British politics as a two-party system?

Résumé du document

Britain has long been described as the ideal two-part system. The birth of the modern political parties in the UK dates back to the late 19th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, Whigs and Tories had been known for 150 years, but they had no political signification outside Westminster. Modern parties were born with the enlargement of franchise. The Liberals were the first to structure into a modern party at their 1867 Birmingham caucus. In 1899, with the Labour Representation Committee, a third party was born. From 1922 to 1935, Britain was a three-party system, with coalitions and minority governments. 6 general elections, 9 governments, including 4 coalitions and two minority governments in 13 years. Made Britain look like France! But the Liberals were then not seen as very different from the Conservatives and were undermined by divisions. Plus, with the FPTP system, the third party is automatically underrepresented. After the war, return two the two-party system. The Conservatives, natural party of government. Now Labour?

But, the Libdems are still here, with 52 MPs at Westminster, and since the 70s Britain has seen the rise of regionalist party, like Plaid Cymru, and the Scottish National Party. So can Britain still be described as a two-party system?

Extraits

[...] So can Britain still be described as a two- party system? Giovanni Sartori, provides useful advice on how we might count the number of parties. According to him, the number of parties does matter, it indicates roughly the extent to which political power is fragmented or non- fragmented, dispersed or concentrated, as well as the number of possible interactions between the parties. However, one must also take into account the share of the votes represented by one party and maybe establish a threshold for counting: a party with one percent of the vote can be not worth counting. [...]

[...] Britain as a predominant party system Labour the natural party of government. In power in Wales and Scotland. Looks set to win the next general election. Like Canada, where the Liberals have been in power for 70 of the past 103 years. But reverse possible: Conservatives the natural party of government in the 80s. Britain as a multi-party system Since the mid-70s, there has been a decline in the collective support for the two-party system, the electorate has been more volatile. [...]

[...] Rise of nationalist parties: Plaid Cymru has 4 seats in the Commons, the SNP 5. Not much but those parties have greater influence on a regional basis. In the opposition in Wales, Plaid Cymru has been able to orient the policy in a more left-wing way than in England In France, new voting rules for the elections to the regional councils and to the European parliament. These new rules raise the threshold for winning a seat, small parties are disadvantaged. [...]

[...] Britain has long been described as the ideal two-part system. The birth of the modern political parties in the UK dates back to the late 19th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, Whigs and Tories had been known for 150 years, but they had no political signification outside Westminster. Modern parties were born with the enlargement of franchise. The Liberals were the first to structure into a modern party at their 1867 Birmingham caucus. In 1899, with the Labour Representation Committee, a third party was born. [...]

[...] Maurice Duverger, a French political scientist stated that a FPTP system naturally leads to a two- party system. He provides the example of a ballot which opposes 100,000 moderate voters against 80,000 communist voters. If the moderates are divided in two parties, the communist can be elected. The logical consequence is that the two parties with moderate views will unite or that the weaker will disappear. Let's take some figures. In the 2001 general election, Labour got of the vote and 412 seats, the Conservatives and 166 seats and the Liberal Democrats and 52 seats. [...]