Abstract
Multi-party politics alters the dynamics of party competition in Westminster elections. In a case study of the Conservative Party and the UK Independence Party (UKIP), theories of niche versus mainstream party competition are used to examine the strategies adopted by a soft Eurosceptic mainstream party and hard Eurosceptic niche party as they compete on the issue of European integration. These theories are also extended to look at how niche parties react to their mainstream competitors’ strategies. In competition with UKIP, the Conservatives have both developed a distinctive soft Eurosceptic position and defused the EU issue. With Conservative policies diluted in coalition government, UKIP has targeted disillusioned Conservative voters. It has sought to raise the salience of the EU issue and highlight its radical position while also developing a broader narrative. The findings suggest that mainstream parties may adopt more than one strategy simultaneously and that niche parties may react to mainstream parties’ adversarial strategies by emphasising differences and attempting to widen their appeal.
Highlights
The 2010 general election provided further evidence of the development of multi-party politics in the United Kingdom
This article adds to the literature on Euroscepticism and European Union (EU) voting by examining competition between a mainstream soft Eurosceptic party and a smaller hard Eurosceptic party using the niche-mainstream party framework
How close are the Conservatives and UK Independence Party (UKIP) in political space, and do they draw upon a similar support base? Using a range of sources, we examine the ideological positioning of the two parties and the nature of UKIP’s support in 2010
Summary
There are three main theories of party competition. The spatial account states that parties move their position along the left-right ideological dimension and maximise support by positioning themselves close to the median voter (Downs, 1957). If the threat is perceived as large enough to prevent the mainstream party from entering government, it will adopt the niche party’s position and seek to maximise support, this may cause internal divisions and damage its credibility Applying this to the case of the Conservatives and UKIP, if the threat from UKIP increases we would expect the Conservatives to move from holding their position to attempting to defuse the EU issue. Defusing is similar to Meguid’s dismissive approach on the basis of which we would expect the salience of the issue to decline, little change in issue ownership and lower support for UKIP, provided Labour do not adopt a high profile pro-EU strategy These theories do not examine how niche parties in turn react to mainstream party strategies. As we will see, offers of cooperation may be intended to exploit their rival’s problems
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