Dominant ideas (20marks)

Question 1

SNP - independence

Answer 1

E - they believe in an independent Scotland and think that Scotland should have full power over its own destiny
E - SNP use the strap line “stronger for Scotland” in 2015, them in 2015 they went on to win 56/59 seats in Scotland

Question 2

Conservative - pro union

Answer 2

E - conservatives are party of the union and will do their utmost to keep the family of nations together including Scotland, England wales and NI
E - the Conservative manifesto 2015 they pledged to honour in full “our commitment to Scotland to devolve extensive new power “ despite this they only went on to win 1 seat in Scotland in 2015

Question 3

SNP socially progressive

Answer 3

E - this means the redistribution of wealth, power and assets snp are trying to progress society
E - in 2011 SNP introduced free precipitations on the 1st of April 2011, they maintained this and then in 2015 labour lost their ‘trademark’ safe seat in Glasgow north east constituency from snp in a working class area

Question 4

Conservative - individualist

Answer 4

E - conservatives favour individual freedom over state control and believe that said individual freedom helps individuals become independent and self reliant
E - in 2015 conservatives lowered the benefit cap from £26,000 to £23000, making people less reliant on the government money, which then lead to the conservatives only having 1 seat in Scotland in the 2015 general election

Question 5

SNP - anti brexit

Answer 5

E - they took this position as ultimately SNP wanted Scotland to chose independence as an alternative to Brexit
E - SNP arguing to stay members of the single market and customs union, they wanted a bespoke deal for Scotland, then in 2019 SNP gained the most seats in Scotland winning 48 seats with 45% of the vote share

Question 6

Conservative - Brexit

Answer 6

E - they took this position as they supported leaving the European Union in the hope of controlling rising immigration levels
E - during their 2019 campaign 38% of the tweets originating from the Conservative Party contained the word ‘Brexit’ in it then in the 2019 general election the conservatives won a majority with 365 seats.