Democracy in scotland Flashcards
Features of a democratic political society
Scotland is part of the UK
↳ The UK is a constitutional monarchy
↳ The UK uses representational democracy
↳ Everyone in scotland should have a representative in the local council, scottish parliament and UK parliament
↳ The success of a democracy relies on participation from the public
Reserved powers
- Benefits and social security
- Immigration
- Defence
- Foreign policy
- Employment
- Broadcasting
- Trade and Industry
- Nuclear energy, oil, gas, electricity
- Consumer rights
- Data protection
Devolved powers
- Health
- Education
- Justice
- Police and fire services
- Housing
- Local government
- The environment
- Sports and the arts
- Social work
- Agriculture
- Many aspects of transport: rail, road, buses
Changes to devolved powers
Ability to control rail franchising in Scotland.
↳ Introduced under the Scotland Act 2016
↳ David Cameron following indyref
↳ Scot gov can choose how to run the rail network is
run and the nationalisation of Railways.
↳ E.g. Nationalisation of scotrail
↳ Electrifying Scotland’s rail network
Control over income tax.
↳ Also introduced in 2016,
↳ Scot gov can decide tax brackets and tax levels
↳ E.g. in England there are 4 tax brackets whereas
Scotland has 6 brackets.
Powers of the First Minister
Appoint to cabinet:
↳ Appoint and dismiss in a 'reshuffle'
↳ Choose cabinet Ministers who are loyal
↳ 2016: John Swinney secretary for education + skills
↳ He is still in the cabinet today
Represent Scotland abroad:
↳ Global presence
↳ Discussions with world leaders
↳ 2020: New York tartan week
Has a majority:
↳ Can pass more bills
↳ Less need for cross party collaboration
↳ 7 seat majority with greens
Sets the government agenda:
↳ Chooses what areas the government will focus on
↳ This is in regards to all devolved matters
↳ Major decision making during 2020 over covid
Limits to the first ministers powers
Greens and SNP must agree to policy:
↳ Policy must agree with party beliefs and manifesto
↳ Free bus travel for U22s backed by greens & SNP
Cannot officially negotiate:
↳ Negotiation is reserved under international relations
↳ Nicola Sturgeon could not negotiate Brexit (officially)
Can only deal with devolved issues:
↳ Reserved matters are dealt with by the UK gov.
↳ The SNP believe in the denuclearisation of scotland
but cannot do it (Energy and defence are reserved)
Must work with the Prime Minister:
↳ Must work together on issues regarding the UK
↳ Drugs deaths are both health and drug related so
collaboration must occur
Rights and responsibilities
Freedom of speech:
↳ Responsibility to listen to others
↳ 2020 SQA exam results - complaints on twitter
Freedom of press:
↳ Responsibility to make news accurate
↳ Fake news/misinformation during covid
Right to protest:
↳ Responsibility to do so peacefully
↳ COP26 climate march, demanding climate action
Right to vote in an election:
↳ Responsibility to accept the result
↳ Scots vote for MSPs, MPs and councillors
↳ 2021: SNP won 64 seats, Mairi gougeon MSP for
Angus North and Mearns
Participation in politics
Vote
↳ Most common method of participation
↳ Turnout fluctuates
↳ contentious issues, weather, lowered voting age
Join a political party
↳ Attend party conferences, vote on new leaders, stand
as a candidate
Stand as a candidate
↳ Mairi Gougeon is MSP for Angus North and Mearns
↳ SNP party member
Campaign for a party
↳ Posters, leaflets, canvassing, drive older voters to
polling stations, attend political rallies
Join a pressure group
↳ Extinction rebellion, greenpeace, insulate britain
Campaigning
Leafleting:
↳ Outline the party/candidates beliefs
↳ Less intrusive, little effort for voters, useful method to
convey information
↳ Can be annoying, expensive, outrage over scottish
family party
Posters/billboards:
↳ Reach a wide range of people
↳ Can be used to show widespread support
↳ Can be expensive, vandalism reflects badly on the
party
Public meeting/rally:
↳ Leaders can address large crowds
↳ Celebrity support can be favourable
↳ Sean connery, SNP
↳ May only address supporters
Publishing a manifesto:
↳ Can gain party support
↳ Labour: pro workers unions
↳ Conservatives: pro UK union
Media:
↳ Politicians use TV and radio to promote themselves
↳ Social media can be cheap and very influential
↳ SNP has 326.8K followers on twitter
Role of MSPs
Motions and debates:
↳ Raise awareness of local or national
issues/concerns
↳ Members business debates on constituency issues
↳ Katy Clark of Labour recently introduced a debate
over the P&O ferries mass dismissal
Committee inquiries
↳ Key role in holding Scot Gov. accountable
↳ Can be on matters affecting constituents
↳ Could ask constituents to make statements
↳ Transport committee: free bus travel (U22s)
Legislation:
↳ MSPs can scrutinise and amend proposed bills
↳ Members bills proposed by a single MSP
↳ Can relate to local issues
↳ May 2020: Amendment to the Dogs
(protection of livestock) bill
↳ Emma Harper - SNP
Improving representation of Women and ethnic minorities
All women Shortlists (AWS) ↳ Used by SNP ↳ Used to replace retiring/quitting MSPs ↳ A list of all female candidates are chosen from ↳ Positive discrimination
'Zipped lists'
↳ Used by labour and Greens
↳ Regional lists alternate gender
↳ Can get closer to 50:50 gender balance
↳ 10 out of 22 labour MSPs female
↳ 49% of greens female
↳ Seen as less discriminatory
↳ Lists can also favour minorities
Ethnic minority representation is improving
↳ This could be due to role models such as Anas
Sarwar and Humza Yousaf
↳ In the 2021 election the first two women of colour were elected
↳ BAME representation is now accurate
↳ In 2018 4% of Scotland’s population were ethnic
minorities
↳ The 2021 election has 4.5% BAME MSPs (6 MSPs)
Committees
The ability to introduce bills
↳ Their bills must be debated in chamber
↳ Bills come from a cross-party group
↳ They carry weight
↳ 2022: transport committee introduced free bus travel
for under 19s (extended to under 22s)
They hold the government accountable
↳ They do this through inquiries
↳ They are the sole group in charge of this
↳ 2021: Inquiry into Nicola sturgeon handling of Alex
Salmond allegations
↳ Found to have unknowingly misled parliament
Features of AMS
Purple ballot: constituency MSP, FPTP, not considered
Proportional, vote for a candidate specifically
Peach ballot: uses AMS, is proportional, for 7 regional
MSPs aims to match % vote share to % Seat Share
Each constituent has 8 MSP representatives.
↳ Almost impossible for all 8 to be from the same
party
Regional lists can be biased towards loyal MSPs, but They can also promote fairer representation.
Disadvantages of AMS
Coalitions seen as weak:
↳ Theresa May conservative-DUP coalition created a
very bad image of coalitions
↳ Since 1999: 2 coalitions, 1 power sharing agreement
System is complex:
↳ Double vote leads to confusion
↳ UK turnout higher than scottish
↳ 2021 scot: 63%, 2019 UK: 67%
Constituency dominance is an issue:
↳ Number of regional seats cannot counteract a high
constituency vote
↳ SNP 2021: 40.3% vote share, 49.6% seat share
↳ This means the system does not fully produce
proportional representation
Advantages of AMS
Voters have more choice:
↳ 2 votes instead of 1
↳ Increases turnout as people feel they can make a
difference
↳ 2021 highest vote turnout yet at 63%
↳ Voters can contact a range of MSPs, from a range of parties, who represent them
Overall result is more accurate:
↳ Seat share accurately reflects vote share
↳ People feel they get the parliament they voted for
↳ 2021: conservatives 23.5% vs 24%
↳ 2019 UK: conservatives 43.6% vs 56.2%
Forms stronger governments:
↳ Leads to coalition and minority governments
↳ Better representation of smaller parties
↳ Encourages cross party support & discussion
↳ 2021: SNP one seat off majority
↳ Green and SNP power sharing agreement
↳ Gives them a 14 seat majority (71-57)
