Emerging and minor UK political parties | Edexcel A-Level Politics
Updated: Nov 2
For Specification 9PL0
Edexcel A-Level Politics | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time:Â 50 minutes
The Conservative Party, Labour Party and Liberal Democrats are not the only organisations shaping British politics. This Emerging and minor UK political parties A-Level Politics revision page examines why other parties matter, even when they struggle to form governments at Westminster. Edexcel requires you to understand the importance of other UK parties and study the ideas and policies of two minor parties. Using examples supported by the supplied Edexcel materials, this page focuses on the Scottish National Party (SNP) and UK Independence Party (UKIP), before assessing how minor parties can influence elections, government and the political agenda.
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Explain why parties outside the three established parties are important in UK politics.
Explain the key idea and policy focus of the Scottish National Party identified in the supplied Edexcel materials.
Explain the key idea and policy focus of UK Independence Party identified in the supplied Edexcel materials.
Analyse how minor parties can influence established political parties and the political agenda.
Explain how electoral systems affect the representation and influence of minor parties.
Evaluate the extent to which minor parties are politically significant in the UK.
Revision Notes đź“š
What does Edexcel require you to know?
Under specification section 2.3 Emerging and minor UK political parties, students must understand:
the importance of other parties in the UK
the ideas and policies of two other minor parties.
Edexcel does not prescribe which two minor parties must be studied.
The supplied examination materials refer to several parties outside the established three, including:
the Scottish National Party (SNP)
UK Independence Party (UKIP)
the Green Party
Plaid Cymru
the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
For the two detailed case studies on this page, the SNP and UKIPÂ have been selected because the supplied Edexcel materials explicitly identify the major issue associated with each and provide evidence of their wider political significance.
This topic develops your understanding of the ideas and policies of the established parties and leads directly into the development of Britain's party system.
What is a minor political party?
In the context of this topic, a minor party is a political party outside the Conservative Party, Labour Party and Liberal Democrats, which Edexcel treats as the three established parties.
"Minor" does not necessarily mean:
politically irrelevant
lacking significant voter support
unable to exercise power
small in every part of the UK.
This distinction matters particularly for regional parties.
A party can be relatively minor in Westminster politics while being much more important in a devolved political system.
The SNP is the clearest example in the supplied Edexcel material. The 2019 mark scheme used its strength at Holyrood to illustrate how parties outside Labour and the Conservatives could have substantial political importance.
Why do minor parties matter?
Political significance is broader than simply asking:
"Can this party form a UK government?"
Minor parties can matter in several different ways.
Form of significance | How a minor party can matter |
Electoral significance | Win votes or seats and alter competition between established parties |
Agenda-setting significance | Place issues onto the political agenda that established parties must respond to |
Policy significance | Encourage established parties to alter their own policies |
Government significance | Support or participate in government where no single party has sufficient support |
Regional significance | Become particularly powerful within Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland |
Democratic significance | Give voters political choices not offered by established parties |
The 2019 Edexcel mark scheme specifically recognised that minor parties could influence the political agenda even though Labour and the Conservatives continued to dominate Westminster.
Minor parties and political choice
Minor parties broaden political choice.
If voters were limited to the established parties, views not strongly represented by those parties could struggle to gain an electoral voice.
Minor parties can therefore:
represent distinctive political priorities
give dissatisfied voters an alternative
introduce new issues into electoral competition
challenge established parties to respond.
This connects with the basic democratic functions examined in how parties provide representation and participation.
The significance is potentially greater when voters become less attached to established parties.
The 2021 mark scheme noted that support for multiple parties had become widespread and that Labour and the Conservatives no longer completely dominated the choices made by the electorate.
Minor parties and the political agenda
A party does not have to form a government to change politics.
One of the strongest arguments for the significance of minor parties is their ability to set the political agenda.
This occurs when a party makes an issue sufficiently politically important that larger parties have to address it.
The supplied Edexcel mark scheme gives three particularly clear examples:
SNP → Scottish independence
UKIP → Brexit
Greens → the environment.
These examples demonstrate an essential distinction:
electoral success is not the same as political influence.
A smaller party might win few Westminster seats while still influencing what larger parties discuss or promise.
Case Study 1: Scottish National Party
The SNP's central political issue
The supplied Edexcel materials explicitly identify Scottish independence as the major issue associated with the SNP.
This means that the SNP provides voters with a political position that cannot simply be understood through the traditional Conservative-Labour competition.
Its importance illustrates how UK politics contains divisions based not only on left and right, but also on questions concerning:
Scotland
devolution
independence
the future structure of the United Kingdom.
This helps explain why regional political competition can look very different from Westminster competition.
The supplied material and the SNP's wider policy programme
The specification requires study of the ideas and policies of two minor parties. However, the supplied Edexcel specification, examination papers, mark schemes and examiner reports only provide detailed support here for the SNP's central issue of Scottish independence rather than a comprehensive programme covering multiple areas.
For that reason, additional SNP economic, welfare, environmental or foreign-policy positions have not been added from outside the supplied material.
The SNP and devolved politics
The SNP demonstrates why a party described as "minor" in a UK-wide comparison may nevertheless have major regional importance.
The 2019 mark scheme used the SNP's position at Holyrood, the Scottish Parliament, as evidence that minor and emerging parties could become much more important under devolved political arrangements.
The 2022 examiner report also referred to the SNP and Scottish Greens in the context of government in Scotland, reinforcing the point that political-party significance cannot be judged solely by Westminster seats.
This makes the SNP an important example when studying alternative electoral arrangements in devolved politics.
Why the SNP is politically significant
1. It represents a distinctive territorial interest
The SNP provides representation centred on Scotland.
This means political competition is not simply:
Conservative versus Labour
but can also involve questions about the relationship between Scotland and the wider UK.
2. It placed independence at the centre of political debate
The 2019 Edexcel mark scheme identifies independence as the key issue the SNP brought into political debate.
Agenda-setting therefore gives the party influence beyond a simple count of Westminster seats.
3. It demonstrates the importance of devolved politics
The SNP's significance at Holyrood shows that a party can be highly influential even if it is not realistically positioned to govern the whole UK alone.
This is an important challenge to the claim that minor parties "do not matter".
Case Study 2: UK Independence Party
UKIP's central political issue
The supplied Edexcel materials associate UKIP with Brexit, meaning withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.
This is one of the strongest examples in the supplied material of a minor party influencing national politics without needing to form the government.
UKIP illustrates how a minor party can focus political competition on an issue that eventually becomes extremely important to the established parties.
UKIP's wider policy programme
As with the SNP, the supplied material does not provide a sufficiently comprehensive account of UKIP's wider policy programme to produce a detailed multi-policy profile without introducing outside information.
The secure source-supported focus for this case study is therefore UKIP's association with Brexit and the UK's relationship with the European Union.
UKIP and the EU referendum
The relationship between UKIP and Brexit provides an important example of indirect political influence.
The 2019 examiner report noted that Brexit was widely used by candidates as evidence of the increased influence of smaller parties. It also highlighted UKIP and the referendum as a strong example of minor-party significance.
The 2024 mark scheme went further when discussing the EU referendum, identifying the political pressure posed by UKIP as part of the context in which the referendum was held.
This is significant because UKIP did not need to form a UK government to affect government policy.
Its influence can instead be understood as:
minor-party electoral pressure → response from an established party → major political decision
This is an excellent example to connect with the political purposes of referendums.
Why UKIP is politically significant
1. It demonstrates agenda-setting influence
UKIP helped make Britain's relationship with the European Union a major issue in national party competition.
2. It put pressure on an established party
The 2019 examiner report specifically praised answers which examined how established parties altered manifesto commitments in response to threats from smaller parties.
This demonstrates that political influence does not require direct control of government.
3. Its influence extended beyond its Westminster representation
UKIP is therefore an example of why counting parliamentary seats alone may underestimate a party's political significance.
Comparing the SNP and UKIP
The two parties demonstrate different ways in which a minor party can influence UK politics.
SNP | UKIP |
Major source-supported issue is Scottish independence | Major source-supported issue is Brexit |
Strong example of regional and devolved significance | Strong example of national agenda-setting significance |
Demonstrates how regional politics can differ from Westminster politics | Demonstrates how electoral pressure can influence an established party |
Challenges the territorial structure of UK politics through the independence issue | Challenged the UK's relationship with the European Union |
Political significance includes representation and devolved political power | Political significance includes pressure on established parties and policy |
The important lesson is that there is more than one type of political significance.
Minor parties and devolved government
Devolution has created important political opportunities for parties outside the main Westminster competition.
The 2019 Edexcel mark scheme noted that new electoral systems in devolved regions meant votes for smaller parties could become more significant. It cited the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales as examples.
The 2021 mark scheme similarly argued that proportional systems in devolved politics can produce a wider spread of party representation than Westminster elections.
This means electoral systems can help determine whether minor-party support becomes parliamentary representation.
You will investigate that relationship more directly in how First-past-the-post affects representation.
Minor parties and electoral systems
The Westminster electoral system can create a major obstacle for smaller parties.
The 2019 mark scheme identifies First-past-the-post (FPTP)Â as a reason Labour and the Conservatives retain an advantage.
The 2021 examiner report also stressed that strong candidates understood the fate of smaller parties under FPTP and used detailed examples rather than simply declaring the system "unfair".
Why can FPTP limit minor parties?
Political support for a smaller party may be spread across many constituencies.
Even if it receives significant votes nationally, it may fail to come first in individual constituencies.
This can produce a gap between:
electoral support and parliamentary representation.
The detailed operation and evaluation of FPTP belongs in the Westminster electoral system, but the consequence is crucial here:
few seats do not automatically mean few supporters or little political influence.
Does proportional representation help minor parties?
Alternative electoral systems can allow a wider range of parties to gain representation.
The 2021 mark scheme states that proportional systems used in devolved regions can provide more accurate representation of the wider spectrum of parties.
This can:
increase representation of parties outside Labour and the Conservatives
increase political choice
make multi-party politics more visible
create opportunities for coalition or shared government.
However, the 2022 examiner report also warned against simplistic claims about proportional systems. For example, candidates sometimes incorrectly assumed that the Additional Member System automatically explained SNP electoral success.
⚠️ Exam point: Never assume that the electoral system alone explains why a minor party succeeds.
Minor parties and government formation
Minor parties can become particularly important when no single established party can govern alone.
The 2019 Edexcel mark scheme used the DUP arrangement at Westminster as evidence that parties outside the major parties can become important when a government needs support.
This establishes a broader principle:
the fewer seats separating a government from a parliamentary majority, the more valuable support from smaller parties can become.
Minor-party influence can therefore increase significantly under conditions where established parties cannot govern securely on their own.
This connects directly with the next lesson on the consequences of a multi-party system for government.
Minor parties as agenda setters
Perhaps the strongest source-supported argument for minor-party significance is that they can force larger parties to discuss issues that might otherwise receive less attention.
The 2019 mark scheme provides a very useful three-part pattern:
SNP → independence
UKIP → Brexit
Greens → environment.
This illustrates agenda setting.
A minor party can succeed politically if:
it raises an issue
voters respond to that issue
established parties become concerned about losing support
established parties respond by changing their own priorities or policies.
This means the minor party's idea may become influential even if the minor party itself does not enter government.
Established parties responding to minor parties
Competition from minor parties may push established parties to change.
The 2019 examiner report praised stronger candidates who assessed the way the two main parties modified manifesto commitments when they felt threatened by smaller parties.
This creates an important form of indirect power.
A minor party may not:
pass legislation itself
form the government
control large numbers of MPs
but it may still change the behaviour of a party that can do those things.
For evaluation, therefore, ask:
Is changing another party's policy as politically significant as winning seats?
There is no single required answer, but it is a very strong line of debate.
Minor parties and party funding
Smaller parties can face significant financial disadvantages.
The 2023 Edexcel mark scheme states that parties other than Labour and the Conservatives can struggle to compete on equal terms because the established parties possess financial and organisational advantages that smaller parties cannot easily replicate.
The 2020 examination source also illustrated major differences in party income and membership between parties. Its 2018 data included the SNP, Green Party and UKIP alongside the established parties.
This links directly to the debate surrounding how parties are financed.
Why funding matters
Funding can affect a party's ability to:
organise
campaign
communicate with voters
compete during elections.
This can limit the ability of minor parties to convert political ideas into electoral success.
Arguments that minor parties are important
There are several strong arguments.
They broaden representation
Minor parties provide political alternatives that may represent views not prioritised by established parties.
They influence the political agenda
The SNP, UKIP and Greens provide Edexcel-supported examples of parties placing independence, Brexit and the environment respectively onto the political agenda.
They can influence established parties
Larger parties may alter their own positions when they fear losing voters to smaller competitors.
They can become powerful regionally
The SNP demonstrates the importance a party may possess in devolved politics.
They can matter when government majorities are uncertain
Smaller parties can gain greater bargaining power when larger parties require additional parliamentary support.
They contribute to multi-party politics
Growing competition from multiple parties reduces the idea that UK politics is simply a contest between Labour and the Conservatives.
Arguments that minor parties have limited importance
There are also significant limitations.
Labour and the Conservatives remain crucial to Westminster government
The 2019 mark scheme stressed that major parties traditionally dominate Parliament and government.
Minor parties are much less likely to govern the whole UK alone.
FPTP disadvantages many smaller parties
Support does not necessarily translate proportionately into seats.
Funding and organisation matter
The larger parties possess resources and organisational structures that smaller competitors may struggle to match.
Major policy is usually controlled by governing parties
The 2019 mark scheme argues that key economic, foreign, law-and-order and welfare decisions normally come from the parties capable of controlling government.
Therefore:
influencing debate is not the same as controlling policy.
This is an essential distinction in a high-level evaluation.
How should political significance be measured?
This is the most important analytical question on the topic.
There are several possible measures.
Measure | Question to ask |
Votes | How many voters support the party? |
Seats | How many elected representatives does it have? |
Government power | Can it form, join or support a government? |
Policy influence | Does it change what governments or established parties do? |
Agenda influence | Does it make an issue politically important? |
Regional influence | Is it powerful in one nation or devolved institution? |
Different measures can produce different conclusions.
For example:
a party might win substantial votes but few Westminster seats
a party might have limited UK-wide support but substantial regional power
a party might win few seats but transform the national political agenda.
Therefore, a claim that "minor parties are insignificant because they do not form governments" uses only one measure of significance.
Political significance versus electoral success
Keep these concepts separate.
Electoral success concerns performance in elections, especially votes and seats.
Political significance is broader and can include:
representation
agenda setting
changing established-party behaviour
influencing government
affecting referendums
shaping regional politics.
UKIP is particularly useful for demonstrating this distinction.
Its Edexcel-supported significance in relation to Brexit and the referendum shows that political influence can extend beyond Westminster seat totals.
Overall assessment
Minor parties face substantial obstacles.
At Westminster:
FPTP can restrict representation
major parties have large organisational and financial advantages
Labour and the Conservatives have historically dominated government.
However, this does not mean minor parties are politically unimportant.
They can:
broaden electoral choice
represent regional interests
shape the political agenda
force established parties to respond
gain influence in devolved politics
become important when governments lack secure parliamentary support.
The strongest overall judgement is therefore that minor parties are often more politically significant than their Westminster seat totals suggest.
Their significance is usually greatest when measured through agenda setting, regional representation and influence on established parties, rather than their ability to form a UK government alone.
Hints from the Examiner Reports đź’ˇ
Examiner hint:Â Do not judge minor parties only by Westminster election results. The 2019 examiner report found that weaker candidates focused too narrowly on Westminster voting, while stronger responses considered devolution, coalition or parliamentary support arrangements, minor-party ideas and other elections.
Examiner hint:Â Use detailed examples of individual parties. The 2021 examiner report praised candidates who knew the position and electoral fortunes of a range of smaller parties rather than simply making generic claims about FPTP.
Examiner hint:Â Analyse the influence of a party's ideas, not just the number of seats it wins. Examiners highlighted the importance of assessing how smaller-party issues can cause established parties to alter their own commitments.
Examiner hint:Â Be accurate when discussing devolved electoral systems. The 2022 report identified candidates who incorrectly assumed that the Additional Member System itself explained SNP success. Explain the electoral system accurately and then assess how important it really is.
Examiner hint:Â Avoid inaccurate labels. The 2022 report specifically noted a tendency for some candidates to describe UKIP, and even the Greens, as "extremist". Use precise political knowledge rather than unsupported characterisations.
Examiner hint:Â Evaluation should run throughout the essay. The 2019 report found that stronger candidates paired arguments for and against minor-party significance and made interim judgements instead of waiting until the conclusion to introduce AO3.
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Assuming "minor party" means "unimportant party"
Why this is incorrect: A party may have limited Westminster representation while still influencing political debate, established-party policies or devolved government.
How to improve: Evaluate significance using several criteria, including seats, policy influence, agenda setting and regional power.
Mistake: Measuring influence only through Westminster seats
Why this is incorrect: The Edexcel examiner reports explicitly warn against this narrow approach. Minor parties can exercise influence through devolved politics and by changing the priorities of larger parties.
How to improve:
Use at least three dimensions in an essay:
Westminster elections
devolved or governmental influence
agenda and policy influence.
Mistake: Saying that the SNP and UKIP are important for the same reason
Why this is incorrect: Their Edexcel-supported significance is different. The SNP illustrates regional and devolved significance as well as the independence issue, while UKIP provides a particularly strong example of national agenda-setting pressure around Brexit.
How to improve: Compare types of influence, not just parties.
Mistake: Assuming lots of votes automatically means lots of seats
Why this is incorrect: Under FPTP, votes must be geographically distributed in a way that allows candidates to come first in individual constituencies.
How to improve: Separate vote share from seat representation when assessing electoral success.
Mistake: Claiming proportional representation automatically makes every minor party successful
Why this is incorrect: Electoral systems affect opportunity for representation, but they do not alone determine voter support or party success.
How to improve: Treat electoral systems as one factor influencing party fortunes.
Mistake: Listing minor-party issues without explaining their significance
Why this is incorrect: Writing "SNP: independence, UKIP: Brexit, Greens: environment" demonstrates knowledge but little analysis.
How to improve: Complete the chain:
issue → voter support or pressure → established-party response → political consequence
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Question 1
Identify the main political issue associated with the SNP in the supplied Edexcel materials. (1 mark)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Answer:
Scottish independence.
Question 2
Identify the main political issue associated with UKIP in the supplied Edexcel materials. (1 mark)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Answer:
Brexit, or the UK's withdrawal from the European Union.
Question 3
Explain two ways in which a minor political party can be politically significant without forming a UK government. (4 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Indicative content:
Any two explained ways, such as:
agenda setting, by making an issue important enough for established parties to respond
regional influence, through representation or government in devolved politics
parliamentary influence, by providing support where a government lacks a secure majority
electoral pressure, by threatening to take votes from established parties.
Award credit for explanation rather than identification alone.
Question 4
Explain why the number of Westminster seats won by a minor party may not provide a complete measure of its political significance. (6 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Indicative content:
A strong answer could explain that:
FPTP may limit the number of seats won by a party whose support is widely dispersed
minor parties can still influence the political agenda
established parties may alter policy in response to minor-party competition
regional parties may exercise much greater influence in devolved institutions
parliamentary bargaining can increase the importance of a smaller party
therefore political influence can exceed Westminster representation.
Question 5
Analyse two reasons why the SNP may be regarded as politically significant. (10 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Indicative content:
Students could analyse:
its association with the issue of Scottish independence, which gives it agenda-setting importance
its strength in devolved Scottish politics, showing that UK-wide Westminster strength is not the only measure of party significance
its ability to represent a distinctive Scottish political interest
the wider significance of devolved electoral arrangements for party representation.
Higher-level answers should explain why these points make the SNP significant rather than simply describe them.
Question 6
Analyse two reasons why UKIP demonstrates that political influence and parliamentary representation are not the same thing. (10 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Indicative content:
Students could explain:
UKIP made Brexit a significant issue in national political competition
pressure from UKIP affected the political calculations of an established party
the EU referendum provides evidence of the wider importance of the issue UKIP promoted
therefore influence can be exercised indirectly through pressure on governing parties rather than solely through holding seats.
Question 7
Read the following original source.
Minor parties have little real importance because the major parties continue to dominate Westminster government. First-past-the-post makes it difficult for smaller parties to turn votes into seats, while established parties possess greater financial and organisational resources.However, parliamentary seats provide only one measure of influence. Regional parties may be powerful in devolved politics, and smaller parties can force established parties to address issues they might otherwise avoid. The SNP has promoted Scottish independence, while UKIP demonstrated the importance a smaller party can gain by placing a major issue such as Brexit onto the political agenda.
Using the source, evaluate the view that minor political parties have little significance in UK politics. (30 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme guidance:
A strong response should compare arguments including:
Westminster dominance of major parties versus wider measures of influence
FPTP disadvantages versus devolved political opportunities
financial and organisational disadvantages versus agenda-setting influence
limited prospects of governing the UK versus influence over established-party priorities
electoral representation versus regional and policy significance.
For AO1, demonstrate accurate knowledge of minor-party significance and relevant party examples.
For AO2, pair contrasting arguments directly and explain their implications.
For AO3, establish criteria for political significance and judge which forms of influence matter most.
Question 8
Evaluate the view that the most important role of minor parties is to influence the policies of the established parties. (30 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Indicative content:
Arguments supporting the view could include:
minor parties can place new issues on the political agenda
established parties may change commitments to prevent voters moving to smaller competitors
UKIP and Brexit provide a strong example of indirect political influence
policy influence may matter more than winning a small number of seats.
Alternative arguments could include:
representation of regional interests may be more important
the SNP demonstrates the significance of devolved political power
minor parties broaden democratic choice
smaller parties can become important to government formation or parliamentary support
electoral support itself may reveal important changes in the UK party system.
A strong conclusion should explain how political significance is being measured. Simply saying that minor parties win fewer seats than Labour or the Conservatives is not sufficient evaluation.
Question 9
Evaluate the view that First-past-the-post is the main reason minor parties have limited influence in UK politics. (30 marks)
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Indicative content:
Arguments supporting the view could include:
FPTP can produce disproportionate representation
parties with geographically dispersed support may receive votes without winning constituencies
Labour and Conservative dominance can therefore be reinforced
proportional systems can allow wider party representation.
Alternative arguments could include:
party funding and organisation may also limit minor parties
parties must attract sufficient voter support regardless of electoral system
minor parties may exercise agenda influence even under FPTP
regionally concentrated parties may still achieve substantial representation
political influence is broader than Westminster seats.
For AO3, a strong response should distinguish between the causes of limited electoral representation and the causes of limited political influence. FPTP may be highly important for one without fully determining the other.
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