The United Kingdom and Scotland

Question 1

What are the 4 functions of Parliament

Answer 1

1.Representation
2. Legislation
3. Scrutiny
4. Debate

Question 2

Explain the function of a party whip

Answer 2

-Deployed to enforce party loyalty
- try to persuade the party to unite behind key decisions of the party leadership

Question 3

Explain the whips duties

Answer 3

-Maximising the party’s voting strength by ensuring attendance at votes
-Keeping leadership involved with the opinions of backbenchers and alerting them to potential rebels

Question 4

Explain Members interests

Answer 4

Many MPs represetn outside interests and receive a fee or other perks for promoting a particular interest especially during the prep and progress of legislation (e.g. tabacco companies and Trade Unions) MPs must declare on a register

Question 4

How is legislation passed

Answer 4

must be passed through both the commons and the Lords and be signed by the Head of State (monarch)

Question 5

What does the UK Cabinet consist of?

Answer 5

The Prime Minister, ministers and civil servants

Question 5

Expand on the composition of cabinet

Answer 5

-The Cabinet has no formal existence in British politics, it is a conventional character of British govt.
- Composed of those sr ministers who are heads of the Home office, treasury etc and is chaired by the PM
-Each govt department has a group of civil servants to advise the minister and implement policies

Question 6

Expand on collective responsibility

Answer 6

-If ministers disagree with a decision taken in cabinet and they feel the need to oppose, they are expected to resign
-This is to maintain and create authority of the government and is considered vital a government appear united and confident

Question 7

Explain the role of committees

Answer 7

Committees take 2 forms
-Standing committees and Ad House of Commons committee
-Standing committees are permanent and survive changes of government
- Ad HoC committees are those formed for a specific purpose and become redundant after such business is completer or abandoned

Question 8

What are some criticisms of the role of committees?

Answer 8

-Critics argue that the growth of the committee system bypasses the cabinet system and enhances the powers of the PM at the expense of their cabinet colleagues.
-The PM chooses who sits on such committees

Question 9

Analyse the 2005 election

Answer 9

-Labour 35.3%
-Tories 32.3%
-Liberals 22.1%
-Labour won by only 3% more of the vote than the conservatives, yet won 157 more seats. Lib Dems won one fifth of the vote but only got 62 seats.

Question 10

State the advantages of First Past the Post as an electoral system

Answer 10

-Easy to understand and participate in
-Often provides strong govt with a healthy majority
-One MP per constituency is siad to create a clear link between People and Parliament

Question 11

State the disadvantages of FPTP as an electoral system

Answer 11

-suits two parties and maintains a two party system
-Majority of voters are unlikely to have voted for the winning party
-Percentage of seats is unlikely to match the percentage of the vote
-Can encourage apathy and low voter turn out
-Reflects and perpetuates regional divides

Question 12

How does the FPTP system effect the Prime Ministers powers

Answer 12

-Can be argued FPTP exaggerates the support for the party in govt and thus rewards PM with too much power relative to their support
-Johnsons ‘Whopping majority’ was based on 43.5% of the vote
-Some would argue the system is no longer fit for purpose due to the questions of legitimacy of the system in terms of fair representation

Question 13

Describe the FPTP system

Answer 13

-Country is divided into 650 constituencies and one seat is assigned to each constituency
- One MP is elected per each seat
-Most candidate belong to a party but some stand as an independent
-A party needs 326 seats to have a majority

Question 14

What is a pressure group

Answer 14

-A group of like minded people who link together in order to achieve commonly held objectives. they try to influence politicians in voting a certain way
-Can be local or international
-can be temporary either locally or nationally, to deal with a specific issue has arisen

Question 15

Define Interest and Cause groups

Answer 15

-Interest- Generally acts for the benefit of its own members, or those in a specific sector of society
-Cause- Normally fight for what the believe is a moral cause. Members are unlikely to benefit from the success of their actions

Question 16

What are the functions of a Pressure Groups

Answer 16

-Important for Pluralism- pressure groups act as intermediaries between the govt and the people
-Education/awareness raising
-Democratic deficit- Between election periods the govt may have to act differently from the wishes of the people. PG are seen to reduce this deficit, by maintaining pressure on the govt