Uk Democracy Flashcards
PMQT
PEELREEL
P: PMQT = effective
E: Allows for direct access to those most in power + public chance to expose gov
E: JL asked about the expansion of the borders railway through Hawick and Carlisle 22nd June 2022
R: PMQT = ineffective
E: Descend into shouting + no. of questions limited
E: 300 MPs apply each week, only 15 accepted
Voting (HoC)
PEELREEL
P: Voting = effective
E: Voting can sometimes defeat the will of the gov by outnumbering them on bills, is easier to beat minority then majority govs
E: in 2013 MP’s voted against gov motion urging UK military involvement in Syria
R: Voting = ineffective
E: Because gov usually keeps their party voting how they want them to via party whips and ignoring it = facing punishment eg. Kicked out
E: In 2015 the gov won a vote to launch air strikes against Islamic state terrorists in Syria which PM instated a 3 line whip
Holding Up Legislation
PEELREEL
P: Holding Up Legislation
E: HoL scrutinise and amend bills + bill cannot pass without consent from HoL
E: 2022 the HoL successfully amended the employment residential accommodation bill.
R: Holding up Legislation = ineffective
E: Any changes have to be voted on in commons too so changes can be rejected.
E: Changes to Article 50 in brexit were suggested by HoL but rejected by HoC
Parliamentary Representatives holding the Government
Main Points
- Votes in House of Commons
- PMQT
- HoL holding up legislation
Debates
PEELREEL
P: Debates = effective
E: Lords have more specific expertise and can discuss more controversial topics to make sure legislation is better
E: Debate on prescription charges in England contained former GP’s, consultants and President of Mencap
R: Debates = ineffective
E: Said experts do not turn up to improve bills via debates
E: On average around 57% of Lords attend debates
Powers of the Executive (PM)
Main Points
- Power of Appointment/Dismissal
- Party Leader
- International Statesman
Power of Appointment and Dismissal
PEELREEL
P: Power of Appointment and Dismissal
E: Can hire or fire those he sees as friends or enemies giving him power to control high level decisions
E: Rishi Sunak re-shuffled his cabinet in Feb 2023, making Lucy Fraser culture, media and sport secretary
R: Can be limited by coalition govs
E: With a coalition you need people who are part of both parties so PM does not fully get to control appointments
E: Nick Clegg appointed Chris Huhne as Energy and Climate Change secretary in 2010.
Party Leader
PEELREEL
P: Power of being party leader
E: Chairs the cabinet to keep favourable topics in rotation and push back others
E: Boris had to conduct virtual cabinet meetings in Covid
R: Can be limited
E- Party leader relies heavily on the support of their party and MPs to push through bills they want so if no support
E- January following a failure of Mays Brexit bill Conservatives MPs triggered a vote of no confidence 15% of MPs must write a letter stating they have no confidence – 48 letters were received.
Ways citizens can influence decision making (20)
Main Points
- Voting
- Joining a political party
- Standing as a candidate
Voting
PEELREEL
P- Voting
E- By voting citizens can elect those they feel best represents them and their ideals in government
E- 2017 snap election John Lamont was elected with an 11,000 majority and replaced Callum Kerr
R- Restricted as Votes wasted
E- Due to the FPTP system votes who did not vote for winner are irrelevant
E- R- FPTP doesn’t provide representation
R- Small parties underrepresented doesn’t take into account spread votes leaving smaller parties with nothing
E- Green had 506, 669 votes but only 1.7% of seats in 2019
Joining a political party
PEELREEL
P- Joining a political party
E- Allows citizens to participate in the party and its leader more effectively
E- Jeremy Corbyn received very high
levels of support from Labour party members despite not being very popular with Labour MPs in 2015.
R- Restricted
E- Members often do not have that much say or power over matters
E- Brexit has proven to be a subject which has caused real divide particularly in the Conservative party.
Standing as a candidate
PEELREEL
P- Standing as a candidate
E- People can stand for their beliefs themslevs and stand as an election candidate as long as they meet requirements
E- Rishi Sunak stood as a candidate in 2015 for the Richmond (York) constituency and has been MP since
R- Restricted
E- Due to long standing stereotypes some have better chances than others
E- Following the 2015 UK Parliament election, almost a third (32%) of MPs in the House of Commons went to private school, according to an analysis by an education charity.
Alternative forms of governance (20)
Main Points
- Economy
- Democracy
- Defence
Economy
PEELREEL
P- Economy
E- Unionists believe Scotland would be worse off as they spend more than UK gives them
E- In 2019-2020 the fiscal deficit was £15 billion which is roughly what was spent on the NHS in Scotland
R- Nationalists believe otherwise
E- Believe in the long run it will be better off as many small countries leave big ones and become richer
E- Ireland was poorer per capita than UK before leaving but is now richer than Scotland
Democracy
PEELREEL
P- Democracy
E- Unionists believe that staying is better as they are represented in both parliament to better the country
E- Johnson’s UK gov won only 25% and 6/59 Scottish seats but still promised to protect Scottish fishing industries
R- Nationalists believe otherwise
E- Aslong as Scotland is part of the UK there is always a risk of being outvoted by the bigger country
E- Brexit the majority of people in most constituencies in Scotland voted to remain yet they still had to leave
Defence
PEELREEL
P- Defence
E- Unionists believe Scotland benefits from sharing the defence capabilities as they are very expensive
E- SNP plans for defence for a single squadron of fast jets but UK has 4 times that positioned in Scotland
R- Nationalists believe otherwise
E- They can join a mutual defence groups like NATO to meet their defence needs in an affordable way
E- Fast jest from multiple NATO countries are deployed in Estonia to defend airspace from Russia
Methods of Pressure groups
Main Points
- Protests
- Petitions
- Lobbying MP’s
Protests
PEELREEL
P- Protests
E- Effective as can publicly bring attention and take action towards aim
E- In 2013 there were numerous protests in the UK about the so-called “Bedroom Tax”, protestors came out against UK Government cuts to welfare
spending
R- Can be unsuccessful
E- Can be ignored and rarely results in change
E- In 2003 1 million people marched against the war in Iraq however the war went ahead anyway
Petitions
PEELREEL
P- Petitions
E- Can show support of public to gov and force action to be taken
E- around 320,000 signatures on the sanitary products taxation stop was accepted in 2016
R- Can be unsuccessful
E- Does not always garuntee change and can just be ignored if no signings
E- The petition to revoke article 50 and remain in the EU attracted over 6 million signatures and was debated in House of Commons on 1st April 2019. Yet the decision taken was “This Government will not revoke article 50.”
Lobbying MP’s
PEELREEL
P- Lobbying MP’s
E- Groups find politicians to try and persuade politicians to support their cause
E- in 2021 Scotland will become the first country in the world to have a LGBT inclusive education system as the TIE pressure group lobbied enough MSPs and Government Ministers eventually gaining their support.
R- Can be unsuccessful
E- Mp’s can be unsympathetic and ignore groups, particularly outsider groups that are unheard of
E- the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has been lobbying MPs in parliament for over 40 years but the UK government has not acted
Effectiveness/ineffectiveness of Pressure groups
Main Points
- Media coverage
- Tactics
- Size and Funding
Media coverage
PEELREEL
P- Effective because of media coverage
E- positive media can bring attention to campaign and grow support
E- Black Lives Matter uses #BLM which spread from USA to the UK and between July 2013–2020 it has been retweeted 47.8 million times.
R- Ineffective because of media coverage
E- Negative attention is more likely to discourage people and stop gov supporting
E- Summer the violence surrounding the Black Lives Matter protests took away from the cause by the media focusing on the violence.
Tactics
PEELREEL
P- Effective because of tactics
E- Legal and peaceful tactics leads to spreading word of cause and more tempting to join
E- 320,089 signatures to stop taxation on sanitary products and this was accepted in parliament in 2016
R- ineffective due to tactics
E- Law breaking tacts are less likely to gain support of go and can be seen as irresponsible
E- 2016 London Million Mask March by Anonymous (group against internet censorship and surveillance) ended in 53 arrests for drug use, destruction of property etc
Size and Funding
PEELREEL
P- Effective because of size and funding
E- Large and well resourced groups are more likely to attract attention, have connections to gov and have funding to campaign more
E- The pressure group CBI represents over 200,000 businesses, the PM and Chancellor often attend CBI meetings and dinners
R- Ineffective because of size and funding
E- Smaller groups with less funding often have less resources and connections than bigger so have less impact on gov
E- Greenpeace rely on public donations to pay for their campaign – 2017 95.3% of their funds came from individual donations
