General characteristics of changes in UK party system in the context of the withdrawal from the EU

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Маріупольський державний університет

Кафедра політології та міжнародних відносин історичного факультету

Загальна характеристика змін у партійній системі Великої Британії в умовах виходу країни з ЄС

Грідіна І.М.

доктор історичних наук, професор

Лисак В.Ф.

доктор історичних наук, професор

Пашина Н.П.

доктор політичних наук, професор

Анотація

eurosceptic british political party

Актуальність даного дослідження полягає у принципових змінах, що відбуваються у партійній системі Великої Британії в умовах виходу країни з Європейського Союзу. Такі зміни полягають у зростанні впливу євроскептичних поглядів в ідеологічній парадигмі британських політичних партій, переорієнтуванні фокусу партійної уваги зі спільних європейських проблем на внутрішні, трансформації змісту програмних документів. Метою статті є побудова цілісної моделі трансформаційних змін партійної системи Великої Британії після реалізації результатів референдуму щодо виходу з ЄС. Основним методом дослідження є аналіз партійних програмних документів, заяв партійного керівництва, а також електоральних процесів на парламентських та місцевих виборах останніх років. В результаті проведеного дослідження сформульовано загальний висновок про вирішальний вплив дезінтеграційних процесів останнього часу на процеси трансформації партійної системи Великої Британії як комплексний та складний феномен сучасної британської політики. Показано, що програмні документи британських політичних партій значно посунулися у бік економізації політичних настанов, які витіснили ідеологічно-романтичний вектор, притаманний, зокрема, лейбористам на деяких етапах перебування країни у складі ЄС. Визначено, що Велика Британія з моменту вступу до самого виходу зі складу членів ЄС посідала особливе місце в європейській інтеграційній моделі, адже її інтеграція ніколи не була повномасштабною та ідентичною за глибиною до переважної більшості інших учасників інтеграційного об'єднання. Вказано на закономірність відносного електорального успіху євроскептичних популістських політичних партій як зважаючи на загальні європейські тенденції, так і враховуючи традиційні британські консерватизм та ізоляціонізм, великою мірою історично й ментально притаманні британському суспільству. Наголошується на ситуативному характері багатьох поточних рішень і дій британських політичних партій, а також зближенні їх програмних гасел та положень передвиборних маніфестів. Показано особисту роль лідерів основних парламентських політичних партій Великої Британії у формуванні суспільного ставлення до становлення майбутньої моделі розвитку британської політичної системи поза межами ЄС.

Ключові слова: політичні партії, Велика Британія, трансформація, партійна система, «брекзіт», програми політичних партій.

General characteristics of changes in UK party system in the context of the withdrawal from the EU

Abstract

The relevance of this study lies in the fundamental changes that are taking place in the UK party system in the context of the country's withdrawal from the European Union. Such changes include the growing influence of Eurosceptic views in the ideological paradigm of British political parties, a shift in the focus of party attention from common European issues to domestic ones, and the transformation of the content of programme documents. The article is aimed to build a holistic model of transformational changes in the party system of Great Britain after the implementation of the results of the referendum on the withdrawal from the EU. The main method of the study is the analysis of party programme documents, statements of the party leadership, as well as electoral processes in the parliamentary and local elections of recent years. As a result of the study, a general conclusion has been made about the decisive impact of recent disintegration processes on the transformation of the UK party system as a comprehensive and complex phenomenon of modern British politics. It is shown that the programme documents of British political parties have significantly moved towards economisation of political guidelines, which have replaced the ideological and romantic vector inherent in, particularly, Labour at certain stages of the country's membership in the EU. It is determined that from the moment of accession to the EU until its withdrawal from the EU, the United Kingdom occupied a special place in the European integration model because its integration has never been full-scale and identical in depth to the vast majority of other members of the integration association.^ is indicated on the regularity of the relative electoral success of Eurosceptic populist political parties both in view of general European trends and traditional British conservatism and isolationism, which are largely historically and mentally inherent in British society. It is emphasized on the situational nature of many current decisions and actions of British political parties, as well as the convergence of their programme slogans and provisions of election manifestos. The personal role of the leaders of the main parliamentary political parties of Great Britain in shaping public attitudes to the formation of the future model of development of the British political system outside the EU is shown.

Key words: political parties, Great Britain, transformation, party system, Brexit, political party programmes.

Introduction

The UK party system has undergone significant changes in recent years in view of the country's exit from the EU (so-called "Brexit"), which can be explained from several perspectives. Firstly, the programme documents of the UK political parties are transforming towards a more economical attitude to European integration. Secondly, disintegration processes have a direct and inverse relationship with the growing popularity of Eurosceptic political parties whose main goal is to leave the EU. Thirdly, the programme guidelines of the main British parliamentary parties are significantly converging, focusing on situational electoral requirements, which the party elite sees as a way to expand their own electoral base in the context of each regular parliamentary or local election.

Analysis of the latest research

In the modern science, we shoul distinguish the works of such a British scientists who highlighted the changes and consequences for the political system after the UK's exit from the EU like L. Tomkins, R. Booth, R. Peston, A. Gentleman, L. Kettle, D. McShane and others. Among Ukrainian scientists, should be noted the works of such authors as A. Hrubinko, V. Chekmak, І.M. Chervinka, A.M. Shulyak and others, but the topic needs further consideration.

Highlighting previously unresolved parts of the general problem involves the identification of previously unresolved parts of the general problem includes the study of trends that consist in the growing influence of Eurosceptic views in the ideological paradigm of British political parties, the reorientation of the party's attention from common European problems to internal ones, and the transformation of the content of program documents.

Purpose and objectives

The article is aimed to identify the general features of the transformation of the UK party system in the context of the country's exit from the EU. In accordance with this purpose, the following tasks can be distinguished: a) to analyse the programme documents, political statements and practical actions (voting and other) of the political parties of the United Kingdom in the period since 2016, when an active public debate on the country's further participation in the processes of European integration began; b) to compare the programme slogans of the main (parliamentary) political parties of the United Kingdom with each other in order to find common and different provisions in the relevant provisions related to the party attitude to the prospects of European integration; c) to predict further trends in the development of the party system of the United Kingdom, particularly in the context of the next parliamentary elections in 2024.

To determine the essence of changes in the party system of Great Britain, a set of methods of cognition inherent in modern political science was used. Thus, the formal-dogmatic, logical and semantic methods were used to analyse party documents in order to establish the true meaning of party guidelines and slogans, which corresponds to the current agenda of society and the political elite. In order to determine the general and particular in the political course of the main parties of Great Britain, the comparative method was used. The historical method helped to establish the current trends in the transformation of the British party system, which allowed us to examine the activities and ideology of political parties until 2016, which is the beginning of the referendum process, i.e. the starting point of formalised disintegration processes in British politics. The method of systemic-structural analysis allowed us to establish the tendency to fragmentation of the British party system precisely on the basis of attitudes towards European integration, in the context of which we can cite examples of Scotland or Northern Ireland, where the electoral results of the referendums and elections held to date demonstrate a significant difference in the views of the population compared to similar results in England and Wales.

After the final legal withdrawal of the UK from the EU, transformational changes in the attitudes and views of political parties are quite noticeable, manifesting themselves, first of all, in the reorientation of political interests from common European to domestic economic, social, migration, political and other problems, which is a completely logical and understandable consequence of this event.

In this regard, it should be noted that the preparation and holding of the referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, as well as the implementation of the results in 2016-2020, was carried out by the Conservative Party as the ruling party from that time until now.

At the same time, a significant intra-party differentiation of views on the processes of European integration throughout the study period was a source of internal division and problems within the Conservative Party, because after M. Thatcher's premiership, the ideology of Euroscepticism, combined with traditional British conservatism, finally took hold among a certain part of the party members [3, с. 4].

In addition, the institutional structure of the party contributed to the expansion of the powers of the party leadership, which actually gained control over the formation of the party's attitude to current processes [6]. However, this party structure also led to a high role of the party parliamentary faction, which meant that in practice, ordinary members of parliament periodically expressed opposition to the party elite's ideas.

It should also be noted that on the eve of the political events surrounding the UK's European integration, the Conservative party leadership's focus on electoral success in the next elections, rather than solving acute social problems, has become a permanent pattern, which explains Prime Minister D. Cameron's inability to update the Conservative ideological platform (ideological, static vector of party activity), and not just to ensure the party's victory in the elections (situational, dynamic vector of party activity).In other words, D. Cameron failed to effectively defend his own Euro-optimistic or at least Euro-pragmatic views to the Eurosceptic part of the Conservative Party members (including the elite).

Another factor that accelerated the referendum process as a result of the intra-party debate within the Conservative party was the formation of a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, who are the most Euro-optimistic of all British political parties, which in turn caused further aggravation of the debate with the Eurosceptic part of their own party [2, с. 76].

It should be noted that D. Cameron himself and his inner circle quite unequivocally criticised the idea of holding a referendum on the UK's membership in the EU, considering it too radical to address such strategic and complex issues of determining the political course of the state[4].

On the other hand, D. Cameron's decision to call a referendum was influenced by the rather serious competition from the UKIP party, which drew away from the Conservatives the votes of nationally conscious and traditionally conservative and isolationist voters, and on the eve of the next elections the refusal to hold a general vote on the expediency of European integration could have a sharp negative impact on the electoral results of the Conservatives.

Moreover, these processes took place against the background of a significant aggravation of common European crises (migration, economic, currency, financial, etc.), which also contributed to the growth of the popularity of Eurosceptic ideas within the Conservative Party, and to the loss of votes by the Conservatives in favour of populist political parties, such as UKIP or other parties led by N. Farage in different years (Brexit, Reform UK, etc.).

All these processes, the essence of which is the fundamental discrepancy between D. Cameron's views and practical actions during his leadership of the Conservative Party, led to his resignation and replacement by the Eurosceptic T May, whose election manifesto after her appointment offered voters a view of a new global Britain, which maintains a "deep and special connection with the European Union". In addition, the quoted 2017 manifesto emphasised the intention of Conservative government to withdraw the UK from the Single Market and the Customs Union to control its own laws, borders and rights to enter into trade agreements with third countries [1], which indicates the economisation and pragmatisation of conceptual approaches to the UK's place in European integration processes. The same trend should be attributed to the emphasis in the Conservative programme document on the problem of the country's large contributions to the EU budgetwhich was expressed as follows: "the days of the UK contributing huge sums to the European budget are over"[1]. At the same time, the main task of the future government was declared to be to conduct an honest and ongoing negotiation process, in which there would be no uncertainty and the rights and legitimate interests of both sides would be guaranteed [1].

The "Brexit" was completed under the premiership of B. Johnson, who built his programme around ensuring this process, and was much more successful than T. May in uniting the parliamentary faction around the implementation of the government's political course [7, с. 334].

In turn, Labour built its agenda by criticising Conservative governments, and this criticism was particularly harsh during the period of T. May's leadership of the Conservative Party and government, which, in our opinion, is quite understandable given T. May's demonstrative Eurosceptic position, who allowed the country's withdrawal from the EU even without an appropriate agreement that would mitigate socio-economic risks and, ideally, preserve a certain part of the common market in future partnerships between the UK and the EU.

The Labour Party's keynote presentation on this issue was the speech of K. Starmer, in which he outlined the so-called "six tests" for T May and her plan to leave the EU:

maintaining a reliable partnership with the EU;

preservation of the same benefits for the UK as those provided by membership in the Single Market and Customs Union;

guaranteeing fair and effective management of migration flows in the interests of the national economy and communities;

ensuring the social and economic rights of employees;

ensuring national security and continuing successful cooperation with the EU in the fight against cross-border crime;

taking into account and respecting the interests of all regions and nations of the United Kingdom[5].

After that, on 9 July 2018, then Labour leader D. Corbyn made a speech in the House of Commons, in which he noted that "it took 2 years to create the Chequers Plan and 2 days to break it up" [5], and accused T. May of dealing exclusively with the internal problems of her party, without paying any attention to the economy, the problem of the Irish border and protecting the service sector from the consequences of Brexit.

In any case, the Conservatives have completed the process of implementing the results of the referendum, having finalised the new disintegration reality.

Based on these trends and facts, it can be stated that Brexit has significantly influenced the transformation of the British party system in the newest period of its evolutionary development.

Inthiscasethekey factor influencing the transformation of the UK party system in 2016-2023 is the socio-political, historical and ideological conflict between supporters and opponents of European integration (Euro-optimists and Euro-skeptics), rather than the traditional political division into Conservatives and Labour, or, relatively speaking, into "right" and "left", which was inherent in the British party system for many decades.

Instead, it is along this "integration-disintegration" line that party ideologies and party election slogans are currently being differentiated both in the UK and, incidentally, in Ukraine. However, these processes are characteristic of the two countries with the fundamental difference that the British alternative to deeper European integration is a truly sovereign and independent, built on the national conservative tradition of worldview, "British" project, the so-called "Global Britain", and in the current Ukrainian conditions, the only real alternative to European integration and Euro-optimism as a fundamental basis of foreign policy is an openly pro-Russian paradigm of further socio-political development. This difference in methodological approaches and the actual political situation is also reflected in the programme documents of the parties of both countries, respectively. In this context, it should be noted that no British politician (regardless of the ideological field he or she is in on the basis of "left-right") would even think of promoting a model of subordination of state and public interests to the political course of a foreign state, which, unfortunately, was not so long ago characteristic of some domestic parties and their leaders, until their anti-social and anti-state activities were quite rightly prohibited by law.

Thus, an important trend in the current development of the UK party system and changes in the political interests of the main parliamentary parties is the rapid reduction in the number and quality of the ideological conflict along the "right - left" line.

This is due to a number of socio-economic and political reasons and factors, including, among them the following should be noted.

Firstly, it is the actual disappearance of any sharp so-called "class" contradictions in modern societies, legislative and managerial guarantees of socio-economic rights of employees, the absence of a critical, revolutionary situation between employers and employees.

Secondly, it is the desire of the mainstream, systemic political parties to maximise the social base of their electorate, as a result, ideological markers, such as "socialism", which was removed from the text of the Labour Party constitution, disappear from party programmes and election platforms.

Thirdly, it is the movement of the vast majority of mass political parties towards a professional model (in particular, modern Labour under the leadership of a moderate centrist politician K. Starmer, who replaced the more radical J. Corbyn in line with the outlined trend towards de-ideologisation and even dismantling of socialist slogans in order to expand their electoral base in a rather conservative, liberal democratic, conditionally "right-wing" British society),focused primarily on gaining political power and forming state, regional and municipal bodies of various levels, rather than on uncompromising promotion of ideological guidelines, which was characteristic, for example, of continental European left (communist, socialist and, to some extent, social democratic) parties in previous specific historical periods of their formation and development.

Conclusion

As a result of the study of the general principles of the transformation of the UK party system in the context of the country's exit from the EU, the following key conclusions can be drawn: a) the current disintegration processes ("Brexit") as a complex and challenging phenomenon of modern British politics have a decisive impact on the transformation of the party system in the UK; b) the programme documents of British political parties have significantly moved towards economisation of political guidelines, which have replaced the ideological and romantic vector inherent in, in particular, Labour at some stages of the country's membership in the EU; c) from the moment of its accession to the EU until its withdrawal, the UK occupied a special place in the European integration model, as its integration has never been full-scale and identical in depth to the vast majority of other members of the integration association; d) the relative electoral success of Eurosceptic populist political parties is natural, both in view of general European trends and traditional British conservatism and isolationism, which are largely historically and mentally inherent in British society; e) many of the current decisions and actions of British political parties, as well as the convergence of their programme slogans and provisions of election manifestos, are situational and pre-election, given the attempts to expand their own electoral base regardless of ideological orientations, some of which are already of a purely historical rather than relevant nature for the respective parties.

References

1. General Election Manifesto 2017. URL: https://uup.org.

2. Haughton T. Farewell Britannia? «Issue Capture» and the Politics of David Cameron's 2013 EU Referendum Pledge (with Nathaniel Copsey) // Journal of Common Market Studies. Vol. 52. 2014. P. 74-89.

3. Kettle L. The UK's Referendum on EU Membership: The debates and the consequences of a Brexit. Focus. 2016. № 1. P. 1-5.

4. Malik N. Britain needs a day of reckoning. Brexit will provide it. URL: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/18/britain-brexit.

5. McGrath C. Corbyn's legacy: Labour may «never win election again» warns political analyst. The Express, 04.04.2020.

6. Menon A. How Britain Stumbled: Brexit, Tory Incompetence, and the Hard Road Ahead. Foreign Affairs. URL: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-kingdom/how-britain-stumbled.

7. Tomkins L. Where is Boris Johnson? When and why it matters that leaders show up in a crisis. Leadership. 2020. № 16. P. 331-342.

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