Elections and Referendums Flashcards
examples of referendums in UK
EU referendum 2016
Scottish Independenence 2014
AV vote referendum 2011
elections should be …
competitive
overseen by an impartial judicary
proportionality
percentage of votes should be equal to percentage of votes
vote value
all votes should have equal value and no vote should feel pointless
majoritarian system
seek some sort of majority
proportional system
seek some sort of accurate representation
what type of system is FPTP
a single member pularity system
(1 representative represents 1 constituency)
only 1 more vote needed than next competitor needed not an overral majority
charachteristics of FPTP
- 2 party system
- a winners bonus
- bias towards majory parties
- discrimination against 3rd and smaller parties
- strong single party governments
when is Additonal member system (AMS) used
scottish and welsh parliament
when is Single transferable vote (STV) used
NI assemebly and scottish local elections
what is Additonal member system (AMS)
- 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
percentage of adititonal members in scot and Wales
scot = 43%
wales = 20%
more additional members more representative
voting behaviour
the analysis of why people vote the way they do
background of 1979 election
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
voting behaviour in 1979 election
AGE
18-24: Conservative 42%, Labour 41%
25-34: Conservative 43%, Labour 38%
result of 1979 election
conservative: 339 seats (44%)
labour: 269 seats (37%)
issues and party policy during 1979 election
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
leaders in 1979 election
conservative: Thatcher
labour: callaghan
media in 1979 election
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
background of 1997 election
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
results of 1997 election
labour: 418 seats (43.2%)
conservative: 165 seats (30%)
voting behaviour in 1997
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.
role of the media in 1997
the sun switched and backed labour
first use of tv debates
party policy and manifesto in 1997
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
leadership and campaign in 1997 election
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.
how 1997 election shaped policy making
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’
affect of electoral systems on 1997 election
labour won 43% of vote but 63% of MPs (winners bonus)
lib dem won 16% of vote but only 7% of MPs
2019 election results
conservatives: 365 seats (43%)
labour: 203 seats (32%)
2019 election background
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.
party policy and manifesto of conservatives in 2019
‘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
party policy and manifesto of labour in 2019
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
party policy and manifesto of lib dems in 2019
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.
leadership and campagin in 2019
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
how 2019 shaped policy making
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
affect of electoral systems in 2019
conservatives gained 43% of vote but 56% of MPs (winners bonus)
lib dems gained 11% of vote but 1.7% of MPs
examples of winners bonus
2019 - conservatives gained 43% of vote but 56% of MPs
1997 - labour won 43% of vote but 63% of MPs
examples of 3rd parties being underepresented in parliament
2019 - lib dems gained 11% of vote but 1.7% of MPs
1997 - lib dem won 16% of vote but only 7% of MPs
referendum
a direct vote on a policy measure
results of EU referendum
52% leave
48% remain
turn out 72%
results of AV referendum
30% yes to AV
70% no to AV
turn out 41%
results of scottish indy referendum
55% no
45% yes
turn out 85%
