Politics Paper 1 evidence bank Flashcards
Examples of Direct Democracy in UK system
- Referendums
-Recall of MPs Act 2015
-E-Petitions
-Citizens Assemblies
Referendums:
- 2016 EU referendum, turnout= 72.2%, outcome= 51% YES
- 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum= 84.6%, outcome= 55% NO
- 1997 Wales Devolution Referendum, turnout= 50%, outcome= 50% YES
- 2011 AV referendum, turnout= 42%, outcome= 67% NO
Recall of MPs Act:
Has successfully removed:
- Fiona Onasanya 2019 (MP for Peterborough)
- Christopher Davies 2019 (MP for Brecon and Radnorshire), limited recall petition accountability as he also ran in the by-election for his seat
- Margaret Ferrier 2023 (MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
- Peter Bone 2023 (MP for Wellingborough)
- Scott Benton 2024 (MP for Blackpool South)
Unsuccessful:
- Ian Paisley 2018, petition unsuccessful as it was only signed by 9.4% of constituents and did not meet the 10% threshold
E-Petitions
- 2020 Petition for Ending Child Food Poverty, received 1,113,889 signatures (as a consequence of Marcus Rashford’s activism)
- 2019 Revoke Article 50, received 6 million signatures yet was not debated in Parliament/was rejected by gov (most signed UK petition on record)
Change.org currently has 567,000 signatures on a petition for compensation for those victims of the Post Office Scandal
the End Period Poverty campaign began with an E-Petition to scrap 2016 tampon tax (which classed sanitary products as ‘luxury goods’ resulted in the government and treasury scrapping VAT on sanitary products
Representative Democracy: voter turnout
- 2021 London Mayoral election, turnout= 19.1%
- 1979 GE, turnout= 76%
- 1997 GE, turnout= 71%
- 2001 GE, turnout= 59%
- 2017 GE, turnout= 69%
- 2019 GE, turnout= 67%
Representative Democracy- flawed by FPTP
- 2015 UKIP won 12.6% popular vote yet 1 seat
- 2019 Lib Dem’s won 19% of the seats yet 2% of the vote
- On average the Conservatives have achieved 42% of the vote on their 8 election victories since 1980 but a majority of seats
Wider Franchise and debates over Suffrage
- Over 89% of 16-17 year olds registered for the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum
- The Elections Act 2022: new voter ID requirements, photo ID compulsory for in-person voting (potential voter suppression)
- 2023 Voter Authority Certificate Service launched, allowing UK electorate to obtain free form of photo ID
- Public awareness of ID requirements: 22% in Dec 2022 to 76% in April 2023
Pressure Groups and other influences: types
- Insider Pressure groups
- Outsider Pressure groups
- Sectional Pressure groups
- Promotional/causational Pressure groups
- lobbyists
- think tanks
- the influence of trade unions (& their protest methods)
Pressure Groups: Civil Disobedience
-In 2023, Just Stop Oil abandons disruptive climate protests in the UK after being shamed by the Conservative Government
-Insulate britain - blocking the m25
-Fathers4Justice had to abandon methods of civil disobedience (such as in 2004 throwing purple flour on Tony Blair during Commons meetings and dressing up as Superheroes etc) failed to achieve an significant legislative change of public awareness and opinion
- Police, Crime and Sentencing Act 2022- strengthens police powers to tackle disruptive protests
- 77% of Junior Doctors voted to strike in 2023- disruptive strikes from multiple unions during 2023
Pressure Groups: awareness campaigns
- Don’t Pay UK (grass roots) In response to the Cost of Living Crisis, is a grassroots campaign opposing the rise in energy bills, 192,000 people have signed up for the campaign
- Protecting and defending vulnerable people in society, ideas of prevention of ‘tyranny of the minority’, pressure groups and their campaigns are only successful with mass public support e.g Lumley 2008 Guerkha campaign and Marcus Rashford free school meals campaign 2021- require a cross-section of society to approve (prevention of ‘tyranny of the minority’
Pressure Groups: Insider Groups
- CBI (confederation of British industry) key insider pressure group. In 2022 Sunak made a speech at the CBI conference- the CBI analysed the details of the 2022 Austin Statement. The CBI responded to the speech by requesting to hear details of measures taken to achieve Sunak goals
- BMA- Lobbied policy makers through direct meetings, parliamentary briefings and media work to ensure that the Health and Care Act 2022 addressed their concerns
- BMA- involvement in Medicinal policy e.g 2007 smoking ban in enclosed spaces and 2015 smoking ban in cars carrying children
Pressure Groups: Outsider Groups
- Liberty- 2023 legal action against the Home Secretary, following laws that give police almost unlimited power to shut down protests
- 38 Degrees- uses social media to effect change and has 2.5 million members
-38 Degrees has been successful in stopping the privatisation of England’s forests (e.g forest of dean protests, Hands of Our Forests protest 2010) and their website allows members to quickly chose and advocate for their own campaign - GreenPeace- influenced the decision of Michael Gove to ban bee harming pesticides, HOWEVER this ban was repealed in 2023
- Marcus Rashford worked with ‘Fare Share’ on the #MakeTheUTurn and convinced the government to provide families in England with vouchers for free school meals during the summer holidays for pupils in need
- Care4Calais- refugee supporting pressure group, involved in protests against Rwanda programme
Pressure Groups: Trade Union
- 2014 BMA, junior doctor contracts with Jeremy Hunt, 2015 more than 98% of junior doctors voted to strike, however never striked as Hunt threatened to impose contacts anyway
- 2022/2023 NEU, after strikes succeeded in securing a 6% pay rise
- 2024 April Railworkers strikes, members of Aslef union aim to disrupt 14 railway services, disputes over pay and working arrangements
Think tanks:
- Liz Truss in 2022 had important links with Neo-Liberal think tank ‘Institute of Economic Affairs’- according to the head of the IEA, Truss had spoken at more of its events than any other politician over the past 12 years
- Truss’s senior special advisor, Ruth Porter was communications director at the IEA
- Truss’s political secretary, Sophie Jarvis was head of government affairs at the Adam Smith Institute
- IEA had significant influence in Brexit- for example in the UK also leaving the EU single market
- Institute for Fiscal Studies revealed the ‘fiscal hole’ after the 2022 mini budget- important as the government wouldn’t publish broadcast by the independent office of budget responsibility
- The Adam Smith instutiute, UK-based neo-liberal thinktank offering economic advice to the government of day
Lobbying:
2021 Greensill Scandal- Cameron lobbied Sunak via text message on behalf of the company ‘Greensill’ who paid him £10 million over the course of two and a half years of part time work- accused of exploited contacts for his own personal benefits
Owen Patterson left the Commons after November 2021 after being accused of breaking lobbying rules, Patterson used his position of power to benefit 2 companies for which he was a paid consultant, Randox
1994 Cash for Questions scandal in the commons
Bernie Ecclestone Affair. Funding Scandal under Blair, 1997, Ecclestone the motor racing tycoon had switched his financial support from Conservative to Labour, Ecclestone gave Labour £1million only months before the election, he met Blair and lobbied him to exempt formula one racing from a tobacco advertising ban, arguing that as many as 200,000 jobs could be lost
Political Parties:
- In 2015 the Conservatives won 37% of the vote but 51% of the seats
- In 2015 The Green Party won 1 million votes but only 1 seat
- In 2015 UKIP won 12.6% of the votes (influenced by the demand for brexit) which was the third largest vote share and only won one seat
- In 2017 UKIP only won 1.8% of the vote
- In 2019 Johnson was elected Party Leader and consequently PM by 1% of the population (100,000 Conservative members)
only won 1.8% of the vote - 2017 Labour and Conservative received highest vote share since 1979- they had 82.3% of the vote share
- 2015 SNP won 56/59 available Westminster seats
- SNP currently holds 63/129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 43/59 seats in Westminster
- Plaid Cymru currently holds 3/40 Westminster seats and 12/60 seats in the Senedd
Party funding:
- Housing Minister Robert Genrick rushed through approval for development projects in order to satisfy Conservative donor Richard Desmond- saved him millions
- 2009 Parliamentary Expenses Scandal, misuse of allowances and expenses by MPs e.g over their second homes etc
- Political Parties reported donations of £51 million in 2022, In 2022 funding Conservatives receiving £4,860,000, Labour received £7,220,000, LibDems received £1,432,000 and The Green Party received £172,000
- 2015 membership fees how much party got: labour got the most earning over £9 mill from membership fees and SNP second most earning £2.7 mill
- In 2022 less than 1.5% of the british population were part of the ‘major three’ parties: the conservatives, labour or the lib dems
- £2 mill state funding to be allocated to opposition parties, distributing £1 mill between all eligible parties equally (NOT used for campaigning purposes but for scrutiny) -SHORT MONEY, each party with over 150,000 votes get £19,000
- after 2019 Labour got allocated over £400,000 state funding, greatest of any opposition party, totalling £900,000 to fund the opposition office
Electoral Systems:
- 2011 AV referendums: turnout was 42.2%, votes against AV = 67.9%
In 2005 Labour was voted in under FPTP with just 35.3% of the popular vote
2016 Brexit Referendum: Votes to Leave = 51.9%, Votes to Remain = 48.1%
2014 Scottish Independence Referendum: Turnout= 84.6%, Votes to remain in the UK = 55%
-2021 Scottish Parliament Election (AMS) Voting Turnout = 63.5%
2017 General Election: Voter Turnout was 68.8%, Labour and Conservative high vote share was 82.3%
2015 General Election: Conservatives won 37% of the vote yet 51% of the seats
In 2019, the Conservatives won 365/650 seats despite only receiving 43.6%
Voting behaviour and the media: long term factors (AGE)
In the 2017 General Election:
64% of 18-24 year olds voted for Labour
61% of 65+ voted for the Conservatives
In the EU referendum:
64% of voters aged 18-24 voted to remain in the EU
61% of voters aged 65+ voted to leave the EU
In 2019- 56% of 18-24 year olds voted Labour- supported from all ages under 39
2019- 57% of 60-69 year olds voted for the Conservatives in 2019
Voting behaviour and the media: Long term factors (CLASS)
In 1997 Blair increased his vote share in all class categories
In 1997- 37% of AB voters voted Labour
In 1997 41% of C2 (skilled manual) voted for the Conservatives
In 2017 48% of AB voters voted Conservative
In 2017 32% of AB voters voted Labour
In 2015 36% of AB voters voted Labour
In 2019 36% of AB voters voted Labour
Voting behaviour and the media: long term factors (REGION)
In the 2019 General Election:
57.4% of people in the south east of england voted for the conservative party
Wales, a typical Labour stronghold, but in 2019 Labour lost 6 seats in Wales
Collapse of the Red Wall
North East 48.2% voted Labour
Voting behaviour and the media: short term factors (MEDIA)
- The Sun has backed every winner since 1979
- In 1997 the Sun backed the Labour Party
- In 1992 ‘Its the Sun wot won it’ -allowed for an unexpected Conservative victory
- 1997 saw first use of TV debates
- 2017 Labour still scored highly despite constant negative press about Corbyn
- 2017 May still won despite being seen as a ‘may bot’ with a lack of TV presence
- Opinion polls showed Callaghan as a popular candidate in 1979
- Conservatives divided over the EU in 1997 whilst Labour were united around Blair’s third way
- 2010- introduction of TV debates and consequential ‘Cleggmania’
- 1992 The Sun had a circulation of 3.5 million readers and the Mirror 2.9 million, The Sun’s figures had dropped to 1.2 million by 2020, at which point it stopped reporting them, and the Mirror’s were down to barely 300,000.
