{"id":23155,"date":"2025-05-04T04:22:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-04T04:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/after-100-years-britains-two-party-political-system-may-be-crumbling\/"},"modified":"2025-05-04T04:22:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-04T04:22:13","slug":"after-100-years-britains-two-party-political-system-may-be-crumbling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/after-100-years-britains-two-party-political-system-may-be-crumbling\/","title":{"rendered":"After 100 Years, Britain\u2019s Two-Party Political System May Be Crumbling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A dramatic victory in a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/02\/world\/europe\/uk-election-reform-labour-runcorn.html\" title=\"\">parliamentary special election<\/a>. Hundreds of seats won in English municipalities. A first taste of power in the lower tiers of government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">By making extensive gains in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/01\/world\/europe\/england-local-elections-starmer.html\" title=\"\">a set of local elections<\/a> held in England on Thursday, Nigel Farage, one of Britain\u2019s best known <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/30\/world\/europe\/nigel-farage-rallies-uk-local-elections.html\" title=\"\">supporters of President Trump<\/a> and the leader of the anti-immigration Reform U.K. party, consolidated his reputation as the country\u2019s foremost political disrupter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But he may have done something bigger still: blown a hole in the country\u2019s two-party political system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For nearly all of the past century, power in Britain has alternated between the governing Labour Party, now led by Prime Minister <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/04\/world\/europe\/keir-starmer-uk.html\" title=\"\">Keir Starmer<\/a>, and the opposition Conservatives, who last year selected a new leader, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/11\/02\/world\/europe\/kemi-badenoch-uk-tory-leadership-election-2024.html\" title=\"\">Kemi Badenoch<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Yet with <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/02\/world\/europe\/uk-local-elections-results-reform-labour-conservative.html\" title=\"\">surging support for Reform<\/a> and gains for other small parties, that duopoly has rarely looked more shaky.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe two main parties have been served notice of a potential eviction from their 100-year tenures of Downing Street,\u201d said Robert Ford, a professor of political science at the University of Manchester.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still reeling after being ejected from power last year, the Conservatives suffered another disastrous set of results. With the economy flatlining, Labour was punished by voters angry with government spending curbs and higher taxes introduced since it came to power.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The electorate rejected both main parties, Professor Ford said, adding that, were a result like this to occur in a general election, \u201cthe Conservative Party would cease to exist as a meaningful force in Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Claire Ainsley, a former policy director for Mr. Starmer, said the results also reflected longer-term trends, including a breakdown of traditional class loyalties among voters, the increasing pull of nationalist politics and growing support for the centrist Liberal Democrats, the Greens and independent candidates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe have been seeing the fragmentation of society and that has flowed through to our politics,\u201d said Ms. Ainsley, who now works in Britain for the Progressive Policy Institute, a Washington-based research institute. \u201cThere is multiparty voting now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The upshot is that both main parties are struggling as they find themselves competing not just with each other, but also with opponents to their political left and right.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That mood of public disenchantment gave an opening to smaller parties including the Liberal Democrats, who won 163 council seats, and the Greens, who gained 44. But the biggest beneficiary was Reform, whose supporters have been <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/30\/world\/europe\/nigel-farage-rallies-uk-local-elections.html\" title=\"\">energized by Mr. Farage\u2019s vigorous campaigning.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In an interview at a Reform U.K. rally in March, John McDermottroe, a party supporter, said many people in his region of Stockton-on-Tees, in northeastern England, felt that the Labour Party had \u201cgrown away from working people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As for Mr. Farage, \u201che is very charismatic, he communicates with people from every sector of life, he tells it as it is,\u201d Mr. McDermottroe said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The fragmentation Mr. Farage has unleashed on British politics was felt even in races Reform lost, including the mayoralty of a region known as the West of England.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Helen Godwin of Labour <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/election\/2025\/england\/mayors\/E47000009\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">won that with just one-quarter of the vote<\/a>, putting her only slightly ahead of Reform U.K., while even the fifth-placed party won 14 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Fewer than one-third of eligible voters cast a ballot, the kind of low turnout that is common in local elections. But that meant Ms. Godwin was elected by just 7.5 percent of eligible voters, Gavin Barwell, a former chief of staff in Downing Street and member of the opposition Conservative Party, noted <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/GavinBarwell\/status\/1918197441645691233\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">on social media<\/a>, adding that there was a \u201ccollapse\u201d of the two-party political system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That may yet prove an exaggeration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Because of a reorganization, the number of seats contested in Thursday\u2019s local elections was the smallest since 1975, and voter turnout is always low in such races.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Britain\u2019s next general election \u2014 when that proposition will be tested properly \u2014 does not have to be held until 2029, and previous challenges to two-party dominance have faded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the early 1980s the Social Democratic Party, founded by disenchanted moderates from the Labour Party, promised to \u201cbreak the mold\u201d of British politics. In alliance with another centrist party, it briefly exceeded 50 percent in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Archives\/1981\/12\/18\/Mrs-Thatcher-called-Britains-most-unpopular-leader-since-WW-II\/7728377499600\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">an opinion poll<\/a>. That proved a false dawn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Yet with five parties now vying for votes in a system that suited two, British politics has become deeply unpredictable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Born out of the trade union movement, Labour was once seen as the party of the working class, with its heartlands in the industrial north and middle of the nation. Traditionally, the Conservatives represented the wealthy and middle classes, with support concentrated predominantly in the south.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The loosening of those ties had already weakened the grip of the two main parties. In last year\u2019s general election, the combined vote for Labour and the Conservatives fell below 60 percent for the first time <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/commonslibrary.parliament.uk\/research-briefings\/cbp-7529\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">since before 1922<\/a>, and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2024\/07\/05\/world\/europe\/uk-election-results-map-vote-share.html\" title=\"\">Labour\u2019s landslide victory<\/a> was achieved on just about 34 percent of the vote. In Scotland, the pro-independence Scottish National Party has reshaped politics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Starmer now faces a conundrum: If Labour tacks right to appease Mr. Farage\u2019s sympathizers, it risks losing support from its progressive base to the Liberal Democrats or the Greens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Ainsley said Labour faces \u201can enormous challenge\u201d in the context of a tight squeeze on government spending, but added that it must focus on delivering for voters still suffering from a jump in the cost of living.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Conservatives face an even bigger threat from Reform, as well as their own challenge. The Tories need to recapture voters who have shifted to Mr. Farage without moving so far to the right that they drive more liberal Tories to the centrist Liberal Democrats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Political scientists also say that a shift is underway that could transform the fortunes of Reform, taking what has been a protest party and turning it into a force that could make good on its ambition to replace the Conservatives as the main opposition party.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Britain\u2019s parliamentary elections operate under a system known as \u201cfirst past the post\u201d in which the candidate who wins the most votes in each of 650 constituencies is elected. Until now that has typically disadvantaged smaller parties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWhen it was just the Lib Dems trying to break the Labour-Tory duopoly, a rough rule of thumb was that they, and their predecessor parties, needed at least 30 percent to overcome the biases inherent in first past the post,\u201d wrote Peter Kellner, a polling expert.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">With more parties in contention and no dominant force, the calculations are changing. \u201cThe tipping point for a party such as Reform is no longer 30 percent. It\u2019s probably around 25 percent. That is where they stand in the polls,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Professor Ford said he agreed that something fundamental was shifting and that Reform was now \u201cdoing well enough for first past the post to cease being their enemy and to become their friend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After the latest election results, Professor Ford said, it is \u201ca lot easier for Nigel Farage to say \u2018We are the real party of opposition,\u2019 and it\u2019s harder for people to laugh when he says it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/04\/world\/europe\/england-elections-farage-reform.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A dramatic victory in a parliamentary special election. Hundreds of seats won in English municipalities. A first taste of power<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[952,861,950,949,686,1715,6784,951,469,1165,685],"class_list":["post-23155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-conservative-party-great-britain","tag-elections","tag-farage","tag-great-britain","tag-keir","tag-labour-party-great-britain","tag-liberal-democrats-great-britain","tag-nigel-1964","tag-politics-and-government","tag-reform-uk-british-political-party","tag-starmer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>After 100 Years, Britain\u2019s Two-Party Political System May Be Crumbling - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/after-100-years-britains-two-party-political-system-may-be-crumbling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"After 100 Years, Britain\u2019s Two-Party Political System May Be Crumbling - World News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A dramatic victory in a parliamentary special election. 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dramatic victory in a parliamentary special election. 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