Politics Paper 1 evidence bank

Question 1

Examples of Direct Democracy in UK system

Answer 1

• Referendums
  -Recall of MPs Act 2015
  -E-Petitions
  -Citizens Assemblies

Question 2

Referendums:

Answer 2

• 2016 EU referendum, turnout= 72.2%, outcome= 51% YES
• 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum= 84.6%, outcome= 55% NO
• 1997 Wales Devolution Referendum, turnout= 50%, outcome= 50% YES
• 2011 AV referendum, turnout= 42%, outcome= 67% NO

Question 3

Recall of MPs Act:

Answer 3

Has successfully removed:
- Fiona Onasanya 2019 (MP for Peterborough)
- Christopher Davies 2019 (MP for Brecon and Radnorshire)
- Margaret Ferrier 2023 (MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
- Peter Bone 2023 (MP for Wellingborough)
Unsuccessful:
- Ian Paisley 2018, petition unsuccessful as it was only signed by 9.4% of constituents and did not meet the 10% threshold

Question 4

E-Petitions

Answer 4

• 2020 Petition for Ending Child Food Poverty, received 1,113,889 signatures (as a consequence of Marcus Rashford’s activism)
• 2019 Revoke Article 50, received 6 million signatures yet was not debated in Parliament/was rejected by gov (most signed UK petition on record)

Change.org currently has 567,000 signatures on a petition for compensation for those victims of the Post Office Scandal

Question 5

Representative Democracy: voter turnout

Answer 5

• 2021 London Mayoral election, turnout= 19.1%
• 1979 GE, turnout= 76%
• 1997 GE, turnout= 71%
• 2001 GE, turnout= 59%
• 2017 GE, turnout= 69%
• 2019 GE, turnout= 67%

Question 6

Representative Democracy- flawed by FPTP

Answer 6

• 2015 UKIP won 12.6% popular vote yet 1 seat
• 2019 Lib Dem’s won 19% of the seats yet 2% of the vote
• On average the Conservatives have achieved 42% of the vote on their 8 election victories since 1980 but a majority of seats

Question 7

Wider Franchise and debates over Suffrage

Answer 7

• Over 89% of 16-17 year olds registered for the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum
• The Elections Act 2022: new voter ID requirements, photo ID compulsory for in-person voting (potential voter suppression)
• 2023 Voter Authority Certificate Service launched, allowing UK electorate to obtain free form of photo ID
• Public awareness of ID requirements: 22% in Dec 2022 to 76% in April 2023

Question 8

Pressure Groups and other influences: types

Answer 8

• Insider Pressure groups
• Outsider Pressure groups
• Sectional Pressure groups
• Promotional/causational Pressure groups
• lobbyists
• think tanks
• the influence of trade unions (& their protest methods)

Question 9

Pressure Groups: Civil Disobedience

Answer 9

-In 2023, Just Stop Oil abandons disruptive climate protests in the UK after being shamed by the Conservative Government
-Insulate britain - blocking the m25
-Fathers4Justice had to abandon methods of civil disobedience (such as in 2004 throwing purple flour on Tony Blair during Commons meetings and dressing up as Superheroes etc) failed to achieve an significant legislative change of public awareness and opinion
- Police, Crime and Sentencing Act 2022- strengthens police powers to tackle disruptive protests
- 77% of Junior Doctors voted to strike in 2023- disruptive strikes from multiple unions during 2023

Question 10

Pressure Groups: awareness campaigns

Answer 10

• Don’t Pay UK (grass roots) In response to the Cost of Living Crisis, is a grassroots campaign opposing the rise in energy bills, 192,000 people have signed up for the campaign
• Protecting and defending vulnerable people in society, ideas of prevention of ‘tyranny of the minority’, pressure groups and their campaigns are only successful with mass public support e.g Lumley 2008 Guerkha campaign and Marcus Rashford free school meals campaign 2021- require a cross-section of society to approve (prevention of ‘tyranny of the minority’

Question 11

Pressure Groups: Insider Groups

Answer 11

• CBI (confederation of British industry) key insider pressure group. In 2022 Sunak made a speech at the CBI conference- the CBI analysed the details of the 2022 Austin Statement. The CBI responded to the speech by requesting to hear details of measures taken to achieve Sunak goals
• BMA- Lobbied policy makers through direct meetings, parliamentary briefings and media work to ensure that the Health and Care Act 2022 addressed their concerns
• BMA- involvement in Medicinal policy e.g 2007 smoking ban in enclosed spaces and 2015 smoking ban in cars carrying children

Question 12

Pressure Groups: Outsider Groups

Answer 12

• Liberty- 2023 legal action against the Home Secretary, following laws that give police almost unlimited power to shut down protests
• 38 Degrees- uses social media to effect change and has 2.5 million members
  -38 Degrees has been successful in stopping the privatisation of England’s forests (e.g forest of dean protests, Hands of Our Forests protest 2010) and their website allows members to quickly chose and advocate for their own campaign
• GreenPeace- influenced the decision of Michael Gove to ban bee harming pesticides, HOWEVER this ban was repealed in 2023
• Marcus Rashford worked with ‘Fare Share’ on the #MakeTheUTurn and convinced the government to provide families in England with vouchers for free school meals during the summer holidays for pupils in need
• Care4Calais- refugee supporting pressure group, involved in protests against Rwanda programme

Question 13

Pressure Groups: Trade Union

Answer 13

• 2014 BMA, junior doctor contracts with Jeremy Hunt, 2015 more than 98% of junior doctors voted to strike, however never striked as Hunt threatened to impose contacts anyway
• 2022/2023 NEU, after strikes succeeded in securing a 6% pay rise
• 2024 April Railworkers strikes, members of Aslef union aim to disrupt 14 railway services, disputes over pay and working arrangements

Question 14

Think tanks:

Answer 14

• Liz Truss in 2022 had important links with Neo-Liberal think tank ‘Institute of Economic Affairs’- according to the head of the IEA, Truss had spoken at more of its events than any other politician over the past 12 years
• Truss’s senior special advisor, Ruth Porter was communications director at the IEA
• Truss’s political secretary, Sophie Jarvis was head of government affairs at the Adam Smith Institute
• IEA had significant influence in Brexit- for example in the UK also leaving the EU single market
• Institute for Fiscal Studies revealed the ‘fiscal hole’ after the 2022 mini budget- important as the government wouldn’t publish broadcast by the independent office of budget responsibility
• The Adam Smith instutiute, UK-based neo-liberal thinktank offering economic advice to the government of day

Question 15

Lobbying:

Answer 15

2021 Greensill Scandal- Cameron lobbied Sunak via text message on behalf of the company ‘Greensill’ who paid him £10 million over the course of two and a half years of part time work- accused of exploited contacts for his own personal benefits

Owen Patterson left the Commons after November 2021 after being accused of breaking lobbying rules, Patterson used his position of power to benefit 2 companies for which he was a paid consultant

1994 Cash for Questions scandal in the commons

Bernie Ecclestone Affair. Funding Scandal under Blair, 1997, Ecclestone the motor racing tycoon had switched his financial support from Conservative to Labour, Ecclestone gave Labour £1million only months before the election, he met Blair and lobbied him to exempt formula one racing from a tobacco advertising ban, arguing that as many as 200,000 jobs could be lost

Question 16

Political Parties:

Answer 16

• In 2015 the Conservatives won 37% of the vote but 51% of the seats
• In 2015 The Green Party won 1 million votes but only 1 seat
• In 2015 UKIP won 12.6% of the votes (influenced by the demand for brexit) which was the third largest vote share and only won one seat
• In 2017 UKIP only won 1.8% of the vote
• In 2019 Johnson was elected Party Leader and consequently PM by 1% of the population (100,000 Conservative members)
  only won 1.8% of the vote
• 2017 Labour and Conservative received highest vote share since 1979- they had 82.3% of the vote share
• 2015 SNP won 56/59 available Westminster seats
• SNP currently holds 63/129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 43/59 seats in Westminster
• Plaid Cymru currently holds 3/40 Westminster seats and 12/60 seats in the Senedd

Question 17

Party funding:

Answer 17

• Housing Minister Robert Genrick rushed through approval for development projects in order to satisfy Conservative donor Richard Desmond- saved him millions
• 2009 Parliamentary Expenses Scandal, misuse of allowances and expenses by MPs e.g over their second homes etc
• Political Parties reported donations of £51 million in 2022, In 2022 funding Conservatives receiving £4,860,000, Labour received £7,220,000, LibDems received £1,432,000 and The Green Party received £172,000
• 2015 membership fees how much party got: labour got the most earning over £9 mill from membership fees and SNP second most earning £2.7 mill
• In 2022 less than 1.5% of the british population were part of the ‘major three’ parties: the conservatives, labour or the lib dems
• £2 mill state funding to be allocated to opposition parties, distributing £1 mill between all eligible parties equally (NOT used for campaigning purposes but for scrutiny) -SHORT MONEY, each party with over 150,000 votes get £19,000
• after 2019 Labour got allocated over £400,000 state funding, greatest of any opposition party, totalling £900,000 to fund the opposition office

Question 18

Electoral Systems:

Answer 18

• 2011 AV referendums: turnout was 42.2%, votes against AV = 67.9%
  In 2005 Labour was voted in under FPTP with just 35.3% of the popular vote
  2016 Brexit Referendum: Votes to Leave = 51.9%, Votes to Remain = 48.1%
  2014 Scottish Independence Referendum: Turnout= 84.6%, Votes to remain in the UK = 55%
  -2021 Scottish Parliament Election (AMS) Voting Turnout = 63.5%
  2017 General Election: Voter Turnout was 68.8%, Labour and Conservative high vote share was 82.3%
  2015 General Election: Conservatives won 37% of the vote yet 51% of the seats
  In 2019, the Conservatives won 365/650 seats despite only receiving 43.6%

Question 19

Voting behaviour and the media: long term factors (AGE)

Answer 19

In the 2017 General Election:
64% of 18-24 year olds voted for Labour
61% of 65+ voted for the Conservatives
In the EU referendum:
64% of voters aged 18-24 voted to remain in the EU
61% of voters aged 65+ voted to leave the EU
In 2019- 56% of 18-24 year olds voted Labour- supported from all ages under 39
2019- 57% of 60-69 year olds voted for the Conservatives in 2019

Question 20

Voting behaviour and the media: Long term factors (CLASS)

Answer 20

In 1997 Blair increased his vote share in all class categories
In 1997- 37% of AB voters voted Labour
In 1997 41% of C2 (skilled manual) voted for the Conservatives
In 2017 48% of AB voters voted Conservative
In 2017 32% of AB voters voted Labour
In 2015 36% of AB voters voted Labour
In 2019 36% of AB voters voted Labour

Question 21

Voting behaviour and the media: long term factors (REGION)

Answer 21

In the 2019 General Election:
57.4% of people in the south east of england voted for the conservative party
Wales, a typical Labour stronghold, but in 2019 Labour lost 6 seats in Wales
Collapse of the Red Wall
North East 48.2% voted Labour

Question 22

Voting behaviour and the media: short term factors (MEDIA)

Answer 22

• The Sun has backed every winner since 1979
• In 1997 the Sun backed the Labour Party
• In 1992 ‘Its the Sun wot won it’ -allowed for an unexpected Conservative victory
• 1997 saw first use of TV debates
• 2017 Labour still scored highly despite constant negative press about Corbyn
• 2017 May still won despite being seen as a ‘may bot’ with a lack of TV presence
• Opinion polls showed Callaghan as a popular candidate in 1979
• Conservatives divided over the EU in 1997 whilst Labour were united around Blair’s third way
• 2010- introduction of TV debates and consequential ‘Cleggmania’
• 1992 The Sun had a circulation of 3.5 million readers and the Mirror 2.9 million, The Sun’s figures had dropped to 1.2 million by 2020, at which point it stopped reporting them, and the Mirror’s were down to barely 300,000.

Question 23

Specific social media examples: influence of the media

Answer 23

• Led by Pressure group Momentum, the #Grime4Corbyn, 2017 harnessed the potential of social media to appeal to young voters, rappers like JME endorsed it- success, turnout for 18-24 year olds up 16 percentage points on 2015
• 2017: On Facebook Jeremy Corbyn and Labour achieved 86.2 million views on campaign videos, compared with only 24.5 million views for Boris Johnson and the Conservatives. And the three most successful videos from politicians or political pages of the campaign so far were all released by Labour

Question 24

Voting behaviour and the media: OPINION POLLS

Answer 24

• Opinion polls are not always accurate. In 1992 most failed to predict John Major’s 21-seat majority. Instead most polls predicted either a narrow Labour victory or a hung Parliament
• The polling agencies were wrong in 2015. They correctly predicted that the Scottish National Party would overwhelm Labour, which had previously been a powerful force in Scotland but, at UK level, on average they predicted that Labour and the Conservatives would each win about 34 per cent of the vote. This proved to be some way off the mark: in the event the Conservatives won a small majority with 38 per cent of the vote, leaving Labour with 31 per cent
• Opinion Polls can also influence tactical voting. As it became apparent through polls that Michael Portillo could actually have a chance of losing his safe seat in Enfield in 1997, undecided voters and voters from other parties switched their vote to his opponent Stephen Twigg.

Question 25

Voting behaviour and the Media: short-term factors (SALIENT ISSUES)

Answer 25

• Conservatives made use of the deteriorating economic situation- strikes, inflation etc ‘crisis -what crisis’
• Labour made use of the conservatives failing economic policies after black wednesday in 1997
• Brexit was a divisive issue- Conservatives lost votes AB voters who wanted to punish them for leaving the EU
• 2017 Conservatives had a U turn on ‘dementia tax’
• 2019 Labour corpious manifesto pledges led to questions on affordability
• 2019- 43% of former Labour supporters voted based on leadership, unpopularity of Corbyn

Question 26

Voting behaviour and the Media: short term -factors (THE CAMPAIGN)

Answer 26

• 1997 Tony Blair, charismatic, young and enthusiastic
• 2017 Corbyn took advantage of the media and in person events to win the votes of younger voters
• 2017 Conservative manifesto devised by policy advisors and lacked an enthusiastic response
• 2017 Conservative Campaign= uninspiring
• 1979 Thatcher softened her voice and appealed to stay at home mums
• ‘Labour isn’t working’ slogans appealed to working class struggling with economic situation

Question 27

Opinion Polls:

Answer 27

In a 2015 poll by Survation: the most common reason people don’t vote is ‘not believing it will make a difference’.

In 2015, 2017 and 2019: 18-24 turnout was just above 50% while over 75s was above 80%.

Voters who had their first vote at 16 (Scottish independence referendum) had higher turnout in Scottish parliament elections than voters who first voted at 18.

In 2022, the ex-YouGov president said the UK is now pro-remain because 2m Brexit voters have died.

Question 28

Electoral Systems:

Answer 28

In 2019, only 30% of votes cast had an effect because of votes for parties in constituencies where that party didn’t win or because of surplus votes in a constituency for a party that won.

In 2019, the Conservatives needed under 40k votes per seat while the Greens needed over 800k per seat.

There have only been 3 hung parliaments since WW2.

In the 2015 election there was a huge disportation of seats through the FPTP system as Ukip won 12.6% although they only received one seat .

Turnout at most local elections is below 50%

Question 29

Foreign Policy: Gaza pt1 (political parties)

Answer 29

Both Labour and the Conservatives have adamantly backed Israel (bipartisan)
Labour response has been broadly unified; contrast deep divisions over Israel-Palestine (and foreign policy in general) under Jeremy Corbyn (labelled as antisemitic)

Starmer: “Israel has the right to self defence”; arguably mirroring government due to upcoming election
In October 2023, Starmer defended the Israeli “right to withhold water” from Palestines in an interview on LBC with Nick Ferrari (aware it is a breach due experience as human rights barrister; values election victory more)

Shadow Cabinet Member David Lammy emphasised that Labour supported Israel and its “right to defend itself”; response must be proportionate and within the bounds of international law

Question 30

Foreign Policy: Gaza pt2 (political parties)

Answer 30

In November 2023, 56 Labour MPs rebelled in favour of a ceasefire; resulted in 10 front bench resignations (e.g. Shadow Home Office Minister Jess Phillips)

Over 70 councillors across the country that have resigned over disapproval on the Labour stance on Gaza; 9 in Oxford (no longer in Labour control)
In January 2024, Kate Osamor (MP for Edmonton) was suspended for comments likening the conflict in Gaza to “a Holocaust”

Question 31

Small/minor parties: membership

Answer 31

SNP 25,000 (2013) to 75,000 (now)
Greens 14,000 (2013) to 53,000 (now)

Question 32

Pressure Groups (added stuff):

Answer 32

The National Farmers Union used their insider status with the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to allow the 2013 badger cull.

In 2004, the RSPCA and other groups joined forces to campaign for the ban on hunting which was eventually successful in the Hunting Dogs Act 2004 (pressure group tactics).

Stonewall is a pressure groups which advocates for lgbtq+ and are very influential as helped with same sex marriage, having lgbtq taught on the national curriculum and more

Question 33

Think tanks and their relationship with government/parliament (added stuff):

Answer 33

Liz Truss, Kwasi Kwarteng, Priti Patel, and Dominic Raab are all ex-staff of the Institute of Economic Affairs whose policies inspired the 2022 Mini Budget.

The Institute for Public Policy Research and the New Economics Foundation contributed to 2019 Labour manifesto while Robert Colville (head of the Centre for Policy Studies) co-authored the 2019 Conservative Manifesto)

Question 34

Pressure groups (membership and democracy):

Answer 34

Nearly 1 in 10 adults in the UK are members of an environmental pressure group

40-50% of the UK population are a member of at least one pressure group (bolstering political involvement)

Trade union: membership= 13.2 mill in 1979 whereas 2016 was 6.23 mill`

Question 35

Private Members Bills points:

Answer 35

Private members bill: between 2017 and 2019 41 bills were gov bills and 15 private members bills

Example of an important private members bill: 2017 SNP Eilidh Whiteford introduced the Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence Act - illuminating how private members bills still matter

Question 36

Safe Seats:

Answer 36

Presently Labour has labelled 211 ‘non battleground’ seats for the upcoming general election (representing 39% of seats in England), implying labour would not be battling for these in a meaningful way

Question 37

AMS (ensuring a fairer result):

Answer 37

Second stage of the system allows it to correct the problems of FPTP and allow for smaller party success e.g 2016 Scottish election, the SNP won 59 seats in the constituency vote and 4 seats in the regional vote- creating a more proportional outcome

Question 38

Turnout of devolved assemblies:

Answer 38

2021 Scottish Parliament= 63%
2022 Northern Irish Assembly= 62%
2021 Welsh Parliament= 46%

Question 39

Opinion Polls and their influence on elections:

Answer 39

Populus, Survation, Lord Ashcroft, YouGov, Ipsos Mori, Opinium, ICM. They generally take a sample of 1000–2000 people from 50–100 constituencies.

In general, opinion polls have proved accurate, particularly for the 1997,2001 and 2005 elections. However, the 1992 election, in which Labour was predicted to win by 1.3% but the Conservatives won by 7.6%, and the 2015 election, in which a tie was predicted by the Conservatives won by 6%, are major exceptions to this.

Polls showing a party leading before an election can have an influence on how people actually vote. This is called the Bandwagon Effect, when people vote for the party they believe is going to win

The 2015 election saw a massive failure in the opinion polling industry, all of whom spent the election predicting hung Parliaments and pointing to constitutional chaos after the election.

Question 40

Gaza and Labour:

Answer 40

Bipartisan support for the policy towards Gaza, on Israel the Labour Party has remained very close to the Tories, they mirrored them in backing Israel with Starmer saying Israel has the right to defence

David Lammy (shadow foreign secretary) emphasised that labour supported Israel and it’s right to defend itself but that its response must be proportionate and within the bounds of international law

15th November 56 labour MPs backed the SNP position, despite Labour’s stance, 10 frontbenchers resigned from the frontbench, including Jess Phillips

Kate Osamor, MP for Edmonton was sacked when she likened what was happening in Gaza to ‘a holocaust’

Question 41

Foreign policy and the political parties:

Answer 41

On China, international development, NATO and particularly continued support for Ukraine, differences between the parties are a matter of tone or degree (not approach)

Andrew Mitchell current Secretary of State for Development and Lisa Nandy (the shadow secretary for international development) have both ultimately agreed that the UK’s aid budget will only go back to 0.7% of the Gross National Income if the fiscal situation allows it

David Lammy (shadow foreign secretary) criticised the Conservative’s inconsistency on China, but both parties outline a similar approach to the country (both parties policies have shifted to become tougher because of the actions of the Chinese Communist Party, labour has said they will that it will respond to any interference in UK democracy after the government announced fresh sanctions against hackers linked to Beijing.

Labour was initially hesitant to back the current government’s push for a stronger diplomatic and military presence in the Indo-Pacific, but more recently John Healey has committed to build on the ‘tilt’ to the region, and to make the AUKUS pact with Australia and the USA work

Question 42

Rwanda policy and the government:

Answer 42

Illegal Migration Act 2023, ruling by the supreme court in Nov 2023 found Rwanda to be an unsafe country, 22nd April 2024 the Safety of Rwanda Act passed declaring Rwanda a safe country
Safety of Rwanda Act 2024- went through parliamentary ping pong with the Lords initially suggesting 10 amendments (all eventually rejected by the government) a core amendment was trying to prevent Afghan interpreters who had helped the UK armed forces from being deported to Rwanda

Major backbench rebellions over Rwanda- in Jan 2024, 60 conservatives voted in defiance of the government over the legislation and policy

Question 43

Labour current policies:

Answer 43

Announced in 2024 plans to renationalise the railways after 5 years
Economy: Putting economic stability first by introducing a new fiscal lock to bring economic security back to our national and family finances.

Welfare : Get Nhs back on their feet by ending wait times ,new technology and early diagnosis ,better public health , mental health and more importance for 8,500 staff .
Law and Order : increase in policy , half the violence against women , tougher sentence

Question 44

Conservative current policies:

Answer 44

Welfare: Extra funding for nhs , invest in school , increasing education funding , ban with vapes , seen with budget plan 2024
Law and Order: 20k more police with the power and backing them to keep safe.
Economy: protect pensions, build a fair tax system, cut inflation, not increase income tax.

Question 45

Lib Dem current policies:

Answer 45

Economy: A fair, prosperous and innovative economy that promotes opportunity and wellbeing., make taxes fair not burden and help with cost with living and create job which uphold fiscal responsibility
Welfare: Fair access to good public services and a strong social safety net.. A flourishing environment, with fair access to nature for all.Cut nhs time , to see gps quicker , mental health contact , recruit and train more doctors and nurses . Education - free school meals, extend opportunity for young people to study , Bring down energy bills and help end fuel poverty
Law and Order: . A truly fair democracy, where everyone’s rights are respected and individuals and communities are empowered.Restore porous community policy , invest in a criminal justice system , improve rehabilitation . Legalisation of cannabis.

Question 46

SNP current policies:

Answer 46

Welfare : SNP Government has now offered our 154,000 NHS Scotland Agenda for Change staff a substantial pay rise, rejecting the 1% proposal made by the Tories – and offering a proper pay rise of at least 4%, We will always keep Scotland’s NHS safe in public hands.imrove mental health
Law order : working together to get rid of terriosim , helping to tackle the assault of women , SNP calls for the end to VAT charges on our police and fire services, the UK Government finally relented.UK Government refunds the £175 million in VAT owed to Scotland’s emergency services.
economy :

Question 47

Brexit case study:

Answer 47

June 2016
· PM David Cameron called the referendum in May 2016
· Was a gamble – didn’t expect the result – Cam did it to protect his party
· Scotland overwhelmingly voted remain (62% remain) , which lead to SNP wanting Scottish Independence.
· 48% Remain, 52% Leave - BIG division in the country
· 72% Turnout
· Led to the resignation of Cameron
· Advertised ‘£350M per week to the E.U.’ – Promoting Brexit on a bus
· Brexit cost twice as much as covid.
· UKIP supporters in 2015 – 3.9m (12.6% of voters!!)
· England – 53% Leave Wales – 52% Leave
· Scotland - 62% Remain NI – 55% Remain

Question 48

Senedd 2021 elections results (AMS example)

Answer 48

• to elect the 60 representatives: turnout= 46% a record for the assembly
  First election 16-17 year olds could vote following the 2020 Senedd and Elections Act
  Labour won 30 seats
  Conservative won 11 seats
  Plaid Cymru won 13 seats
  Lib Dem’s won 1 seat

Despite winning no seats 3 parties contended only the regional vote including the Welsh Communist Party and Wales Christian

Labour won 27 FPTP and 3 regional
Plaid Cymru won 5 FPTP and 8 regional

Question 49

Holyrood 2021 election results (AMS example)

Answer 49

• 129 total representatives
  SNP won 64
  Conservatives won 31
  Labour won 22
  Scottish Greens won 8
  Lib Dem’s won 4

SNP won 62 of their seats on the FPTP and 2 on the regional vote
Greens won 0 of their seats on FPTP and all 8 on the regional vote

Social Democratic Party and the Women’s Equality Party only contested the regions not the constituencies (alternative voting system allows for greater political choice)

Question 50

Stormont 2022 election results (STV example)

Answer 50

• of the 90 seats:
  Sinn Fein won 27- Michelle O’Neill sworn in as the first Sinn Fein First Minister
  DUP won 25- DUP’s vote dropped by 7%
  Alliance won 17

Question 51

Manifestos:

Answer 51

Labour manifesto in 1983 was seen as ‘the longest suicide note’ in british history, it wanted to withdraw from the common market, abolish the house of lords and cancel the trident nuclear deterrent - a very bold and radical reform agenda vs the conservative manifesto focused on defence and employment, demonstrates how a more cautious manifesto will often win out against a more radical manifesto

after 1983 gave the tories a huge mandate to continue privatisation, they also continued with the ‘right to buy’ scheme which came in after the 1979 election and was contained in the 1983 manifesto, the conservative manifesto contained measures to restrict further trade union power, allowing it during the second term to take on the miners strikes

Question 52

Broadcast media

Answer 52

Broadcast media sets the national agenda and debate e.g Conservatives partygate (always discussed on the media), and Corbyn and the panorama investigation into anti-semintism
TV debates are also incredibly influential e.g Cleggmania and Theresa May no show, broadcast media is limited by political neutrality e.g having to represent both sides
However broadcast media is heavily regulated by OFcom which also requires impartiality - and they also are required to share party broadcast time at election time, 2015 David Cameron refused a 1 on 1 debate with Ed Milliband and Boris refused Andrew Nelis interview

Question 53

Print media

Answer 53

Print media is almost completely unregulated, can be bias etc won’t sue for libel etc (hence on election day they have big voting instructions)- broadcast media cannot do this as they are regulated by ofcom, all broadcast media has to be politically neutral (presenting both sides if they are going to be political etc)

Question 54

politics