pinkfalcon Senior Member Joined: 1 Apr 2005 Posts: 49 Location: Lincoln, NE Expertise: Just starting
Posted Tue May 10, 2005, 12:19pm Subject: UK Political Parties
Could someone explain to me the main political parties in the UK and what stance they take on main issues? I've been doing alot of reading on the elections, but the news in the US rarely covers what each party's stance is on anything.
Posted Tue May 10, 2005, 3:20pm Subject: Re: UK Political Parties
In extremely simplified terms, think of it like this.
Conservatives/Tories are similar to moderate Republicans in America such as John McCain, Olympia Snowe and Chuck Hagel. They are not as interested in religious issues as the current American GOP Leadership (Frist, Santorum etc.) but are interested in limiting the role of government and lessening funds given to social programs. But they are much more moderate in these issues compared to their American counterparts. A conservative in the UK could never win on the platform of, say, taking away national health care.
Labour is kind of like the old Democratic party pre-Nixon. Pro-worker, but also not afraid to get involved in military action when they see fit. Blair's Labour is a great example of Third Way government that Clinton pioneered. This is a combination of being liberal on social issues, tough foreign policy, and fiscally conservative.
Liberal Democrats were the only anti-war party in that past election. They are more interested in taking care of the UK citizens needs first, and foreign needs second. They favor spending on programs that are geared towards providing better health care and other social interests that conservatives tend to favor cutting somewhat.
Again, this is really oversimplified, and I don't understand the specifics as much as others do. But this is my rudimentary understanding of things.
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