Elections and Referendums

Question 1

examples of referendums in UK

Answer 1

EU referendum 2016

Scottish Independenence 2014

AV vote referendum 2011

Question 2

elections should be …

Answer 2

competitive
overseen by an impartial judicary

Question 3

proportionality

Answer 3

percentage of votes should be equal to percentage of votes

Question 4

vote value

Answer 4

all votes should have equal value and no vote should feel pointless

Question 5

majoritarian system

Answer 5

seek some sort of majority

Question 6

proportional system

Answer 6

seek some sort of accurate representation

Question 7

what type of system is FPTP

Answer 7

a single member pularity system

(1 representative represents 1 constituency)

only 1 more vote needed than next competitor needed not an overral majority

Question 8

charachteristics of FPTP

Answer 8

• 2 party system
• a winners bonus
• bias towards majory parties
• discrimination against 3rd and smaller parties
• strong single party governments

Question 9

when is Additonal member system (AMS) used

Answer 9

scottish and welsh parliament

Question 10

when is Single transferable vote (STV) used

Answer 10

NI assemebly and scottish local elections

Question 11

what is Additonal member system (AMS)

Answer 11

• mixed system ( FPTP and proportional list)
• voters cast two votes on 1 ballot paper, one for a rep for their constituency by FPTP, and one for a party rep for their reigon by list PR
• each constituency rep gets a seat
• closed list for party vote (no name) party chooses person
• favours coalition gov

Question 12

percentage of adititonal members in scot and Wales

Answer 12

scot = 43%
wales = 20%
more additional members more representative

Question 13

voting behaviour

Answer 13

the analysis of why people vote the way they do

Question 14

background of 1979 election

Answer 14

large unemployment and failling economy due to large spending post ww2

end of the post war consensus

first time seeing ideology in the UK since before WW2 as thatcher was seen as a founder of Neo liberalism

Question 15

voting behaviour in 1979 election

Answer 15

AGE
18-24: Conservative 42%, Labour 41%
25-34: Conservative 43%, Labour 38%

Question 16

result of 1979 election

Answer 16

conservative: 339 seats (44%)
labour: 269 seats (37%)

Question 17

issues and party policy during 1979 election

Answer 17

LABOUR
- Highlighted its ability to deal with the troublesome trade unions

• Took a moderate policy on the economy

CONSERVATIVE
- Focused on ‘Labour isn’t working’ – linked to high unemployment

• Argued that Britain could and should be doing better
• Proposed the ‘right to buy’ your council (social) house
• Promised tax cuts

Question 18

leaders in 1979 election

Answer 18

conservative: Thatcher
labour: callaghan

Question 19

media in 1979 election

Answer 19

opinion polls showed Callaghan was popular candidate in 1979 – thatcher then won

Newspapers helped to sway opinion:
The Sun (Conservative) had 3.9m readers in 1980
Daily Mirror (Labour) had 3.1m readers in 1980

Question 20

background of 1997 election

Answer 20

the Tories had been in power for 18 years collectively (Thatcher and Major)

Tony Blair and New labour shifted towards the political center ground (which signified for Labour a shift to the right) as a reaction to the new thatcherite neoliberal consensus

Question 21

results of 1997 election

Answer 21

labour: 418 seats (43.2%)
conservative: 165 seats (30%)

Question 22

voting behaviour in 1997

Answer 22

Age: every single age group preferred Labour over the Conservatives.

Class: Labour appealed to the middle class during the campaign, and as such their vote share within this class increased.

Ethnicity: 70% of BAME voters voted for Labour, 18% of BAME voters voted for Conservatives.

Question 23

role of the media in 1997

Answer 23

the sun switched and backed labour

first use of tv debates

Question 24

party policy and manifesto in 1997

Answer 24

LABOUR
new labours shift to the centre

emphasis on personal repsonsibility over state responsibility

constitutional reform eg the lords and devoloution and encoroprating
european convention of human rights into UK law

CONSERVATIVES:
continue privitisation and extend to royal mail

pledged to reduce income tax to 20%

pledged to crackdown on benefit fraud

Question 25

leadership and campaign in 1997 election

Answer 25

Blair seen as young, charismatic and enthusiastic Major was seen as a weak leaderdue to party divides in previous years

tory campaign relied on attacking Blair on personal terms and slogan ‘new labour new danger’ labours campagin was optimisitic saying ‘things can only get better’ and had a strong appeal to young and middle class voters.

Question 26

how 1997 election shaped policy making

Answer 26

landslide victory allowed for labour to deliver on bulk of manifesto promises
however strong personal mandate can lead to pm feeling invincible.
blair went on to alientate areas of his party due to policies such as university tutition fees and invasion of Iraq which later it was concluded that blair hadnt be straight with the nation over evidence of weapons of mass destruction which led to the UK joining the US’s ‘war on terror’

Question 27

affect of electoral systems on 1997 election

Answer 27

labour won 43% of vote but 63% of MPs (winners bonus)
lib dem won 16% of vote but only 7% of MPs

Question 28

2019 election results

Answer 28

conservatives: 365 seats (43%)
labour: 203 seats (32%)

Question 29

2019 election background

Answer 29

end of 9 year coalliton with lib dems

election was able to be called due to early parliamentary general election act 2019

dominated by aftermath of brexit

strong sense of frustration amongst voters due to politcal stalement of brexit and still no deal 3 years on.

Question 30

party policy and manifesto of conservatives in 2019

Answer 30

‘get brexit done’

brexit overshadowed other issues such as 50,000 new nurses, no rise in income tax, VAT or national insurance

net zero by 2050

Question 31

party policy and manifesto of labour in 2019

Answer 31

promise of a second brexit referendum after negotiating a new deal. voters could choose between deal or remain

increase health spending

national minimum wage £10

nationalise big 6 energy companies and Royal Mail

Question 32

party policy and manifesto of lib dems in 2019

Answer 32

jo swinson tried to appeal to remain voters by pledging to revoke article 50 and for the uk to rejoin the eu
this was seen as a blatant disregard for the popular vote and led to her loosing her own seat.

Question 33

leadership and campagin in 2019

Answer 33

Corbyn failed to shine and seen as too far removed from ordinary voters leading many working class voters to shift votes due to personal dislike of corbyn

johnsons populist style went down well amongst voters

Question 34

how 2019 shaped policy making

Answer 34

election green lit johnson to make a brexit deal

covid pandemic led to policies such as eat out to help out and temporary rise in universal credit payments

Question 35

affect of electoral systems in 2019

Answer 35

conservatives gained 43% of vote but 56% of MPs (winners bonus)
lib dems gained 11% of vote but 1.7% of MPs

Question 36

examples of winners bonus

Answer 36

2019 - conservatives gained 43% of vote but 56% of MPs
1997 - labour won 43% of vote but 63% of MPs

Question 37

examples of 3rd parties being underepresented in parliament

Answer 37

2019 - lib dems gained 11% of vote but 1.7% of MPs
1997 - lib dem won 16% of vote but only 7% of MPs

Question 38

referendum

Answer 38

a direct vote on a policy measure

Question 39

results of EU referendum

Answer 39

52% leave
48% remain
turn out 72%

Question 40

results of AV referendum

Answer 40

30% yes to AV
70% no to AV
turn out 41%

Question 41

results of scottish indy referendum

Answer 41

55% no
45% yes
turn out 85%