13 E1 Landeskunde Special - Abi 2006

• Landeskunde
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  • British society
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  • Immigration Britain
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  • The British Empire

Patrick

© LMG

British Politics

1.The Conservative Party
- Party of the upper and middle classes, of landowners and businessmen
- Their strongholds are the middle-class residential areas of the big towns and country areas
- Party of the rich South

2. The Labour party
- Party of industrial workers and union members
- Regions of support are the North of England, Scotland and Wales
- Dominant voters are the coloured population of Britain
- Introduction of the Welfare state and National Health service by the Labour Government(1945-51)
- Some MP´s split from the Labour Party and formed the Social Democratic Party (SDP)

3.Comment

What are the major differences of the Labour Party and the Conservative Party?

In Germany nearly everybody knows the two big British parties, the Labour Party and the Conservatives. But hardly nobody knows their political aims and the main differences between these two parties. In my following comment I will discuss these differences.

The first difference between the parties is their economic policy.The Conservatives belief in a free market without government interfence while the Labours party beliefs in a strict planning of economic things by the state and a state intervention when there are economic problems. Another difference is the foreign and defence policy. On the one hand the Labours party wants a nuclear disarmament and a ban on deploying cruise missiles. So you can say the Labour Party is a pacifism party like the SPD in Germany. On the other hand there are the Conservatives, which have the aim to be firm in foreign policy and defence. You can see this type of policy in the Falkland conflict. The Labour party also wants to limit the power of the trade unions while the conservatives wants to give more power to the trade unions because then they are equal partners.

At last you can say that the Labour Party is the party of the poor people ( working class people, coloured people etc.) in British society because one main aim of the Labour Party is the improvement of the social welfare and the National Health Service. You can compare it with the SPD in Germany. The Conservative party is the party of the rich people (entrepreneurs, businessmen, landowners,etc).


4.Other Comment Topics
- What are the Pros and Cons of an improvement of the social welfare and the National Heatlth Service like the Labourparty suggests?