Recent
results
andthe
future
[05
British politics, for example a
~
llJ
nge
to a European-style system of
proportional representation (so that Labour could at least share in
a coalition government), or a formal union bet
we
en Labour and
the Liberal Democrats (so that t
ogethe
r t
hey
could defeat the
Conservatives).
However, in 1997 the picture changed dramatically. Labour
wo
n
the largest majority in the House
of
Com
mo
ns achieved by any
party
for 73 years and the Conservative share
of
the total vote was
their lowest in 165 years. What happened? The answer seems to
be that voting habits in Britain, reflecting the weakening of the
class system, are no longer tribal. There was a time when the
Labour
party was regarded as the political arm of the trade unions,
representing the working class
of
the country. Most
wo
rking-class
people voted Labour all their lives and nearly all midd le-class people
voted Conservative all their lives. The winning party at an election
was the
one
who
manage
d to get the sup
port
of the sma ll
nu
mbe
r
of
'floating voters', But
Lab
our has now go t rid
of
its trade-
unio
n
image. It is capable
of
w inn ing as many
mid
dle-class votes as the
Conservatives, so that the middle-class majority in the population,
as identified by sociologists (see
above),
does
not
automatically
mean a Conservative majority in the House
of
Com
mo
ns.
Q UES
TIONS
I The British electoral sys
tem
is said
to
discrimin-
ate against smaller parties. But look at the table
at the beginning of this chapter again. H
ow
can
it be that the very small part ies had much better
luck at winning parliamentary seats than the
(comparatively la
rge
) Liberal Democrats?
2 In what ways is political ca
mpa
igning in yo
ur
country d
if
ferent from that in Britain as
described in this cha pt
er'
3 Is there a s
im
ilar level
of
public interest in le
arn
-
ing about election results in your country as
there is in Britain?Does it seem to reflect the
ge
ner
al level
of
enthusiasm about, and interest
in,polit ics which existatother times - in Britain
and in your
ow
n country?
SUGGES
TI
ON
S
4 Britain has 'single-member constituencies'. This
means that one MP alone represents one par-
ticular
gro
up
of
voters (eve
rybo
dy in his or her
constituency). Is this a
good
system? Or is it
better to have several MPs representing the same
area?Whatare the advantages and disadvantages
of the two systems?
5 Do
you
th
ink
tha t Britain
shou
ld
adopt
the elect-
oral system used in your count
ry'
Or perhaps
you t
hink
that yo
ur
count
ry
shou
ld a
dopt
the
system used in Britain?Or are the two different
systems the ri
ght
on
es for the two
dif
fer
ent
countries? Why?
• Ifyou can get British television or radio , watch or listen in on the
night
of
the next British general election.
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10 6
The
law
110-
Th e
or
ganization
of
the
police
f
orc
e
There is no national police force in
Britain. All police
employees
work
for
one
of
the forty or so separatc
forces
wh
ich each have resp
ons
ibil-
ity fo ra particular
geog
raphical area.
Originally. these
were
set up locally.
Only
later did central govern
ment
gain
some
control over them. h
inspects them and has influence
over
senior appoint
ments
w ithin them .
In return, it
prov
ides
about
half o f
the moncy
to
run them. The other
half comes from local
gove
rnment.
The
exce
ption to this system is the
Metr
op
oli tan Poli ce Force. which
polices
Greater London. The 'Met' is
under the direct control
of
central
go
vernment. It also performs certain
nationa l police functions such as the
registration
of
all cr
imes
and crim-
inals in England and Wales and the
com
pilation of the missing persons
regis ter. Ne w Sco tland Yard is the
famou s building
whi
ch is the head-
quarters
of
its Criminal
Investigation
Department (C
ID).
The police
and
the public
There was a time when a supposedly typical British policeman could
be found in every tourist brochure for Britain. His strange-
loo
king
helmet and the fact that he did not carry a gun made him a unique
symbol for tourists. The image
of
the friendly British
'bobb
y', with
his fatherly manner, was also well-known wi thin the country and
was reinforced by p
opu
lar television serials such as
Dix
on
of Do
ck
Green
(
0)
Ima
g
es
ofthe
pa
l
ice:
pas
t andpr
es
ent). This positive image was not a
comp
lete myth. The system of policing was based on each police
officer having his o
wn
'beat', a particular neighb
ourh
ood which it
was his duty to patrol. He usually did this on foot or sometimes by
bicycle.The local b
obb
y was a familiar figure on the streets, a reassur-
ing presence that people felt they could trust absolutely.
In the 1960s the situation began
to
change in two ways. First, in
response
to
an increasingly motorized society, and therefore increas-
ingly motorized crime, the police themselves started patrolling in
cars. As a res
uh,
individual police officers became remote figures
and stopped being the familiar faces that they once were. Asign of
this change was the new television police drama, ZCars. This
pro
-
gramme showed police officers as peop le with real problems and
failings who did not always behave in the conventionally polite and
reassuring manner. Some police were relieved
to
be presented as
ordinary
human
beings. But the comparatively negative image of the
police
wh
ich this progr
amm
e portrayed caused uproa r and several
senior police officials c
omp
lained to the BBCabout it' At the same
time, the police found themselves having to deal increasingly with
public demonstrations and with the activities of a generation who
had no experience
of
war and ther
ef
ore no obvious enemy-figure on
which to focus their youthful feelings of rebellion . These young
people started to see the police as the symbol
of
everything they
disliked about society. Police
of
ficers
wer
e no longer kno
wn
as
'bobbies' but became the
'f
uzz' or the
'cops'
or the 'pigs'.
Since the middle years of the twentieth centur
y,
the police in
Britain have lost much
of
their positive image. A child who is lost
is still advised to find a police officer, but the Sight
of
one no
longer creates a general feeling
of
reassurance. In the 1980s there
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werea large
num
ber
of
cases in
wh
ich it was found that police officers
had lied and cheated in
order
to
get people
con
victed
of
crimes (
c-
The
Stefan Ki
zs
ko
ca
se). As a result, trust in the
ho
nesty and incorrup tibility
of the police has declined.
Nevertheless, there is still a great dea l
of
pu
blic sympathy for the
police.
It is fell that they are doing an increasingly difficult job u
nde
r
difficult circumstances . The ass
umpti
on that their role is to serve the
public rather t
han
1O be agents
of
the gove
rnme
nt persists. Police
officers often still address members
of
the public as 's
ir'
or 'madam '.
Senior
of
ficers think it is imp
ort
ant for the police 1O establish a rela-
tionship witlt local people, and the
phr
ase
'comm
unity policing ' is
now fashi
onab
le. Some police have even started to patrol on foot
again. Generally speaking, the relati
onship
between police and p
ub
lic
in Britain
com
pares
quit
e favourably w ith that in some other European
countries.British police still do not carry
gun
s in the course
of
normal
duty (althougli all police stations have a store
of
wea
pon
s).
Cri
me
and cr
im
inal
proced
ure
There is a widespread feeling among the British
pub
lic that crime is
increasing. Figures on this matter are noto
riou
sly difficult to evalu-
ate, however. On e rea
son
for this is that not all actual crimes are
necessarily rep
orted
. Official figures suggest that the crim e
of
rape
increased by more t
han
50
% between 1988
and
1992 . But these
figures
nu
y represent an increase in the number of victims willing
to report rape rather than a real increase in cases of rape.
Images oft
he
polic
e:
past
and
pr
es
en
t
Cr
ime
and criminal
procedure
1
°7
The
St
ef
an Kiz
sko
case
On 18 February 1992, a man
who
had s
pent
the previous sixteen years
of
his life in prison serving a sen-
tence for m
urder
was released. It
had been proved that he did not in
fact
comm
it the crime.
In the early
1990Sa large
number
of
peop
le
were
let out
of
British
gaols after spending several years
serving sentences for crimes they
did not
commit
. The most famous
of
these were
'th
e Guildford Four' and
't he Birmingham Six', both groups
of
people convicted
of
terrorist
bomb
ings. In every case, previous
court judgements were changed
when
it
became
dear
that the police
had not acted properly (for
example, they had falsified the evid -
ence
of
their notebooks or had not
revealed i
mportant
evidence).
Public confidence in the police
dim
inished. In {he case
of
the
alleged bombers, there remained
some
pub
lic sympathy. The police
officers involved may have been
v\'rong but they
were
trying to catch
terrorists. The
Kizsko case was
dif
-
ferent. He did not belong to an
illegal organization. His
only'
crime'
was that he was in the \
v
rong
place
at the
wrong
time. He also con -
f
orm
ed to a stereotype, which made
him an easy victim
of
prejudice. He
was
of below average intelligence
and he had a foreign name, so a jury
\
as likely to see
him
as a potential
mu rderer.
The traditional image: Dixon
of
DockGreen speaking fatherly
words
ofwisdom to the television audience
in the
1960s.
The
modern
image: a scene from the
popular
I 990S television series The
Bill.
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Nevertheless. it is generally accepted that in the last qu arter of the
twentieth century. the number of crimes went
up
(
!>
Iscrimeincreasing
in
Br
itain?). And the
rea
r
of
cri
me
seems to have increased a lot. This
has gone tog
eth
er with a lack
of
confidence in the abili ty of the police
to
catch criminals. In the early I 9
90
S pri vate security fi
rm
s were one
of the fastest-g
row
ing businesses in the country. Another re
spon
se
to
the
perceived situation has been the
gro
wth
of Neighbour
hoo
d
Watch schemes. They attempt to edu cate pe
opl
e in
crime
prev
ention
and to encourage the people
of
a particular
neighb
ourhood
to look
out
f
or
anything suspicious. In
1994
the gov
ernmen
t was even con-
sidering helping mem bers
of
these s
cheme
s to
orga
nize pa
tro
ls.
Ther
e has also been some
impat
ience wit h the rules
of
criminal
pro
cedu
re
un
der which the
po
lice
and
courts have to operate. The
police are not,
of
cour
se, above the law. When they arrest somebody
on
suspicion
of
having committed a
crim
e, they have to follow certain
pro
c
edure
s. For exa
mp
le. unless they obtain special pe
rm
ission, they
are not allowed
to
de tain a pers
on
for
mo
re
than
tw
ent
y
-f
our
ho
urs
wit
hout
formally charging that pers
on
wit h having
committed
a
crime. Even after they have charged so
me
body. they
need
permi ssion
to remand that person in custody (i.e. to keep
him
or
her in pris
on
)
unt
il the case is heard in court. In
1994
public concern ab
out
crim-
inals
'getting
awa y with it'Ted the gov
ernm
ent
to
make one very
controversial change in the law
(
0)
Cauti
on!).
108 I I
The
law
Cau tion!
'You do not have to say anything
unless
you wish to do so, but wh at
}'ou say
mar
be given in evidence'.
These
words
are well-known to
almost everybody in Britain. They
have been heard in thousands
of
police dramas on television. For a
lon g time they formed wha t is tech-
nically kn
own
as the caution,
which
must be read out
to
an arrested
person in order to make the arrest
legal. But, in
t 99+, the British gov-
ern
ment
decided that the 'ri ght to
silence '
con
tained in the caution
made
things too easy for criminals.
This right meant that the refusal
of
an arrested person
to
answer police
questions
could
not be used as p
an
of
the evidence against
him
or her.
Now,
however, it can.
To accord with the new law, the
words
of
the caution have had to be
changed. The new
formu
la is: 'You
do not have to say anything. BlII if
you do not mention now something
which y
ou
later lise in your defence,
the coun may decide that your
failure
to
menti on it
now
strengt hens the case against you. A
record will be
made
of
anything you
say and it may be given in evidence
if you are bro ught to trial'.
Ctvtl
ltberues groups in Britain are
angry about this change. They say
that
many
arrested people find it
too
difficult
to
understand
and
that
it
is
not fair to encourage people to
defend themselves
imme
diately
against charges about
whic
h they do
not yet know the details. They are
also afraid it cncourages false
confessions.
Is
cr
im e
increasing
in Britain?
British people think that crime is
rising in Britain, but it is impossible
to give a completely reliable answer
to this question. Figures vary from
ycafto
year. In 199 3 for instance,
the total n
umbe
r
of
recorded crimes
in the London area actually went
d
own
by around
10%.
And the
murde
r rate is no higher, or even
lower, than it was dur ing the se
cond
half of the nineteenth century.
However, there is no doubt that in
the last quarter
of
the twentieth
century there was a definite
increase in certain
ty
pes
of
crime.
Crimes with firearms (guns. rifles
ere) are an example, as the graph
shows.
Off
ences
involving
firearms
recorded
by
the
police
in
England
and
Wales
12.000
10.000
8,000
6,000
4.000
2,000
~
J
Criminal
damage
,.,.
1Robbery
~
l
Violence against the person
Source:
CriminalStatis
tics,
Home Office
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The system of justice 1°9
The system
of
justice
The system of justice in Engla
nd
and Wales, in both civil
and
criminal
cases, is (as it is in North A
me
rica) an adversarial system, In criminal
cases there is no such
thin
g as an examining magi strate
who
tries
lO
discover the real
truth
abou
t what h
app
ened. In formal t
erm
s it is
not the business of any
court
to
find out 'the
truth'
. Its j
ob
is Si
mp
ly
to decide 'yes' or
'n
o' to a particular pr
op
osition (in criminal cases,
t1;at
a certain pers
on
is guilty
of
a certain crime)
af
ter it has heard
arguments
and
evidence from
bot
h sides (in criminal cases these
sides are
known
as the
def
ence a
nd
the prosecuti on) .
There are basically tWOkinds
of
cou
rt. More than 90%
of
all cases
are dealt wi th in magistrates' courts, Every town has
on
e
of
these, In
them, a
pane
l
of
magistrates (usually
thr
ee) passes judgement. In
cases
wh
ere they have decided somebody is guilty of a cri
me,
they
can also impose a
puni
shm
ent. This can be
impri
s
onm
ent
f
or
up
to
a
year, or it can be a fine, alth
ough
if it is a person's 'first offence'
and
the crim e is not serious, they
often
impo
se
no
puni
shm
en t at all
(
t>
The
senten
ce
ofthis
court
is
.).
Magistrates' courts are
anothe
r ex
amp
le of the importance of
amateurism in British
pub
lic life, Magistrates, who are also known
as Justices of the Peace (IP
s).
are not trained lawyers. They are just
ordinary pe
opl
e of g
ood
reputation
who
have been appointed to the
job by a local
com
mirtee. They
do
not
get a salary
or
a fee for their
wor
k
(though
t
hey
get paid expenses). Inevitably, they t
end
to
come
% 0 5 16 IS 20 H ]0
Th
e s
ent
enc
e of
this
c
ou
rt is .
If it is
som
cone's first offence, and
the crime is a small one, even a
guilty person is often
un
co
nditi
on -
ally di scharged . He or she is set free
without pu nishm ent ,
The next
e'ep up the ladder is a
condi tional disch
arg
e. This mea ns
that the gUilty pers
on
is set free but
if he or she com mits another crime
within a stated lime. the first crime
will
be taken into account, He or she
may also be put on
pro
bati
on .
which
means that regular meet ings
with a social worker must take place.
A very com
mo
n form
of
punish-
ment
for m inor offences is a fine.
which means that the guilt y person
has
to
pay a sum of
mone
y,
Another possibilit y is that the
convi cted person is sentenced to a
certain
num
ber
of
hours of co
m-
munit
y service.
Wherever possible . magistrates
and judges try not to
impri
son
people. This costs the stale
mon
ey.
the cou ntry's prisons are already
overcrowded and prisons have a
repurauon for being 'schools for
cri
me'.
Even peo ple
who
are sent to
prison do not usually serve the
whole
time to which they were sen-
tenced. The)' get
'remi
ssi
on'
of their
sentence for
'good
behaviour '.
There is no de
ath
pen
alt
y in
Britain. except for treason.
It was
abolished for all
othe
r offen ces in
1969, A
ltho
ugh public opinion
polls often show a majority ill favour
of its return. a majority
ofM
Ps has
always been against it. For
mur
-
derers. there is an obligatory
lif
e
se
nte
nce
, H
ow
ever. 'life' does not
normally mean life.
How
m
any
victims?
One
wa)'
of
estimating the level
of
crime is
to
interview people
and
ask
th
em
whether the)' have been the
victims
of
crime, On the left arc
some of the results of a survey in
[99
0 which interviewed 2 ,0 0 0
peop
le in several
cou
ntries. The
figures show the percenta ges of
interviewees who said they had been
victims .
Car
thefts
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
% 0 0.5
1.0 1.5
2.0
2.5
Victim
s
of
c
rim
e
All
surv
eyed
crime
s
USA
Canada
Australia
Netherlands
Spain
West Germany
England
&
Wales
France
Scotland
Belgi
um
Norway
Finland
Swi
tzerland
Northern
Ireland
Source:InrernationalHome Office Crime
Survey
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1 10 II The law
Som
e
terms
co nn
ect
ed
with
the
legal
system
acq
uitte
d found not guilt}' by the
co
ur
t
bail a
sum
of
money
guaranteed by
somebo
dy on behalf
of
,1 person
who
has been charged with a
crime so that he or she can go free
until the time of the trial.
Ifhe or
she doe s not appear in
coun.
the
pers
on
'standing bail' has
to
pay
the
mone
y.
convicted found guihy
by the
court
def
en
dant
the part}'
who
denies a
claim in court: the person
accused of a crime
on
re
ma
nd in prison awaiting trial
pa
rty
one
of
the sides in a coun
case. Because of the
adversarial
system , there mu st always be two
pani
cs in anr case:
one
to make a
claim and
one
to de ny this claim .
plaintiff
the part}'
who
makes a
claim in
coun.
IIInearly allcrim -
inal cases, the plaintiffis the
police.
verdict
the decision of the
coun
A t
ypic
al
co
urtr
oom
sce
ne
s
ho
wing t
he
judg
e, thejury, anda witn
ess
bei
ng
qu
es
-
tioned by
a
barri
ster
(ca
meras
are
not
cl
lo
we
d in
co
urt)
)
fr
om
the wealthier sections of society
and,
in
tim
es past. their preju-
dices were very obvious. They
wer
e especially har sh, for instance,
on
peo
ple fo
und
guilty
of
poac
hin
g
(hunt
ing animals on private
land) , even
tho
ugh these people sometimes had to poach in order
to put f
ood
on th
eir
families' tables. In m
od
ern
tim es, h
ow
ever, somc
care is taken to make sure thatJPs are recruited fr
om
as broad a section
of
society as possible.
Even serious criminal cases are first heard in a magistrate's c
ourt
.
H
ow
ever, in these cases, the JPs
only
need
to
decide that there is a
prima
fa
ciecase again st the accused (in
other
words,
that it is possible
that he or she may be guilt)'). The)' then refer the case
to
a hi
gher
court. In
mo
st cases this will be a c
row
n court,
wh
ere a
pro
fessional
lawyer acts as the judge and the decision regarding guilt
or
innocence
is taken by a jury. Juries consist
of
twelve
peop
le selectcd at ran d
om
from the list
of
voters. They do not gct paid for their services
and
are
obliged to p
erf
orm
this du ty. In order for a verdict to be reached,
there must be agreemcnt among at least len
of
them . If this does not
happ
en , the ju
dge
has to declare a mistrial
and
the case
mu
st start all
over again with a different jury. Aconvicted person may
app
eal
to
the
Court
of
Criminal Appeal (generall)' known just as the Appeal Court)
in London either to have the conviction quashed (i.c, the
jur
y's
previous verdict is overruled and they are
prono
un ced '
no
t guilty')
or to have the sentence (i.e.
puni
shment) reduced. The highest court
of
all in Britain is the House ofL ords (see c
hap
ter 9).
The du ty
of
the jud ge
during
a trial is to act as the referee
whil
e
the
pro
secution and de fence pu t their cases and
que
stion witnesses,
and
to decide
wh
at evidence is a
dmi
ssible and what is not
(wha
t can
or
can 't be taken into acc
ount
b), the jury). It is also, of course, the
ju
dge
's job to impose a
puni
shm
ent
(k
now
n as '
pro
nounc
ing
sentence') on
tho
se f
ound
guilt),of crimes.
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The legal profession
There are
t\VO
distinct kinds o
flawye
r in Britain. One of these is a
solicitor. Ever
ybo
dy
who
nee
ds a lawyer has to go to
one
of these.
They handle
most
legal matters for t
heir
clien ts, incl
uding
the
drawing up of
docume
nts (s
uch
as wills, divorce papers and
contracts) . co
mm
unicating
with
ot
her
parties.
and
pr
esenting their
clients' cases in
magi
stra tes'
court
s. However,
on
ly since 1994 have
solicitors been a
llowed
to present cases in higher
court
s. If the trial is
to be heard in
on
e
of
these, the solicitor
normally
hires the services
of the other k
ind
ofl
awy
er - a barrister. The
on
ly function
of
barristers
is to pres
ent
cases in court.
The train
ing
of the
two
kinds
oflawyer
is very different. All soli-
citors have to pass the Law Society exam. They study for this
exam
while 'articled ' to established firms
of
solicitors whe re they do
muc
h
of
the everyday jun
ior
work
un
til they are
qua
lified.
Barristers have to att
end
one
of
the
four
Inns
of
Court in Lond on.
These ancient instituti
on
s are
model
led
somew
hat
on
Oxb
r
idge
col -
leges (see
chapter
1
4).
For example, although there are
some
lectures,
the only atte
ndance
requirement is to eat di
nne
r there on a certain
nu
mber
of evenings each te
rm
. After
four
years, t
he
trai
nee
barristers
then sit exams . If they pass,
they
are
'c
alled to the bar' and are
recognized as barristers. However, they are still not allowed to
pre
s
ent
a case in a cr
own
court.
The
y can only do this after several
more
years
of
association wi th a senior ba
rri
ster, after w
hich
the
most
able
of t
hem
appl y to 'take silk' . Those
whose
app
licat
ions
are acce
pted
can put the letters QC
(Quee
n's Counsel) after t
heir
names.
Neither
kind
oflawyer
needs a university qualificat
ion
. The vast
majority
of
barristers
and
most
solicitors do in fact go to university,
bur they do no t necessarily study law there. This
arrangeme
nt is
typically British (see
chapte
r
14).
The different styles of training refle ct the different
wo
rlds that the
two kiuds
oflawyer
live in , a
nd
also the different skills t
hat
they
develop. Solicitors have to deal with the realities of the everyday
world and its
prob
lems. Most
of
their
work
is done away from the
courts. They
of
ten
become
expe
rts in the details of particular areas
of
the law. Barristers, on the
other
hand
, live a more rarefied existence.
For one thing, they tend
to
co
me
from
the upper stra ta of society.
Furthe
rmore
, their p
rotection
from
eve
ryd
ay realities is increased
by certain legal rules. For
exam
ple,
they
are
not
supposed
to talk to
any oftheir clients, or to theirclient's witnesses, except in t
he
presence
of the solicitor who has hired
them.
They are experts on ge
nera
l
principles of the
law
rather than on details, and they acquire the
special skill
of
elo
qu
en
ce in publi c spea king. W
hen
they
present
a
case in court, they, like judges,
put
on
the archaic
gow
n
and
wig
which, it is
supposed,
emphasize
the im
person
al majesty
of
the law.
It is exclusively from the ranks of
barr
isters that
judge
s are
appointed.
Once
they
have been
appoin
ted, it is a
lmost
i
mposs
ible
The legal profession I I I
A
barri
sterin the
gown
andwig that
m
ust
be
wornin
court
Ministry of justice?
Actually there is no such thing in
Britain. The things that such a
min
is-
try takes care of in
other
countries
are shared between a
number
of
authorities, in particular the
Home
Office, which
admini
sters prisons
and supervises the police, and the
office
of
the Lord Chanc ellor,
which
over sees the
appointment
of
judges,
magistrates and
othe
r legal officers.
The law in Sc
otl
and
Scotland has its
own
legal system,
separate from the rest of the United
King
dom
. Although it also uses an
adversarial system
oflega
l proced-
ure, the basis
of
its law is closer
to
Roman
and
Dutch law. The names
of
several officials in Scotland are
also different from those in England
and Wales. A very noticeable feature
is that there are three, not just t
wo,
possible verdicts. Aswell as 'g uilty'
and 'not guilty'. a jury may reach a
verdict
of
'not
pro v
en',
which
means that the accused person
cannot be punished but is not com -
pletely cleared
of
guilt either.
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. that voting habits in Britain, reflecting the weakening of the
class system, are no longer tribal. There was a time when the
Labour
party was regarded as. said
to
discrimin-
ate against smaller parties. But look at the table
at the beginning of this chapter again. H
ow
can
it be that the very small part ies had much better
luck