Minor parties stand candidates in elections but hold little chance of winning. Parties such as Sinn Fein and SNP are nationalist parties that only stand candidates in a part of the UK. Whereas other parties like the Brexit Party are single party issues that are mainly focused on campaigning a singular issue. The First Past The Post system greatly reduces the power and the relevance of smaller parties. It benefits the Labour and Conservative Paarty, being the two main parties in the UK, one of whom has either been in government alone, or has been the majority partner in a coalition. For example, in 2017, Labour and Conservatives won 82.4% of the vote, and in 2019, they on 75.7%, which shows that there has been constant support for these parties. Minority parties, for example the Liberal Democrats, only won 11 seats in 2019 with 3.7 million votes. This shows how the FPTP system will make it significantly harder for parties other than Conservatives and Labour to recieve seats and therefore come to power in Parliament and play a meaningful role. On the otherhand, some would argue that minor parties that have geographically concentrated support have been able to have success in UK general elections, such as the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein. For example, in 2015 the SNP won 56 seats with just 4.7% of the vote, whilst in 2019 they won 48 seats with 3.9% of the vote. Minority parties have also been able to win in local elections. For example, in the 2022 local elections, the Liberal Democrats won around 19% of the vote and gained over 220 councilers, which was the biggest net gain of any party. Overall, while some minor parties are able to gain some success under the FPTP system, such as through local elections, it is undeniable that Labour and Conservatives have more success in elections and are very dominant due to the naature of FPTP. Labour or the Conservative Party have always been in government since the end of WWII, either on their own or as a majority partner in a coalition. In the Welsh Parliament specifically, the Labour Party has also dominated and always been in government since the devolution. Even when in a coalition, the major parties dominate government and policy. For example, in the 2010 coalition, the Conservative Party's austerity policies dominated, and the Liberal Democrats weren't able to keep their key promise of not raising university tuition fees, which would've overall impacted their popularity and influence. This would show how despite the fact that, in this example, a minority party was able to come in power through a coalition, they still don't hold much power against a majority party. However, minor parties have had a lot more electoral success in devolved bodies and have been able to weild a significant amount of power and influence over policy as a result. For example, the SNP ahs been in power in Scotland since 2007, and has been able to make significant policy changes, such as abolishing prescription charges and tuition fees. Minor parties have been able to have significant influence as junior parties in coalitions. For example, the Liberal Deomcrats we able to drive policies through, such as increasing the personal allowance and introducing rhe 2015 Recall of MP's act. This would imply therefpre that despite being a minority partner in a coalition for example, parties can still hold some power and make significant changes. Overall, minor parties are able to play a very significant role in government in devolved bodies, particularly in Scotland, They can do so much less in the UK government however, which is always dominated by either Labour and the Conservatives, and gives minor parties relatively insignficant roles even when in a coalition. The two main parties have played a part in every government since WWII and have been able to have a significant impact over policy in the UK. For example, Thatcher was able to implement her New Right philosophy and massively change economic policy. Blair was also able to have a massive impact, especially in the area of constitutional reform and foreign policy. It can be argued that the major parites are broad churches that represent a range of voters and policy positions which therefore enable them to have and maintain significant support. Even when minor parties have an influence, it is often only temporary and results in major parties having the influence after. This would mean therefore that major parties will typically hold most of the political influence, especially considering the extent of time in which they have been dominant for. On the otherhand, minor parties have significant and indirect influence over policy through threatening the two main parties electorally, and using their platfroms and public support to put issues on the political agenda. Due to this, Labour and Conservatives are often forced to take on many of theur policy suggestions to maintain their electoral success. Although minor parties often aren't able to win constituencies, they are able to take significant votes away from one of the two main parties, leading to the other party ahving a higher chance of winning. These parties could therefore be seen as pressure groups that use the electoral process to pursue their aims. For exmaple, the electoral threat that Nigel Farage and UKIP posed to the Conservative Party played a major role in David Cameron calling the Brexit referendum, whilst his Brexit Party later played a crucial role in shifting the Tories in a more right wing, populist direction. Farage had arguably had the biggest impact on the Conservative Party of anyone since Thatcher, as not only did he shift them in a more eurosceptic direction, but he also played an important role in the resignation of David Cameron and Theresa May. Overall, minor parties certainly matter when it comes to influence over policy. Through raising the profile of key issues and threatening the two main parties electorally, minor parties such as UKIP and the Brexit Party have been able to cause massive policy shifts in the Labour and Conservative parties. In conclusion, the Labour and Conservative Party and certainly not the only parties that matter in UK politics. Although it may be true that they dominate Parliament elections and the UK Government due to FPTP, they don't dominate devolved bodies or have sole influence over policies. Minor parties are able to play a highly significant role in devolved bodies, particularly the SNP in Scotland, and are crucially able to have major indirect influence over policy in the UK, by using their electoral threat and publicity to shape the policies of the two main parties.