How Niche Parties React to Losing Their Niche: The Cases of the Brexit Party, the Green Party and Change UK (original) (raw)

2020, Parliamentary Affairs

This contribution considers how niche parties react when they lose their niche, using the cases of three parties in the turbulent period prior to the 2019 UK general election: the Brexit Party, the Green Party and Change UK. I overview the background of these parties before showing that each lost its respective policy niches to larger, more established parties. I show that each responded with some combination of directly competing with the mainstream party; electorally cooperating with them or other parties; or diversifying into something distinct from their mainstream analogue. I explain how each party's approach partially explains their 2019 general election result, as well as European Parliament elections result, using British Election Study data. I suggest that this 'compete, cooperate or diversify' approach provides a theoretical framework for understanding how niche parties are likely to react to losing their niche elsewhere. 1. Niche parties in the UK prior to the 2019 UK general election Even though they ultimately received relatively few votes, the pivotal role played by 'niche parties' during the 2017-2019 parliament does much to explain the outcome of the election and the subsequent direction of British politics. Such parties have received various academic definitions, with perhaps the most succinct being that they are 'parties that compete primarily on a small number of non-economic issues' (Wagner, 2012, p. 845). There have been a number of attempts in the academic literature to make sense of niche parties. Adams et al. (2006) show that niche parties, first, do not respond to shifts in public opinion by changing their policy positions, whereas mainstream parties do, and, secondly, are electorally punished when moderating their positions, unlike mainstream parties (see also,