How and why do the major political parties differ over politics and ideas?
The major political parties in the UK are Conservative and Labour. They show their different ideas and polices at election time. They show out their differences to voters in order to make them aware of how society would differed if their ideas are accepted and then their policies are put into place when one of them comes to power.
Conservative party had a clear run up in the elections and difference over economic policy than Labour. They wished to make cuts in public expenditure and took off an immediate £6 billion in public spending. They cut deeper and faster than Labour would have achieved. Similar in taxation policy it is a Conservative idea to reduce taxes in order that people can retain as much of their income as possible. To achieve this national insurance was cut and also corporation tax. These policy ideas replicate Conservative thinking that the role and scope of the state has to be reduced.
David Cameron was keen to extol the idea of the ‘big society’ meaning that the role and scope of the state will be reduced and in his place individuals, groups and voluntary organizations will replace and fill the void. This can be seen to have links with ideas from one-nation and Thatcherite factions. By encouraging individuals and organizations it can be seen as integrating society and developing paternalist views meaning to cover up what are essentially Thatcherite moves to cut the state. It is contrast to the Labour party who had no such role for this element in society.
Idea of rolling back the state continued in education where the Conservatives have created free schools granting independence from the local authority in setting these up. The Conservative aim to give existing state schools much more independent by fast-tracking academics and increasing their number. In contrast Labour ideas and policies were still focus on quality improvements rather than major structural or strategic action.
The Conservative always had a strong Eurosceptic section and they clearly said in their manifesto that they would oppose joining the EU. The Labour party was less opposed and promised a referendum before joining. While the Conservatives outlined that no further powers would be granted to the EU unless parliament approved of the action and also the people in a referendum. The Labour party was less hostile to the EU.
The Conservatives didn’t want any change to the system of FPTP because they were willing to make constituencies more equal in size and reduce the number of MPs. In contrast the Labour Party was willing to hold a referendum on AV and consider change. Labour was not planning on reducing the number of MPs or altering the number of constituents in certain seats. This move by the Conservatives is perhaps a pragmatic idea the Labour party does have an electoral benefit in the way in which the system currently operates and this move may eliminate that.
The Conservative wanted to dismantle what they did not like about the former government and to remove if possible traces of the ideas and polices of New Labour. One aspect of this is the idea to create a UK Bill of Rights to replace the ECHR- based version introduced by Labour. As part of the economic cutbacks the Conservatives stopped a New Labour flagship policy which was the school building programme. Finally the moves to introduce any form of ID card scheme was stopped in its track as David Cameron became Prime Minister.
In manifesto terms there was no major difference between the parties as both promised a clear commitment to the NHS the Conservatives planned to end target setting goals such as waiting lists and league tables again due to the previous Labour government agenda. However once in power the Conservatives plans for NHS have been seen as far more radical and are accused of being disguised plans to privatize the service. Here the Labour party is keen to state that these plans are completely opposite to their ideas and polices.
To conclude it is clear to see differences between the major parties. Each has a distinct set of political ideas which generate differing policy options. However at the same time all major parties are trying to win votes and support so their ideas might be diverted to ensure popularity as opposed to ideological purity. A huge amount of policy options are very similar. Although the ideas may differ at source the polices do not as the parties search to please the many and achieve power.