uk politics essay plans

Question 1

evaluate the view that pressure groups are less influential than corporations in influencing government policy

Answer 1

intro:
- in recent years, a lot of controversy surrounding the lobbying of wealthy corporations that have undue influence on gov policy
- The Owen Pattinson scandal illustrated the ability of big businesses to ‘buy’ politicians.
- influence refers to the actual change in policies
- this essay will compare…
- this essay will conclude…

1. insider interest groups:
   - insider groups have access to gov officials and government agencies
   - BMA- a trade union for doctors and healthcare professionals
   - able to overturn judicial review on refusal of pension allowances for NHS workers and healthcare workers who are charged with certain crimes but not convicted

• stonewall- LGBTQ activist group, policies after thatcher gov and section 28. including same-sex marriage and inclusive learning in the national curriculum.
• shows how pressure groups can influence for a more inclusive and progressive government

1. counter
   - only works for insider, more affluential pressure groups, outsider groups do not have the same privilege
   - environmental activist pressure groups such as Extinct Rebellion and Just Stop Oil, although gaining media attention, are not influential within government policy due to their radical aims and the fact that their goals do not align with government priorities
   - Islamic representation from CAGEUK- activating for Islamic equality and rights as well as anti-terrorist laws, have little political influence as they are a minority group. muslim minority in the UK of 4.3%
   - thus undermining the strength of pressure groups
2. corporations
   - influence due to their impact and power on the economy
   - bank rescue package totalling around 500 billion- 8 October 2008 as a response to global financial crisis
   - Rishi Sunak £1 billion to businesses affected by omicron
   - the economic management that a government possesses is a good indication of its success
   - corporations are too powerful for the government to let fail- leading to the influence on decisions to ensure the economy flourishes.
   - pressure groups don’t have the same level of influence
3. counter
   - examples of pressure groups have influence on policy despite the presence of big corporations

• environmental activist groups like Greenpeace etc. successful in delaying the process of the third runway at Heathrow airport despite big airlines like British Airways and Easy Jet being in favour of it.

-Marcus Rashford: FSM
-UKUNCut and tax avoidance
- Starbucks paid 2 mil in past taxes due to embarrassment
- these are rare occurrences and do not compare to the billions spent in support of big corporations

3. corporations and lobbying
   - even more influential than involvement in the economy is their political lobbying
   - big companies ability to ‘buy’ companies’
   - Greenshill scandal- David Cameron lobbied Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak via a series of text messages concerning allowing Greenshill to join the Covid corporate financial facility scheme
   - highlights ex-minister unsavoury connections and lobby on behalf of their interests
   - reaching out to lobbying firms before resignation: Patricia Hewitt, Steven Byers, Matt Hancock
   - Owen Patterson scandal: made to resign after being found out for lobbying for his own company, his second job
   -shows how through wealth and resources, corporations can lobby politicians and gain influence via this route

Question 2

evaluate the view that the wider introduction of direct democracy will improve the quality of the UK’s representative democracy
or
evaluate the view that apart from referendums, the introduction of other forms of direct democracy would undermine representative democracy in the UK

Answer 2

1. e-petitions and initatives
2. citizen juries and town hall meetings
3. recall elections

intro-
direct democracy: people take action into their own hands directly without representatives
examples: referendums, e-petitions, town hall meetings etc.
- argued that it fails to achieve greater representation and potentially harms minority rights
- introducing more forms of direct democracy will harm the UK’s representative democracy

1. e-petitions and initiatives
   - online petition website
   - people make their own petitions and anyone can add their signature to whatever petition they please
   - 10,000 gov responds to it
   - 100,000 petition committees can consider it for debate
   - Hillsborough disaster inquest 2011 through e-petition led to a revival of the police investigation and led to justice for the wrongly labelled football fans- convictions came out of it
   - good because it addresses the concerns and worries of people and suppresses the anger through society
   - ‘had no plans’ for sugar tax but then the chancellor introduced it
   - initiatives used in some us states and in Switzerland. enough signatures- gov has to hold a referendum
   - shows what people feel deeply about
   - gives people the chance to engage in politics between elections
2. counter
   - e-petitions are a lazy form of participation ‘slacktivism’
   - people are not necessarily informed on the topics they sign for or create petitions for
   - not all of them are looked at or debates in gov
   - even if they are, usually low-turnout and poorly discussed
   - initiatives run he risk of minority rights harm: switzerland minaret mosques to be banned, no mosques with minarets with no intention of building them, shows how the majority were against the islamic migation minority
3. citizen juries and town hall meetings
   - juries chosen to represent the greater population
   - small group in which discuss relevant topics and come up with solutions and ideas to help areas in need
   - public funding, housing etc.
   - good as topics are heavily scrutinised by small group
   - juries in NI; abortion rights
   - open discussion
   -town hall meetings connect local and national politicians to their constituents
4. counter
   - only for the people who have the time
   - may over involve middle class or elderly
   - expensive
   - room for manipulation ‘experts’ may be chosen incorrectly in order to sway judgement
5. recall elections
   - recall of MPs act 2015 provision for constituents to recall MPs and call a by-election
   - only if they are accused of a wrongdoing
   - petition of 1 out of 10 in the constituency signs
   -if successful mp can lose seat resulting in a by-election
   - keeps mps accountable and aware of being responsive to voters
   - Cameron saw recall as a way to address the expenses scandal 2009
6. counter
   - recall elections in uk are limited
   - only been three since 2015- the filter is in the hands of parliament
   - only 2 of the three were successful

Question 3

evaluate the view that there is a crisis of participation in politics in the UK

Answer 3

1. low turnouts
2. membership of political parties
3. other elections

intro
- participation crisis comes about when engagement with democracy declines
- steadily rise of apathy, with less participation in formal institutions
- can be argued that formal participation like referendums and devolved elections are declining but there is a rise of participation in informal methods of participation.

1. low turnouts
   - turnouts for general elections are quite low in comparison to the past
   - 2021: 60% of people were happy so they stayed at home? they were annoyed with the lack of progress: apathy- tired of voting
   - people have become disillusioned to politics and see parties as too overlapping and similar
   - more radical pressure groups emerging
   - people are just annoyed with the lack of progress from the government
2. low membership of political parties
   - tories have less than 80k members- used to have millions
   - lib dem and snp membership has declined greatly
   - why it matters? membership is a key way to participate and to support the party. helps form govs
   - less leaflet distribution
   fewer young people signing up to membership
3. counter
   - labour has seen more members-a lot of which were young people (YOUTHQUAKE)
   - SNP, after 2014 election grew in numbers
   - people are joining political causes
4. participation in other elections
   - referendums have a low turn out e.g welsh assembly referendum only had a 51% turnout
   - Mayoral elections in England never rise above 40%
   but
   -79% + brexit referendum- people vote when it is important
   - maybe people don’t want politicians to decide what they should vote on but rather want to decide what the topics to be on

Question 4

evaluate the view that democratic legitimacy is undermined by the state of the UK’s representative democracy

Answer 4

1. low turnout in elections
2. low membership
3. democratic pluralism

intro
- democratic legitimacy is the idea that people give governments the right to govern through popular elections
- people must engage in the political process for this to happen
- turnout for these elections have bn declining in recent years
- however democratic legitimacy may still stand as elections are free and fair, peaceful transfers of government

1. low turnout
2. low membership
3. pluralism
   - pluralism is that for every idea, there is a counter-idea voiced in society and that these voices should all have a fair airing in politics
   - this can be through multi-party systems, pressure groups and free media
   - BBC: both right and left-wing poliical parties
   - pressure groups: people can join these pressure groups
   - argue that it is a pluralist political system
   - However, FPTP ensures that the two main parties, to succeed, have to be in the centre- excludes radical opinions
   - pressure groups involved in direct action e.g. insulate Britain as they believe the gov can’t do anything for them
   - the media is increasingly controlled by rich corporates

Question 5

evaluate the view that rights are no longer adequately protected in the UK

Answer 5

1. government
2. supreme court
3. pressure groups and rights

intro
- rights are not adequately protected in uk in recent years.
- due to lack of constitutional safegaurds to protect rights
- governments can take away hard-earned rights
- this essay wil look at how the government has eroded rights and how the supreme court does not have suficient power and how pressure groups lack influence to defend rights

1. government
   - rights are protected through the passing of gov legislation
   - example: human rights act 1988
   - freedom of infortmation act 2000
   - equalities act 2020
   - same sex couples act 2014
   - these acts increase the protection of rights
   - HRA gives citizens the right to utilise the provisions of the ECHR in uk courts
2. counter
   - Dominic Raab, former justice secretary was looking to repeal the HRA
   - gov proposed to add a ‘permission stage’ before the start of human rights legal cases, prove significant disadvantage
   - ‘ british bill of rights’ might not protect the rights of foreign citizens or migrants
   - gov said the bill is designed to ‘help prevent trivial HR cases from wasting judges time
   - this shows that because parliament is sovereign, it has the ability to take away rights from a simple FPTP majority
   - elections act 2022- voter id is necessary
   - less advantaged people will not be able to supply the ready ID

• nationalities and borders act
• police, crime, sentencing and courts act

2. supreme court
   - ability to protect rights through powers of judicial review and declarations of incompatability
   - HRA 1988 allows judges to declare legislation passed by parliment as ‘incompatible’ with ECHR
   - since 2000, 29 declarations of incompatability
   - supreme court against deparatment of work and pensions 2014
   - these powers alloow supreme court to uphold rights
3. counter
   - unlike the US, courts cannot strike down laws saying they no longer stand and therefore have limited their power to rotect rights
   - govs are not required to change law: hen they do they usually just tweak it
   - cases ocncerning HR- if only tweaked it may not solve the root problem
   - unelected body therefore may not want to appear too political so means it may restrain itself
   - judicial review act 2022 makes it harder for people to challenge the govs actions in courts
4. pressure groups and rights
   - large role in protecting rights in the uk
   - liberty- large influence and media coverage
   - childrens act 2003, howard league- welfare support for children in and out of custody
   - justice group
   - these examples show how pressure groups can often be at th fore front of protecting rights in the uk
5. counter
   - outsider pressure groups have less status
   - minority groups
   - if public is not sympathetic to the cause, they will not listen

Question 6

evaluate the view that the current conservative party has moved away from thatcherism

Answer 6

1. economic policy
2. social policy
3. law and order

intro
- thatcherism is the belief in economic liberalism and unrestrained free markets (Neo-liberalism) coupled with social conservatism and strong law and order policies (Neo-conservatism)
argued that the party has moved away from thatcherism

1. economic policy
   - the most convincing argument that the current conservtive party has moved away from thatcherism id over the economy
   - covid crisis- rishi took major steps in making gov interventions in the economy
   - furlough scheme- gov paid 80% of wages
   - ‘eat out to help out scheme’
   - nationalised rail lines and reduced private ownership
   - this is significant because the conservatives have been known to historically believe in an absolute free market, a thatcherite economy, where there is less state intervention
   - this is because thatcher belived that state intervention damages the free market and therefore the economy in the long run.
2. counter
   - less convincing argument- conservative party still wants to return to ‘economic orthodoxy’
   - liz truss voted by conservative membership who promised free markets and tax cuts
   - pledged to not raise NI in 2019 manifesto
   - thatcherite approach in 2010
   through reduced welfare through benefit caps ‘bedroom tax’
   - 2013 privatisation of royal mail
   - economic stability- return to thatcherite policies
   - however circumstances now make it very difficult for the CP to act this way
3. social policy
   - traditional families section 28- david cameron 2013 introduced marriage act
   - theresa may consultation on gender regognition laws
   - boris annoced plans to ban conversion therapy
   - shows views have changed
   - aim to ‘detoxify’ party after 1997 defeat
   - openly gay conservative MPs
   - diverse front bench including the PM
4. counter
   - still see aspects of thatcherism
   - 136 mps voted against gay marriage act 45% of c seats
   - kemi budinoch announced that there were complications with furthering trans rights
   - gov vetoed a scottish bill to lower trans rights to 16
5. law and order
   - thatcher believed in strong law and order policies
   - recent conc gov- balanced approach to sentencing
   -kennith clark (justice secretary)- prisons do not work
   - calls for more rehabilitation and forms of community punishments
   - gov looked over prison reform
   - johnson and sunak fined for partygate
   - less committment to tough law and order policies
6. counter
   - polices align with thatcherism
   - thatcher believed in neoconservatism- strong forces of law and order should be imposed in an authoritarian state to impose social morality.

Question 7

evaluate the view that parties agree more than they disagree on policies and ideas

Answer 7

1. economy
2. welfare
3. constitution