armed forces, doctors, nurses, the fact that when you flick a switch light comes on, when you switch on a tap water comes out that won't kill you.... the public sector is the basis of civilisation)
Original post by Meenglishnogood
im not really fully verses in that far back


That far back? We're talking about 20 years ago, not the 1750s.

mainly looking at more recent governments. from waht i saw of last labour government, they had a period of boom and kept spending all public money, till there was little left and very high debt


Err, debt-to-GDP ratio went down from 1997 to 2007. And it's true it went up after the global financial crisis. Are you blaming what happened on Wall Street on Labour?

the current governemnt has made the best economic recovery for a decade and big reduction in debt


What do you mean "best economic recovery for a decade"? We weren't in recession 10 years ago, growth was far higher ten years ago under Labour than it is now.

In fact, we've had the worst recovery since any recession since the 1930s
Reply 9
Original post by Meenglishnogood
I have not known british politics long enough to be fully versed in each parties history and principles but my reading of the current parties is as below-

Conservatives - technically sound and good at financial and money management of the economy, but elitist and a little immoral


Labour - morally well intentioned but incapable and inept economically, good at wasting money in long term.

Liberal Democrats - even more moral and inclusive, but without ability or direction and untrustworthy

UKIP - one dimensional and attracts the fringes of oddball extremists from other areas. A protest vote not one of government


Is this a fair summarry of uk political system?


Not fair at all. I would say a fair asessment would be that all three main parties are equally capable of handling the economy. During the labour administration, the tories consistently came up with the same ideas as Labour.

UKIP, the main think you need to know is that they've existed for >20 years and have yet to win a single seat. And that they're founder called Farage a racist bigot and some other insults (their founder being a middle class university professor...)

LibDem, they used to be the protest vote. Since they formed a coalition (protest vote working BTW) that's stopped.

Green: not mentioned, has one seat, unlike UKIP.
Reply 10
Original post by MostUncivilised
Thirty achivements of the Blair administration


For the raising minimum wage I think that only works for people working for big chains because small businesses with only 3 employees cannot afford the minimum wage going up its all in favour of employees NOT employers which makes the lives of independent business owners very hard


Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Yay
For the raising minimum wage I think that only works for people working for big chains because small businesses with only 3 employees cannot afford the minimum wage going up its all in favour of employees NOT employers which makes the lives of independent business owners very hard


If you can't afford the minimum wage, then you can't afford employees.

The fact is that small businesses do afford it, they'd just prefer they didn't have to so they could have larger profit margins.

And it's hardly a solid argument against it to say they can't afford it; I can't afford servants to cater to my every whim and desire, but that's not an argument for bringing back slavery
Original post by MostUncivilised
That far back? We're talking about 20 years ago, not the 1750s.



Err, debt-to-GDP ratio went down from 1997 to 2007. And it's true it went up after the global financial crisis. Are you blaming what happened on Wall Street on Labour?



What do you mean "best economic recovery for a decade"? We weren't in recession 10 years ago, growth was far higher ten years ago under Labour than it is now.

In fact, we've had the worst recovery since any recession since the 1930s
i think was in reference to rate of growth. certainly in last 6 years economy has been better than

and wasnt there a crisis of public funds that had nothing to do with the collapse of banks. i mean if you are going to point to global factors, you can also point out that the entire western world, plus asia was in growth between 2004-2007 and uk benefitted from that also. surely if money had been saved 5 years before the crash and not wasted, the level of later cuts would not have been necessarry
Original post by Meenglishnogood
i think was in reference to rate of growth. certainly in last 6 years economy has been better than


Err, what!? The last 6 years includes the global financial crisis of 07/08, what on earth are you blabbering on about?

The rate of growth today is pathetic compared to ten years ago under Labour. In the mid-2000s it was often close to 4% a year. In 2013 it was less than 2%.

Thank you for confirming you don't have the vaguest clue what you're talking about
Reply 14
It's difficult to really summarize any party without bringing in some level of partisan debate. Especially considering that UK politics has changed drastically over the last 20 years, it is difficult to really define anything without people bringing up various old and recent examples that contradict each other.

Conservatives could be considered good with money, as there was an unprecedented boom in the economy during some of Thatcher's ministry, but also events such as Black Wednesday and the 3 years of stagnation we have had with the current government would imply this is not always the case.

Labour could be considered bad with money, but also most of the Labour government of the last decade was a period of high economic growth. Their reputation of being bad with money comes from their democratic socialist policies of the late 40s/early 50s and the fact there was little preparation for an economic crash in the last Labour governments.

Lib Dems certainly are moral and inclusive, although could be considered untrustworthy for breaking some of their promises. I honestly would disagree, as I don't understand the reasoning that when in a coalition government the parties both always get what they want. In addition, many people seem to punish them for having gone into government in the first place, implying that those who voted for them didn't actually want to vote for them which is just crazy in my mind. It is difficult to define what the Lib Dems stand for too, as many of the grassroots are left leaning social democrats, but the leadership is quite neo-liberal.

As a UKIP member myself, I agree they are a protest vote in most cases, and not a vote for government. I don't think they are one-dimensional though (or any party that isn't single issue for that matter).

Your descriptions seem like a very tip of the iceberg view of the parties and I'd recommend studying each party's history some more, along with keeping up with recent news in order to develop your understanding of what they are actually like.
Original post by Relick
It's difficult to really summarize any party without bringing in some level of partisan debate. Especially considering that UK politics has changed drastically over the last 20 years, it is difficult to really define anything without people bringing up various old and recent examples that contradict each other.

Conservatives could be considered good with money, as there was an unprecedented boom in the economy during some of Thatcher's ministry, but also events such as Black Wednesday and the 3 years of stagnation we have had with the current government would imply this is not always the case.

Labour could be considered bad with money, but also most of the Labour government of the last decade was a period of high economic growth. Their reputation of being bad with money comes from their democratic socialist policies of the late 40s/early 50s and the fact there was little preparation for an economic crash in the last Labour governments.

Lib Dems certainly are moral and inclusive, although could be considered untrustworthy for breaking some of their promises. I honestly would disagree, as I don't understand the reasoning that when in a coalition government the parties both always get what they want. In addition, many people seem to punish them for having gone into government in the first place, implying that those who voted for them didn't actually want to vote for them which is just crazy in my mind. It is difficult to define what the Lib Dems stand for too, as many of the grassroots are left leaning social democrats, but the leadership is quite neo-liberal.

As a UKIP member myself, I agree they are a protest vote in most cases, and not a vote for government. I don't think they are one-dimensional though (or any party that isn't single issue for that matter).

Your descriptions seem like a very tip of the iceberg view of the parties and I'd recommend studying each party's history some more, along with keeping up with recent news in order to develop your understanding of what they are actually like.

indeed i see it now above that partizan tendencies appear to be inevitable when discussing uk politics, am getting some rather ignorant replies already. im approaching the subject as an 'outsider' and the impression of the parties i got. certainly now i have done a little more reading about the past history of these parties in government it does seem that labour governments oversaw the beginnings of most of the major recent recessions in the uk, - again the question can be levelled at misspending or lack of foresight to accumulate funds during better economic times., leading to the placeing of a following conservative government to 're-balance the books' as it were. the rest of the cycle appears to be then conservatives becoming unpopular for cuts in spending
Original post by MostUncivilised
Thirty achivements of the Blair administration


as an ex student i think the biggest thing blairs Labour government is remembered for is, introducing university tuition fees, increasing the amount of university places , then adding top up fees. that and the iraq war
(edited 9 years ago)
Conservatives - elitist and favour the rich but seem to understand economics better than Labour who still can't grasp that spending money you don't have is ridiculous and only leads to accruing more national debt. Led by a soft Tory trying to appease all much at the dismay of a lot of his backbenchers. Have throughout history bailed us out after years of erratic spending by Labour governments of which all stats back up. Long term trends show the Cons if left in power long enough would actually have us making profit to reinvest elsewhere in the budget. Unfortunately they still have the stigma of Thatcher hanging over them.

Labour - Tory lite party that sold out on their socialist roots and now have a leader who claims he wants to bring socialism back. Still nothing convincing about this claim at all other than to appease the working classes who think they'll benefit. Deep down Labour are still Tory lite but in denial about it all and claim to represent the working class when they don't. Labour are terrible with spending and are a massive risk to our economy. Only an idiot would vote for these proven debt builders.

Liberal Democrats - don't really know what they stand for anymore and have a leader who is clearly inept and looks lost. Sold out on many of their values as part of the coalition and are severely misguided on EU affairs. If the Lib Dems were a person they'd be the type to jump into bed with anyone if it meant personal gain.

UKIP - A party gaining more votes by talking common sense. Have changed their stance on taxation and want to implement sensible policies like VISA's and work permits for all immigrants. Arguably a one man band led by a man who does not fear the status quo although other figures like Abott and Nuttall are gaining more recognition. A growing party with arguably a lot to still learn but a party that has definitely been good for politics and democracy. Unfairly scrutinised by people as racist yet these same people do not call countries like Australia or Canada racist for using the same policies. What was once thought to be a predominantly Tory far right break off party is now a mixed back that could alter their 2015 manifesto to suit after disregarding their last manifesto.
Moved to Politics :smile:
Conservatives - The party of millionnaires and big business.
Labour - Incompetent with the economy and immigration.
Liberal Democrats - Probably the lesser of the three evils, but still liars and traitors.
UKIP - Right-wing nutcases who are theoretically sound on immigration but barmy on everything else.
(edited 9 years ago)

Quick Reply