Parties/Systems and Examples

Mainstream Party - Conservative, Labour

Niche Party - Scottish National Party

Single-Issue Party - UKIP, (previously) Reform, (previously) Green

Dominant-Party - Scotland?

Multi-Party - Germany

Single-Party - China

Two-Party - United Kingdom

People may claim that the UK is not a two-party state as the Conservative party dominates government.

People may claim that the UK is a two-party state any government formed has been from either Conservative or Labour.

System Comparison

Two-Party System

• Westminster Elections - 2019, Labour and Conservative received 76% of the vote and 87% of the seats in Commons
• Forming a Government - Every government since 19456 has been either Labour or Conservative

Multi-Party System

• Westminster Elections - 2024, Labour and Conservative received 60% of the vote, compared to 1951 when Labour and Conservative received 96% of the vote.
• Local Government Elections - 2019, 73/248 were NOC (No Overall Control). There are nearly 700 Green councillors and 3,000 Liberal Democrats.
• Local Government Elections - 2025, 73/248 were NOC (No Overall Control). There are ~800 Green councillors, over 3,000 Liberal Democrats, and ~900 Reform councillors.
• Devolved Bodies - Northern Ireland and Scotland are not run by either Labour or Conservative.
• The House of Lords - Combined of over 10 parties with no majority.

2024 - Roughly 85% of seats were held by Labour and Conservative.

Councillors come from a wide variety of parties.

Essay Question (Conclusion => AO3, Evaluate)

Evaluate: make a reasoned (1) judgement (2) about the strengths and weakness (3) of an argument, concept, or theory in a statement or extract.

The conclusion will be composed of four sentences:

1. One side of the argument
2. Other side of the argument
3. Reasoning why one argument is stronger than the other
4. Judgement

”Britain is dominated by the two main political parties.” Analyse and evaluate this statement.

Effectively an essay plan.

For two-party, Labour and Conservatives have consistently held power for a long time.

For multi-party, Outside of the House of Commons, local government elections and devolved bodies do not follow the Labour-Conservative two-party system.

1. Historically, both Labour and Conservatives have consistently held power sine 1945, with no other party holding a majority.
2. However, in elections outside of the general election, the multi-party system can be seen much more applicable, with many different parties holding councillors within local governments and parties outside of the Conservatives and Labour being elected in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
3. On balance, Britain is dominated by the two main parties and has shown this over a long course of time, although multi-party systems are shown throughout in local/devolved bodies.
4. Therefore, Britain is a two-party system within the House of Commons, but has clear presence of multi-party systems throughout more devolved/local bodies, such as the Welsh Assembly.