Participation and Democracy case studies Flashcards
1
Q
1997 GE
A
- Blair= 43.2%= 418 seats
- Major= 30.7%
- TO= 71.3%
2
Q
2010 GE
A
- Cameron= 36.1%
- Brown= 29%
- Clegg= 23%
- TO= 65.1%
- LD won 56 seats
- 363 seats combined
3
Q
2015 GE
A
- Cameron= 36.9%= 330 seats
- Miliband= 30.4%
- TO= 66.4%
4
Q
2017 GE
A
- May= 42.3%= 317 seats
- Corbyn= 40%
- TO= 67.3%
5
Q
2024 GE
A
- Starmer= 33.7%= 411 seats
- Sunak= 23.7%
- TO= 59.8%
6
Q
2016 BREXIT ref
A
- leave= 52%
- TO= 72.2%
- 76% MPs were remain
7
Q
1998 Good Friday Agreement
A
- YES= 71%
- TO= 81%
8
Q
2005 Edinburgh congestion charge
A
- NO= 74.4%
- TO= 61.7%
9
Q
1997 Welsh devolution ref
A
- YES= 50.3%
- NO= 49.7%
- TO= 50.1
10
Q
adv refs
A
- if politicians can’t agree= more power to public to unite disagreements
- helps educate public on important issues
- makes gov listen to party and the ppl e.g. 2014 Scot ind ref
11
Q
disadv refs
A
- promote tyranny of majority
- may lead to ill-informed decisions
- lead to divisions within parties and countries
12
Q
pressure groups
A
- controversial techniques of outsiders
= 2009 PETA dressed as KKK at crufts - connections
= NFU work w gov to get nursery workers extended tax exemption - celeb endorsements
= Joanna Lumley for Gurkha Justice campaign
= petition was signed by over 250,000 ppl
= gov granted equal rights of residency to all Gurkhas - rich PGs are closer to decision making bodies
= devolution of decision-making powers has meant groups like Friends of the Earth and ASH run offices in Edinburgh and Cardiff - social media platform
= national trust has 939.6K followers on twitter - political bias of gov determines PG success
= Taxpayer’s Allowance= influential to Tory gov
= represents big cooperations and businesses - insider PG= Fawcett Society= argued 2010 equality act didn’t go far enough
= pushed for 2017/18 legislation to publish their pay gap= firms must publish pay gap and show efforts on decreasing it if firms have over 250 workers
= also led to 2023 worker protection bill which protects women against sexual harassment in the workplace as sexual harassment is experienced by 40% of women in the workforce over the course of their career - outsider PG extinction rebellion often shuts down farnborough airport as it is a massive CO2 emitter
- Just Stop Oil continues to disrupt major events, including Wimbledon and Snooker in 2023
- Insider PGs like The Howard League for Prison Reform, Amnesty International, and The Prison Reform Trust fought to overturn this
= John Hirst had funding by this group to overturn the blanket ban on prisoners being disenfranchised by the 1983 act in 2005
= ECHR ruled that banning prisoners from voting violated the Human Rights Act 1998
= entire UK hasn’t reformed voting rights for prisoners, but Scotland has given the right to vote back to prisoners who have served a sentence of less than 12 months - RSPB has over 1 million members
= has a membership larger than the combined memberships of the main 3 parties - National Trust is the largest voluntary organisation in Europe, with a membership of 3.4 million
- 2016 NHS Support Federation made e petition to prevent privatisation of NHS= signed by over 700,000 ppl
13
Q
think tanks
A
- depends on party in power
= LD Institute for Public Policy was active during 2010 coalition but less power after - TTs work behind the scenes to influence party decisions
= Adam Smith Institute had power over Truss’ mini budget in 2023 due to their campaigns
= Truss’ department appointed representatives from the IEA and the Adam Smith Institute to the department’s ‘Strategic Trade Advisory Group’
14
Q
lobbyists
A
- new laws decrease their power
= Lobbying Act 2014 created a mandatory register for lobbyists who are paid to influence the government or Members of Parliament (MPs) on behalf of third parties
= Darryn McCarthy, the managing director of Camarillo Ltd, was the first to publicly register as a lobbyist under the 2014 Lobbying Act - Tory MP Scott Benton= offered to lobby for a false gambling company set up by the times reporters in return for a finical rewards
= offered to provide ‘expertise advice’ and influence within the HOC to change laws and restriction on current gambling laws
= lack of transparency - former MPs can be lobbyists
= direct access to gov
= former MP Kris Hopkins used his adv to lobby MPs over tech for Hawei company
= he accessed Westminster at least 26 times between 2017 and November 2021
= he discussed Boris Johnson’s communications chief over strategies to influence government ministers regarding Huawei’s position in the UK’s 5G network infrastructure - According to the House of Commons Code of Conduct
= former MPs who leave office are subject to a two-year ban on lobbying for commercial purposes
= means they can’t lobby on behalf of client to influence decisions made by their former colleagues for two years after leaving office
15
Q
tactics of PGs
A
- celeb endorsement
= 2008 Gurkha Justice Society endorsed Joanna Lumley - protests and strikes
= 2000s LGBTQ+ protests of PGs like Stonewall= led to Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 - social media attention
= Greenpeace has over 700,000 Twitter followers - e-petitions
= 2016, NHS Support Federation made e petition to prevent privatisation of NHS= signed by over 700,000 ppl
= open debate on the topic in Parliament
16
Q
We have democracy= don’t need reform
A
- FPTP delivers stable gov= Boris 2019 80 seat majority
- 1949 Parl Act= HOL only veto upto 2 years and 1999 HOL Act= 92 HPs and 644 LPs in 2023
- steady rates of participation in elections= 1997 GE= 71%
17
Q
We need democratic reform
A
- 2010 coalition= LB and C won 363 combined seats
- unrepresentative= 2017 GE UKIP win 12.6% vote, 1 seat
- HOL unelected body= still 92 HPs and 805 members
= only 29% are women= unrepresentative
= 2006 cash for peerages scandal= lord David Garrad gave money to Labour Party - increased apathy= 2024 GE TO= 59.8% and 2011 AV ref TO
= 42% and 2010= only 43% 18-24yrs voted - wasted votes due to tyranny of majority
= electroal reform society said in 2015 GE, 74.4% votes wasted= close results e.g. 2017= 42.3% vs 40%
18
Q
There is participation crisis
A
- partisan dealignment= 2015, only 30% said they were a ‘strong supporter’ of a party
= 1950= 3 mil tory party members vs 2010= 150,000
= lack of trust for parties= Michael Gove said “getting out of the EU can be quick and easy”= 3 years later the UK is still no closer to leaving= cause of less participation - FPTP is unrepresentative= 2015 GE UKIP won 12.6% vote share and 1 seat only= led to low GE TO= 2024, 59.8% vs 71% in 1997= 85% safe seats don’t change in GEs
- less engagement of young ppl= 2015 GE, only 43% 18-24yrs voted= feel their needs aren’t met by parties= disconnected w politics
party disillusionment of scandals etc and less education on importance of their vote - 2024 GE only 59.7% TO= lowest since 2001
19
Q
There isn’t participation crisis
A
- Non-party memberships more popular= National trust have 350,000 members= close to the current Labour Party membership numbers and 1 in 10 adults joined environmental PG
- high e-petition engagement since 2006= 2015, 450,000 ppl signed to increase housing etc for refugee migrants and also 2009 Gurkha Justice Society got 200,000 signatures
- high participation in refs= direct democracy= feel more control= 2016 Brexit ref= 72.2% TO and 2014 Scott Ind ref= 75% 16-17yrs voted and 95% wld vote again
20
Q
adv of opinion polls
A
- in a close contest, can improve turnout= display there is a need to vote to ensure that your candidate wins
- 2017 polls weren’t all wrong as they still reflected changing opinions during the campaigns
- opinion polls are part of the free media and are integral to a healthy representative democracy= they can ask and survey who they wish
21
Q
disadv of opinion polls
A
- they can ‘deflate turnout if they show a party way ahead’
= voters feel that the outcome is already decided so their vote will have little impact - they mislead and do not give an accurate reflection of the voting preferences across the UK
- polls are carried out by many different organisations meaning results cannot all accurately predict the same outcome. This could cause some people to be mislead by the inaccurate predictions of one specific poll. For example, in 2017 Survation predicted that the Conservatives would win by just one point
- can ‘influence the demand to call a general election’
= Parties can be inaccurately informed that their popularity has increased= causing them to cause an election which they ultimately lose= can negatively impact political parties as they allow their predictions to impact their agenda
= 2017 opinion polls showed a surge of support for May, following her embrace of Brexit
22
Q
opinion poll stats
A
- 2015 general election polls were predicting a coalition between 2 major parties= encouraged voter TO as many did not want hung parliament= TO was 66.4%
- after 1979 landslide, polls projected another Labour victory
= Gallup survey gave Labour 16 point lead, whilst the Times poll gave Labour a 15 point lead = 2001 election TO only 59% - Polls were inaccurate in 2017= Tory lead varying between 5-12%= would’ve resulted in Tory majority. However, Tories had minority of only 317
- IPOs accurately predicted a Tory win with 44% in 2017
23
Q
gov legislation examples good and bad
A
- 2010 equality act protects against discrimination in the workplace
= decreased gender pay gap from 36% in 1960 vs 15.5% in 2010 - public order act 2023= decreased rights to protest by increasing police power to shut down protests
= police allowed to decide if they are too disruptive, which is the purpose of these collective protest actions
= was an attempt at limiting actions of Just Stop Oil shutting down major roads in recent years - Representation of the People Act 1983 - banned prisoners from voting
It was argued that these people had no right to be represented because they broke the law
= problematic because whilst keeping prisoners from casting potentially disruptive votes, it violates their democratic rights as a citizen
= SC said it was incompatible with ECHR but gov ignored
24
Q
multi party system 2024?
A
- combined Conservative-Labour vote share was 57.4 per cent, the lowest total since the 1922
- 4/10 voters didn’t vote for 2 major parties
- 27.1 per cent of the votes cast in the 2024 general election were for candidates who did not represent any of the five well-known major and minor parties (Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem, SNP and Plaid Cymru)
- Reform UK and the Greens were disadvantaged by FPTP since they secured vote shares of 14 and 7 per cent respectively but received only 1 per cent of the seats each (5 and 4 seats
