To what extent is there no real difference between the ideologies of the main political parties?
From 1997 to 2010 Labour enjoyed a period of political dominance because Tony Blair changed some of their key policies to make them less left wing and appeal to centre voters. In recent times many would argue that the Tory party have been trying to do the same thing. With these changes to the two main parties, we are witnessing a transformation of the political scene with the traditional ‘left wing’ and ‘right wing’ parties becoming much more central. In this way it may well be the case that the parties are becoming much more like one-another, which begs the question as to whether they now have any real differences between them in terms of their ideologies.
Under the leadership of Tony Blaire the labour party transformed radically, becoming less left wing and more central, which arguably brought their policies and ideologies closer to those of their main rivals; the Conservatives. Some of these key reforms made by Blaire include the ditching of old policies like unilateral disarmament, high taxation and nationalisation, which were all traditional left wing labour views. More importantly Blaire got rid of Clause IV of the Labour constitution which committed them to work towards public ownership of the means of construction in Britain. This made the party much more central (or right wing depending on your point of view) and so closer to the Conservative party. Ed Miliband has arguably continued this trend; Miliband wrote a commendatory preface to the book ‘The Purple Labour: A Progressive Future for Labour’ indicating that Miliband is in support of this more centralised version of the Labour party (Purple Labour being a synonym for a more politically central labour).
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A political party is an organized group of people whose ideas are alike about how to govern a country. In some places, like the U. S, anyone can be part of a political party, but in others, like China, only a few select people can join. Candidates are people trying to be elected to lead the government on behalf of their party. If they are elected, they try to get laws that they like passed, and to ...
Furthermore many argue that Miliband has taken even more steps towards the centre/right; for example he has attempted to further reduce the impact of trade unions by removing the automatic affiliation fees paid by millions of union members to his party in order to ensure only those with an active interest are involved in future. This is a move away from the traditional left-wing Labour party ideology (the party being founded from trade unions and historically relying on their support).
The labour party has even pledged to stick within the Coalition’s spending limits for 2015/16, showing the parties directly agree in some areas. Considering all this evidence many would agree that the Labour party has become much less left wing and more central and that this course is being continued by Ed Miliband.
Similarly the Conservatives have also taken steps to become more central, mainly in response to the popularity that this policy brought the Labour party (who won three back-to-back elections from 1997).
Because of this many would say these two parties are now becoming more and more similar as they move towards a common political position. Cameron has pledged to ‘revitalise society’ which contradicts the traditional view of the conservatives; Margaret Thatcher once said that there is ‘no such thing as society’. Similarly Cameron moved from the traditional hard-line Tory view on crime saying that we need to understand the culture that fosters antisocial behaviour rather than just blame young people, saying ‘we need to show a lot more love’, in his ‘hug a hoodie’ speech in 2006. This change has come to be known as compassionate conservatism and represents the Tories attempting to ‘decontaminate their brand’. They want to change the popular view that they are out of touch, too right wing and not competent to govern. Cameron has shifted the party’s focus from wealth accumulation to ‘general well-being’. This represents a clear shift towards the left from the Tories who, as the Labour party have done, are trying to become more central. What this means is that the two parties are becoming more alike as they move from opposite ends of the political spectrum to a common central point.
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In addition there are many similarities now between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. As a party originally formed as a breakaway from the Labour party one could imagine that the Lib Dems and the Tories would not get on, however they have formed a coalition government together which has lasted, and now share common views in several areas. Both David Cameron and Nick Clegg became parliamentarians during a period when the Labour party dominated Parliament. Both therefore had common grown in opposing government policies during a sustained period of Labour government. Despite this many thought, when the coalition was first formed, that it would be weak as it would contain too many ideological and policy differences. This however is contradicted by the fact that the coalition government has stuck together so far and not collapsed, furthermore many of the two parties’ policies are very similar. Clegg contributed to ‘The Orange Book’ – advocating social liberalism within the liberal democrats. This included encouraging more local and voluntary provision of welfare. These concepts are similar to the policy of the Conservative party. This similarity between the two parties combined with the fact that the coalition government has survived when many thought it wouldn’t, would indicate that these two parties are much closer than previously thought.
However there are those that argue that the main parties are not completely moving in the same direction and that there are still major differences between them.
Some would argue that the Conservatives are in fact becoming more right wing under Cameron. This view is supported by a number of their policies and actions while in government. Cameron is a firm Eurosceptic, as was Thatcher, indicating that many of the fundamental beliefs of the conservatives remain fairly right wing. Similarly they are still critical of a central state and support a free market and ‘laissez faire’ attitude to business and the economy. Furthermore they have cut the top rate of tax from 50% to 45%, benefiting the highest earners and they have increased tuition fees. These are very right wing moves as they are trying to give the people the freedom to look out for themselves and only get what they are able to earn through their own efforts, without help from the government. This would appear to show a movement back towards the traditional right wing and Thatcherite form of conservatism. In this way they would seem to be further from the centre and less like the Labour party, and their ideology seems to have significant differences.
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Likewise many argue that Ed Miliband is in fact making the Labour party more left wing and so less similar to the other main political parties. Miliband was nicknamed ‘Red Ed’ by the Tories after his appointment as Labour leader, due to the fact his victory relied considerably on the support of the Trade Unions, giving his opponents the chance to portray him as very left wing. Several of the Labour party’s recent policies also indicate that they may be moving towards the left rather than the centre; for example the labour affiliated Fabian Society proposes that labour make tax rises for high earners, spend £20billion a year of higher spending targeted on building projects and skills and make a significant increase to the national minimum wage. These policies would make the labour party look more left wing as it would be using high taxes to redistribute wealth to support those who cannot support themselves. This would distance them from the conservative party by making them more left wing and so in this way the parties would be more different in terms of their ideologies.
Another clear example of the major parties disagreeing actually comes from the coalition government, indicating that they are not entirely unified and they still have major differences. For example the Liberal Democrats pledged before the 2010 general election that they would not increase tuition fees, indicating that it was one of their key beliefs. However under the coalition government university fees have risen to a maximum of £9000 a year. This shows that the conservatives disagreed with the Lib Dems on a key topic. Similarly opinions within these two parties differed considerably surrounding the alternative voting system proposals. The Liberal Democrats greatly wanted the AV system to be introduced and made a referendum on the issue a condition of the coalition agreement. The Conservatives however opposed the idea completely and did not want the AV system. This shows a major disagreements between these to parties, which would show that their ideologies are not the same.
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Historically, parties of the right have consistently governed most advanced industrial democracies. However, in recent years, these parties have been suffering losses in their respective countries and an enormous amount of left-wing party successes has been taking place. What has caused this fluctuation? Many believe that this “huge political shift (CP Article 6:16)” has been caused by the United ...
Overall there is no doubt that the political parties are changing and adapting; that is what political parties do and what they must do if they want to remain in touch with voters and deal with new situations. The overall trends appear to show the historically right wing and left wing parties becoming less ‘extreme’ in order to appeal to centre voters and in this way their ideologies are becoming more and more similar. However there are still noticeable differences between the parties and some old policies and ways of thinking still remain. To conclude it is true that the major parties are becoming more alike, however you cannot truly say that there is ‘no difference’ between them yet, as they still disagree on a number of key issues.
