Unit 3: Democracy in the UK

Question 1

What work does an MP do in parliament. (V)

Answer 1

• Voting on new laws
• Every law that is made in the UK must be passed in the House of Commons.
• MP’s vote by walking into the ‘aye’ or ‘no’ lobby
• MP’s have cited several times on legislation relating to Brexit

Question 2

What work does an MP do in parliament. (A)

Answer 2

• Asking the PM questions.
• Prime Ministers Questions takes place every Wednesday in the Commons for 30 minutes.
• All MP’s can try to ask Rishi Sunak a question
• Sir Keith Starmer, as leader of the opposition, can ask the PM several questions as to how he’s running the country

Question 3

What work does an MP do in their constituency. (V)

Answer 3

• Visits & Social Events
• MP’s are regarded as high profile guests and many spend large amounts of time attending various events within their constituency
• It provides them an opportunity to raise their profile within the constituency and represent the electorate
• Events within the constituency are often shared with local media and MP’s are keen to get involved

Question 4

What work does an MP do in their constituency. (S)

Answer 4

• Surgeries
• MP’s hold surgeries where local people can meet their MP and ask questions or raise issues about the constituency.
• Important as it gives the MP’s a chance to meet their constituents and discuss matters of concern
• These surgeries are traditionally held on Fridays and at weekends when they are not sitting in Parliament

Question 5

Why do people participate in UK politics? (I)

Answer 5

• It’s important
• The government make important decisions that affect us all
• They believe there voice should be heard within all these important choices
• Key areas of voting include taxation, benefits, and decisions to go to war are made by the MP’s that we vote for

Question 6

Why do people participate in UK politics? (D)

Answer 6

• It can make a difference
• Some elections can be down to a handful of votes meaning every vote could change the outcome
• Voters may want to support their favourite candidate in these close cut situations
• In Larkhall, in the 2017 general election, first and third place were seperate by 360 votes

Question 7

Why do people participate in UK politics? (P)

Answer 7

• Protect their rights
• Many countries globally deny their citizens of their rights
• People use their vote in order to protect our own rights
• In recent years, further rights have been extended in the UK to allow 16-17 year old to vote in the same elections.

Question 8

Why do people not participate in UK politics? (E)

Answer 8

• Feel excluded from politics
• Many young people, woman, ethnic minorities, disabled people, and LGBTQ feel underrepresented in politics
• This makes them wonder why they should even vote when they can’t relate to any politicians
• There has only ever been 3 female Prime Ministers and never any from the LGBTQ community

Question 9

Why do people not participate in UK politics? (M)

Answer 9

• Their participation won’t matter
• Individuals on their own may not feel as if their singular voice is loud enough to make a difference.
• Many don’t feel as if joining protests or voting will change the outcome
• A few people have been protesting against the nuclear weapons at Faslane in Scotland for decades, yet no change has been made.

Question 10

Why do people not participate in UK politics? (K)

Answer 10

• They don’t know how
• Not every student in Scotland is taught Modern Studies, and in the rest of the UK it isn’t taught at all.
• This leaves a large amount of people uneducated about their rights as well as how a democracy works.
• Most people aren’t members of political parties, and roughly half of those who can vote, choose to

Question 11

Name a reserved power the UK parliament controls. (T)

Answer 11

• Taxes
• The Westminster government makes decisions for the whole of the UK about the amount of tax that we pay on things we buy.
• This includes VAT (value added tax) which is currently at 20%.
• For example, the UK government could decide to to raise or lower the amount we tax on petrol we buy

Question 12

Name a reserved power the UK parliament controls. (D)

Answer 12

• Defence
• Decisions on how much we spend on our protection and military equipment
• All decisions to go to war or use military powers go to the UK government
• The UK government decided to renew the UK’s Trident nuclear deterrent costing the government over £40 billion.

Question 13

Name a reserved power the UK parliament controls. (I)

Answer 13

• Immigration
• The Westminster government makes decisions for the whole of the UK about who is allowed to come and live in the UK.
• Important laws about laws regarding refugees and asylum seekers are primarily controlled at UK level
• The UK government set the numbers for how many Afghan refugees have been allowed in to the country as a result of the conflicts

Question 14

Name a power of the PM (A)

Answer 14

• Appointing cabinet members
• They have the power to appoint or reshuffle his cabinet members
• When a PM promotes an ordinary MP, this increases likelyhood of loyalty for the PM
• In 2021 Sajid Javid was appointed to the Health Secretary following the resignation of Matt Hancock

Question 15

Name a power of the PM (C)

Answer 15

• Chair the cabinet
• They have the power to decide what the government will make laws on and all priorities
• They decide what will be discussed and most importantly what will not be discussed
• Prior to March 2020, Boris Johnson was heavily prioritising the UK leaving the EU, and thus made it a priority in his cabinet

Question 16

Name a power of the PM (L)

Answer 16

• Leader of the largest party
• There is a political system in place named the whip system
• Promotes discipline within parties and makes sure members vote how leaders want them to
• In April 2023, Rishi Sunak was able to pass the Illegal Immigration bill with the support of most his party

Question 17

What are limits of the powers of the PM? (C)

Answer 17

• Coalition
• When no one party wins enough seats at an election to secure a majority government so two parties work together to create a coalition
• Both parties will negotiate and agree on policies to be made into laws
• In 2010, the Conservative did not win enough seats to form a majority government so instead formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrat’s

Question 18

What are limits of the powers of the PM? (M)

Answer 18

• Minority government
• When a party wins but falls few seats short of majority they will form a government based on a confidence and supply agreement with another party.
• The other party will agree to support the government on important votes and negotiate to support them on all other matters
• In 2017 Theresa May formed a minority government with the DUP of Northern Ireland and in return they received £1 billion investment into Northern Ireland

Question 19

Name a role of the PM. (P)

Answer 19

• Answering question at Prime Ministers Questions (PMQs)
• Weekly in the House of Commons, must spend time answering questions from local MPs
• This is commonly held on a Wednesday in which MPs can ask these questions for half an hour starting at 12pm
• The leader of the opposition is allowed to ask 6 questions to the PM

Question 20

Name a role of the PM. (C)

Answer 20

• Leading the country
• The PM has to be able to provide an assurance and authority that they are acting to keep them safe
• They must be able to lead the country through tough times
• On the 24th of March 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to the whole of the UK and announced the beginning of a national lockdown due to covid

Question 21

Name a role of the PM. (I)

Answer 21

• The UKs leader in the international stage
• The PM is responsible for representing the UK across the world
• The PM will travel to other countries to meet their leaders and build relationships
• The PM is expected to meet and entertain foreign leaders when they visit the UK

Question 22

Name a campaign method used by politicians. (L)

Answer 22

• Leaflets
• Parties will post or members will hand out leaflets to voters
• These will contain information about policies and plans if they are to win the election
• The SNP posted thousands of leaflets across Ayr, Carrick, and Cumnock in support of local MP Alan Dorans

Question 23

Name a campaign method used by politicians. (C)

Answer 23

• Canvassing
• Candidates and party members will knock on doors of potential voters to try and win them over
• This helps parties gauge how successful they will be in the upcoming election
• For example many SNP members knocked on doors around Ayr to attempt to get people to vote for Allan Dorrans

Question 24

Name a campaign method used by politicians. (E)

Answer 24

• Celebrity Endorsements
• The party attracts and uses celebrities to promote policies
• They can influence their fans and supporters into following a political party
• Stormzy used his audience of 100000 at Glastonbury to chant “Oh Jeremy Corbyn”

Question 25

How do politicians campaign using the media? (N)

Answer 25

• Newspapers
• Candidates can appear in newspapers to spread information about policies to readers
• They can use their columns to dismiss other parties or candidates
• Ex PM Boris Johnson appeared in many newspapers which supported him such as the Sun and Daily Mail

Question 26

How do politicians campaign using the media? (S)

Answer 26

• Social Media
• Candidates and parties will post information on policies using varies online platforms
• Social media is becoming increasingly popular every day, becoming a powerful place to speak
• 42 million Britons use Facebook making it a great place for politicians to campaign on

Question 27

How do politicians campaign using the media? (T)

Answer 27

• Television
• Politicial parties can make party election broadcasts (PEB) in which each party is given a designated time slot during popular viewing times
• They can also participate in televised debates on TV
• In the run up to the 2019 election, over 4 million people watched the conservative PEB aim which Boris remade a scene from Love Actually

Question 28

Name a group which is not equally represented in the House of Commons (W)

Answer 28

• Woman
• They can face discrimination from local parties who have a preconceived idea that their ideal candidate is a straight white and old man
• Many voters view politics as strictly for men and that woman shouldn’t be involved
• In the lead up to the 2019 election, a fifth of all google searches for Jo Swinson were about her body

Question 29

Name a group which is not equally represented in the House of Commons (E)

Answer 29

• Ethnic minority
• Compared to their percentage of the population they are not equally represented in parliament
• This could be due to a lack of role models or education quality
• Rishi Sunak is the first PM which is a member of the BAME community

Question 30

Name a function of the house of lords. (L)

Answer 30

• Making laws
• Each sitting day in the House of Lords, Lords question government ministers in the chamber to find out what they are doing or propose to do
• Members debate important issues to see what the house believes is an issue
• The ‘Future Generations Bill’ introduced by Lord John Bird passed in its third reading meaning the government had to consider all long term effects of new policies

Question 31

Name a function of the house of lords. (C)

Answer 31

• Committee work
• The lords will form expert committees to unpick bills and investigate any issues
• Since a majority of Lords are experts in certain fields, it can be argued they can assess laws more effectively than MPs
• Lord Alderdice was on the Covid-19 select committee

Question 32

Name a strength of FPTP. (W)

Answer 32

• Produces a clear winner
• Due to one MP being elected per constituency it is easy to see who represents them in parliament
• One party usually wins over half the seats in commons allowing them to form a majority government
• The Conservatives win 365 seats in 2019, 80 over all the other parties combined

Question 33

Name a strength of FPTP. (U)

Answer 33

• Easy to understand
• To vote people only need to put an X next to the candidate they want to elect
• This encourages a high turnout in general elections as it is not a complicated process
• In comparison to other systems it is straight forward as others require two votes or a ranking system

Question 34

Name a weakness of the FPTP. (T)

Answer 34

• Tactical voting
• People vote based on what candidate they feel has a higher chance of winning instead of their favourite
• This is due to first past the post being a winner takes all system meaning people vote for who is the best candidate with a chance of winning
• A Labour supporter living in Ayr may look at the way others have voted and decide not to vote as it is a waste of time

Question 35

Name a role of the media. (Knowledge)

Answer 35

• Inform us
• To keep the public up to date on recent affairs
• It should tell us any breaking news or important stories
• During Covid-19 the PM gave daily briefings on how to stay safe during the tough times

Question 36

Name a role of the media. (I)

Answer 36

• Influence us
• To make us think or feel a particular way
• To persuade us to vote for or follow a certain party
• In the run up to the 2019 general election the Daily Mail ran headlines supporting Boris Johnson and the Conservative

Question 37

Name a role of the media. (E)

Answer 37

• Educate us
• They must help teach us party policies, new laws, or complex issues
• It can do this through news columns or internet social media platforms
• 2019 election, all political parties used twitter to share their election manifestos to educate voters about them

Question 38

Name ways in which the media can be influential. (A)

Answer 38

• Targeted ads
• Facebook and Instagram can use data they collect about you to give you relevant ads to your characteristics and interests
• They use this in order to influence you to think certain ways
• Younger voters were more likely to see videos of the youngest SNP MP Mhari Black in comparison to anyone else

Question 39

Name ways in which the media can be influential. (F)

Answer 39

• Front page headlines
• Print media is allowed bias so they use their front pages to support parties or campaign
• They use their covers to express their opinions in a sensationalist way and encourage the reader to agree with them
• The Daily Mail ran headlines supporting the Conservative party in the run up to the 2019 general election

Question 40

Name ways in which the media can be influential. (D)

Answer 40

• Running debates
• Even though their broadcasts cannot be biased, they run televised debates for upcoming candidates
• This gives people at home an opportunity to see who they may want to vote for
• Nicola Sturgeon took part in the leaders debate on BBC and STV in 2017

Question 41

Name methods in which pressure groups use. (W)

Answer 41

• Writing letters
• Supporters and the public write to the government and companies to gain their support
• It shows people like MPs how many people support an issue and they may not want to lose votes going against it
• Surfers Against Sewage organised a letter writing campaign about a bottle deposit campaign in which the government backed

Question 42

Name methods in which pressure groups use. (P)

Answer 42

• Protesting
• Involves people marching, gathering in large crowds, and making their feeling known
• Groups may sometimes break laws whilst protesting which can attract media attention
• Climate Extinction group organised protests to shut down cities in which climate change was then discussed in Commons

Question 43

Name methods in which pressure groups use. (L)

Answer 43

• Lobbying
• Involves meeting with decisions makers like MPs to get them to support a cause
• Can be effective as it is done in person and can be shown to the media so MPs need to think about what they say
• During the pandemic the CBI lobbied the UK government to provide the furlough scheme which insured people would still have an income whilst unable to go to work