Liberal Democrats

What have been the major contributions to British politics offered by the Liberal Democrats over the last three decades? The Liberal Democrats have played an active part in the world of British politics over the last thirty years, in a variety of roles as a third party and as members of the conservative/liberal coalition. To truly consider the major contributions of such a party it is necessary to consider the variety of ideological and policy stances taken by the party and their effects on British

INTRODUCTION: I am studying the rally speeches for the leaders of the Labour and Liberal Democrat party’s. Nick Clegg has been the leader of the Liberal Democrat party for 5 years now and Ed Milliband has been the leader of the Labour party for 2 years. Both of these leaders have become unpopular in the public’s eyes: Nick Clegg due to him lying about the raising of tuition fees as well as the negative view from his party as they feel he has disassociated himself from the party objectives

a hung parliament, as no party achieved the 326 seats needed to for an overall majority. The three main parties were the Conservatives, whose party leader was and still is David Cameron, Labour, whose party leader was Gordon Brown and the Liberal Democrats, whose party leader was and still is Nick Clegg. The party with the highest share of seats were the Conservatives, who achieved 307 seats out of a possible 650. The party with

An important factor in the decline for Labour support was the Iraq war of 2003, and yet the only one of the three main parties to have been totally opposed to the war, the Liberal Democrats, still could not get enough seats to become the official opposition. Despite earning 22.1% of the national vote, the Liberal Democrats won only 62 seats. All the elections since 1979, and particularly the 2005 election, all re-enforce the argument that the UK is still very much a majoritarian model construct

the working class started to transfer their party support to Conservative instead of Labour. The Liberal Democrats support was significantly increasing, leaving them with 22% of the vote in the 2005 election as well as 62 seats. Their seat numbers had been increasing since 1974 when they only had 14 seats in parliament, suggesting a change in the dominance of only two parties. Today, the Liberal Democrats, who haven’t been considered a main party since, are currently the weaker part of a coalition government

smith) who struggled to win back votes of the people. The policies that were left by Margret Thatcher were not favoured by the people. In 2003, Michael Howard (right winger) revived the conservatives but the conservatives were defeated by the liberal democrat party in the 2005 general election. (Holmes pg276-277) The Conservatives had four main ideologies. The first ideology was brought about by Edmund Burke (1729-97). He was the first philosopher of the party though originally a Whig. However,

‘Voting behaviour at UK elections is determined more by issues of personality and image than on the basis of policies or performance in office’. Discuss. In recent times it may be argued that personality and image has played a huge part in the voting behaviour of the electorate in the UK. The personality and image may refer to the personality of the party leader and how they present themselves in their campaign. This is a short-term factor and in a time where long-term factors are not said to play

HOW WELL DOES PARLIAMENT PERFORM ITS VARIOUS FUNCTIONS? Parliament is designed to hold the executive accountable; therefore it goes about this by various means of government scrutiny, such as Prime Minister’s Question Time. In addition, Parliament is expected to perform a legislative function, creating the process of a bill becoming a law after undergoing many stages between the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Finally, Parliament is also required to be representative of the

to happen. Everyone was watching as the highly-anticipated, first televised debates in the United Kingdom began. The discourse ended after several hours, and a new candidate quickly emerged as the leader. His name was Nick Clegg. He led the Liberal Democrats, the smallest party. One might think about it over and over again and ask, "How did such a thing happen?". The answer, in itself, lies within the influence of the media, the power of language, and how its words are intertwined so masterfully

to happen. Everyone was watching as the highly-anticipated, first televised debates in the United Kingdom began. The discourse ended after several hours, and a new candidate quickly emerged as the leader. His name was Nick Clegg. He led the Liberal Democrats, the smallest party. One might think about it over and over again and ask, "How did such a thing happen?". The answer, in itself, lies within the influence of the media, the power of language, and how its words are intertwined so masterfully