Examine the extent to which party leaders are the crucial factor determining the success of political parties
The Electoral System
This has traditionally benefitted the two major parties, by exaggerating their support
Parties such as the Lib Dems and UKIP have been penalised for not having a concentration of support in enough areas
The SNP benefitted from the first-past-the-post system in 2015, winning 56 out of 59 seats with nearly 1.5 million votes
The Media
The media focus tends to be on the two major parties
Elections are turned into a contest for the next Prime Minister
Other parties do not have nearly as much time and space devoted to them. Sometimes the media can overly focus on a smaller party, however
Coverage devoted to UKIP far outweighed that devoted to the Green Party for example in the run up to the 2015 election, despite the fact that both parties ended up winning 1 seat
The national newspapers tend to be supportive of the Conservative Party, and have attacked recent Labour leaders (sometimes quite viciously)
It has been argued by some that media coverage is unfairly favourable to the Conservatives
Other Parties
Labour has been hurt by the rise and success of the SNP, which has claimed a lot of its traditional Scottish support
UKIP has also taken away traditional Labour voters concerned about immigration
UKIP was a threat to Conservative support (namely Eurosceptic Conservatives), although the party has won back much of this following the Brexit result
Events
The 2014 Scottish independence referendum and the 2016 EU referendum have had the effect of weakening Labour support in Scotland and in some working-class areas of the UK
The SNP increased its vote share significantly following 2014. UKIP saw an increase in its popularity leading up to the EU referendum, however, this has declined again in 2017
Party Leaders
This is seen as a major determining factor in party success. Ed Miliband was seen as an electoral liability for Labour, and they duly lost the 2015 election
Similar accusations have been levelled at Jeremy Corbyn, who has been derided as a weak leader
The media portrayal of the party leaders plays a large part in this perception. David Cameron was rarely criticised in the media, and Theresa May is seen as a ‘safe pair of hands’, who had much higher personal approval ratings than Corbyn, although the awkward personal style of May was exposed by the 2017 election campaign, narrowing the gap between the two leaders