UK Government and Politics Key facts

Question 1

Reasons for Thatcher’s success in 1979

Answer 1

• She hired PR specialists
  Callaghan’s failure:
• 1978-79 ‘Winter of Discontent’
• strikes in February 1979 – London’s rubbish men
• Callaghan held a minority government
  –> Labour hadn’t held a majority since 1974

Question 2

Thatcher’s majority

Answer 2

1979 = 44 seat majority
Vs.
1983 = 144 seat majority

Question 3

Thatcher’s downfall

Answer 3

She famously called her cabinet in one-by-one and they stated they did not support her
Due to general strikes, Poll Tax riots, and party divisions over Europe
= her supporters were named ‘dries’ whilst her opposition was called ‘wets’
–> 1989-90 British Ambulance strike
Causing her to resign in 1990

Question 4

New Labour success reasons

Answer 4

• September 1992 = ‘Black Wednesday’
  –> UK dropped out of the ERM
• 4 MPs implicated in the ‘cash for questions’ scandal in 1994
• Major’s majority dropped to 1 by 1997
  Charismatic Blair vs. Middle-man Major who was indiscisive due to disagreements over Europe
  + The Sun endorsed Blair which had previously supported the Tories vs. the Guardian printed 1994 C4Q

Question 5

Blair’s majority + policy

Answer 5

He achieved a 179-seat majority = Blair-Brown pact helped him
He did not lose a vote in the commons from 1997 to 2005
Sure Start 1999, minimum wage 1999, “education, edication, education” speech 1996, tough on crime,tough on the causes of crime, Private Finance Initative Hospitals

Question 6

Blair’s reforms

Answer 6

House of Lords 1999 = introduced life peers but 92 hereditary peers remained
Devolution 1998 = Scotland act, Wales Act, and NI Act
Constitutional Reform Act 2005 = Lord Chancellor divided to 3 roles, Judicial Appointment Committee created to pick Law Lords — SC not created until 2009
Human Rights Act 1998 = incorporated rights set out in ECHR
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Gordon Brown = 2010 Wright Reforms — Select committees’ powers were extended + the party whips can no longer influence the appointment of Select Committee members

Question 7

Blair’s downfall

Answer 7

2005 GE = reduced his majority from 167 seats to 66
Resigned in June 2007
due to the Blair-Brown pact and the controversey surrounding the Iraq war which began in 2003

Question 8

The coalition government

Answer 8

• 2010 = first televised debate [watched by 10 million] — boosted Clegg’s ratings by 18% but then dissipated, showing debates don’t change opinions
• Coalition forced Cameron to utalise Parliament due to his lacking majority: In 2013 he wanted British military involvement in Syria but his motion was defeated 285 to 272.
• the coalition government faced the most rebellion in the post-war era of Parliament; coalition MPs rebelled in 35% of votes + HOL stepped up scrutiny during the coalition government and delayed the controversial constituency boundaries reform bill in 2012

Question 9

Lib Dem involvement or lack of in the 2010 coalition

Answer 9

Success:
They directed the Tories towards tax cuts for the poorest, raising the threshold of income tax from £6,475 in 2009 to £11,000 in 2015

Failure:
Clegg compromised his key policies: scarpping tuition fees [increased in coalition and was capped at £9,000 in 2012] and opposing nuclear power

Question 10

May’s weakness to pass bills

Answer 10

• Her government was defeated 14 times between April and June over her EU Withdrawal bill in the Lords
• Her government was the most rebellious: in January 2019 she suffered the worst defeat in the recorded history of the Commons = defeated by 432 to 202 votes — so a majority of 230 votes, due to a rebellion of 118 Tory MPs
• from2017 to 2019she was defeated on 33 votes in the Commons

Question 11

May’s minority

Answer 11

Following the 2017 snap election
Tories only having 318 seats after losing 13 [326 needed to win]
Backed by DUP

Question 12

Boris Johnson’s failure

Answer 12

February 2022 his nationality and borders bill was defeated [4th time] in the HOL by a majority of 78 votes
PARLIAMENTARY PING PONG
so HOC acted on HOL feedback and it was passed
Became an Act in April 2022
vs.
He reversted the defeat of his 2020 Brexit Bill —- January 2020, theHOL passed the bill after approving five amendments to it. However, these amendments were overturned by the House of Commons - it went back to the Lords and they passed it = European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 — royal assent 23rd January

Question 13

Johnson’s majority + FPTP disadvantages

Answer 13

• 2019 GE he ony got 43.6% of the vote combined with a low turnout of 67.3% so only 29.3% of the entire population backed him
  vs. he held an 80-seat majority = WINNERS BONUS
• Marginal seats = in 2017, the SNP won North East Fife by 2 votes; majority not needed
• Safe seats = the safest Labour seat was Liverpool Walton with 85.7% voting Labour in 2017
• discrimination against third parties = Green party only had 1 seat in 2019 [but wide support]

Question 14

Lord quote

Answer 14

Lord Hailsham in 1976
elected dicatorship

Question 15

Changes to devolution

Answer 15

1998 referendumns for devolution
2012 = Scotland Act and wales Act meant they both gained more tax varying powers
Corporation Tax (NI) ACt 2015 = they can set their own corporation tax
1999 = Greater London Authority Act – London Mayor
More unitary = European Union Withdrawal Agreement 2020 undid The European Communities Act 1972

Question 16

Big Beasts vs. May

Answer 16

Big Beasts is used to discribe key figures in May’s cabinet
BoJo unsackable after breaking colllective cabinet responsibility when he spoke out against May’s Brexit policy in 2017
She held a 7 hour cabinet meeting after 3rd Brexit Bill defeat
She created the Department for Exiting the EU

Question 17

Supreme Court Cases

Answer 17

Miller v SoS for Exiting the EU – 2016 – who triggers Article 50?
R v Horncastle – 2009 – hearsey evidence – ECHR altered their stance
HS2 Action Alliance ltd. v SoS for Transport – 2014 – dismissed as Parlaiment needed to make a decision before a claim was to be put forward

Question 18

CCR + IMR facts

Answer 18

Collective Cabinet Responsibility = Blair lost 4 over Iraq vs. Blair Brown Pact so Brown did not resign when they disagreed —- May lost 33 members in 3 years vs. BoJo spoke out against May’s Brexit policy in 2017 and faced no consequences as a ‘Big Beast’ —- can be suspended [e.g. during the coalition government over the referendum held on AV 2011]
Individual Ministerial Responsibility = Gavin Williamson 2020 over not accepting responsibility for the algorithm that predicted GCSE and A-level grades as he blamed Ofqual [an arms-length body]
+ political responsibility = 2014 Immigration Minister Mark Harper resigned after his cleaner was found to not have permssion to woek in the UK + legal responsibility = DC resigned after 2016 ref. loss

Question 19

Rights facts

Answer 19

-Magna Carta then Human rights Act 1998 = historically protected rights
- Darwall v Dartmoor National Park Authority [2023] walkers versus landowner rights
- The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act (PCSC) passed in 2022, allows the police to stop a protest that is harming others [e.g. noisy]
- 2010 Equality Act + BLAIR’S REFORMS
- Rights deficit = independent judiciary,pressuregroups, and do MPs represent the population?

Question 20

Corbyn v Starmer

Answer 20

Corbyn = nationalise royal mail, Railway, water, 50p tax rate, increase corporation tax, abolition of tuition fees
Starmer =economic stability, cut NHS waiting times which will require funding, Great British energy, Border Security Command, crack down on anti-social behaviour, recruit 6,500 new teachers