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Incentives and Obstacles to Co-Operation Between Labour and the Liberal Democrats

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Incentives and Obstacles to Co-Operation Between Labour and the Liberal Democrats Co-operation or competition: incentives and obstacles to co-operation between Labour and the Liberal Democrats Craig Johnson To be submitted for the qualification of Doctor of Philosophy School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University February 2018 Abstract While a party system reflects both competitive and co-operative interactions, academic research has largely focused on the competitive interactions of parties. In British politics, while the notion of a solely two-party system is increasingly contested, there has not been sufficient consideration given to party co-operation. However, the party system has changed to the extent that it no longer accurately reflects two-partism, but something more resembling moderate pluralism. This suggests implications for how parties interact. In particular, it suggests that parties might need to contemplate co-operation alongside competition. Alongside this contemporary debate, there has long been a compelling case for studying the manner of interaction between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, who have a lengthy and complicated history of competition and co-operation. This thesis explores these issues, and questions the contemporary nature of competition and potential for co-operation between the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties. It proposes a theoretical framework of party co- operation to help understand why Labour-Liberal Democrat co-operation may or may not take place. In doing so, it suggests a series of incentives and obstacles that need to be considered by party leaderships based on electoral, ideological and organisational considerations. The thesis then operationalises the framework by examining in detail the contemporary case of the British Labour Party and British Liberal Democrats. While there are incentives for the two parties to consider co-operation, and these incentives have increased in recent years, significant obstacles remain, and despite the changing party system, the potential for co- operation between the two parties remains limited without changes in each party’s strategy. i ii Acknowledgements This thesis would not exist without a small number of people, who deserve acknowledgement (or blame), and certainly deserve my gratitude. Any errors are mine. Firstly, I would like to thank the various people in both Labour and the Liberal Democrats who gave up their time to help me. Some of these people I met in person, either through interviews or at public meetings at party conferences. Others took part by returning surveys. To the hundreds of party members and activists who took a few minutes of their time to fill out my survey during an election campaign, my heartfelt thanks. I would like to give a special mention to the acting Liberal Democrat local party chair who filled out the survey because the previous chair had left to join the Green Party, to the party chair who hoped that my research was ‘more interesting than my survey’, and to the person who wrote ‘Tories = bastards’. Perhaps I should look at the potential for co-operation between them and John Major. Secondly, I would like to thank my supervisors Alistair Clark and Nick Randall. I’ve known Alistair since 2012, when he kindly agreed to supervise my undergraduate project on Labour- Liberal Democrat relations. The next five years of his life would probably have been much easier had he politely declined. His candid and thoughtful comments on my work have been invaluable. I have known Nick even longer, as he gave my first ever timetabled lecture on my undergraduate degree in 2009. Nick has been continually generous with his time and wisdom, and I would not be on the verge of completing a Ph.D. without his support. My huge thanks too to Andrew Russell and Maarja Luhiste for examining my thesis, and to Pamela Woolner for independently chairing. Third, I would like to thank others in Newcastle that made this thesis easier to manage. Tristan, Tessa, my parents, Tom, Carl and Benjamin all gave up their evenings and weekends to stuff and stamp envelopes, and make my budget quantitative methods deliverable (in more ways than one). I would like to especially thank Tristan Martin, who has been a great friend and colleague during my Ph.D. study. Thank you to Jenny Dawley and Heather McGrath as well, two of an excellent administrative team in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University. Jenny, in particular, received every returned postal survey utilised in this thesis and forwarded them to me, without comment or complaint. Jenny and Heather are the unsung heroes of the postgraduate research community at Newcastle. The iii broader postgraduate research community at Newcastle University has been a pleasure of which to be part, but I would particularly like to thank Benjamin Thorne, Leigh Ingham, Federica Caso, Paul McFadden, Matt Jenkins, Tom Caygill, Mike Watson, Sarina Theys, Ben Coulson, Ariel Shangguan and Sarwar Abdullah for their friendship. Having spent eight years in total at Newcastle University, I have enjoyed friendly relationships with all Politics members of staff, but thank you especially to Tony Zito for making Ph.D. students’ lives easier, Emily Clough for so many helpful conversations (and for letting me look after her pets), Emily Rainsford for continual coffee, David Walker for keeping me fit, Alia Middleton for reminding me why I love voting systems in their various forms, Peter Jones for his advice and support, and Kyle Grayson for introducing to me as a teenager the possibility of doing a degree in Politics at Newcastle. I would also like to thank my undergraduate students, who did their best to feign interest in quantitative methods at my seminars and workshops. Fourth, I would like to thank the various other people and bodies that have supported me during this thesis. This thesis would not have been possible without the financial support of the Economic and Social Research Council. Alongside this financial assistance was the institutional support provided by the North East Doctoral Training Centre, where I would particularly like to thank Sarah Rylance, Robin Humphrey and Laura Leonardo for their help. Chris Prosser was a great support in helping me to understand party manifesto data, and Rebecca Tidy helped in my initial efforts to gather survey contacts in both parties. Joe Dodd has spent hours listening to my various political thoughts and opinions during this thesis, and for that I am especially grateful. Fifth, I would like to thank my current colleagues at the Wales Centre for Public Policy. Finishing a Ph.D. thesis while doing a full time job has not been easy, particularly in light of recent political events, but it has been made so much easier by the support of Steve Martin and other colleagues. Finally, I would like to thank my family. To Laura, for all the love and chocolate a baby brother could ask for. To my parents: I have already thanked them for stuffing envelopes, but their love and support these past 27 years has freed me to live the life I want. Since at the time of writing I have no intention of giving them grandchildren, I dedicate this Ph.D. thesis to them instead. Craig Johnson September 2017 iv v Contents Acknowledgements................................................................................................................. iii Lists of Tables and Figures .................................................................................................... ix Summary .................................................................................................................................. xi Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research methods and data .............................................................................................. 7 1.2 Key findings and original contribution .......................................................................... 12 1.3 Structure of the thesis ..................................................................................................... 15 Chapter 2: A theoretical framework of co-operation between political parties .............. 19 2.1 Three arenas of co-operation.......................................................................................... 20 2.1.1 Co-operation in government ................................................................................... 21 2.1.2 Co-operation in the legislature ............................................................................... 21 2.1.3 Co-operation in the electorate ................................................................................ 22 2.2 A broader understanding of co-operation ...................................................................... 23 2.3 Incentives and obstacles to co-operation ....................................................................... 28 2.3.1 Ideology and policy ................................................................................................. 28 2.3.2 Electoral .................................................................................................................. 30 2.3.3 Organisational ........................................................................................................ 34 2.4 Specifying the framework .............................................................................................. 37 2.5 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................
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