exam questions and prep

Cards (15)

  • Three ways media can influence the outcome of an election in the uk
    Newspapers
    • Parties are keen to convince newspapers to back them
    • Older voters who are more likely to vote than younger voters read newspapers
    • 1997 Tony Blair convinced Rupert Murdoch to switch allegience to labour, showing how important he felt that the sun newspaper was
    • However, newspapers reflect existing views of the reader, newspaper membership declining,
    • newspapers in 2017 were highly critical of corbyn and he almost won the election
  • Three ways media can influence the outcome of an election in the uk
    Broadcast Media
    • trusted by voters to be impartial and fair
    • Live TV debates attract millions of viewers
    • 2019, mays refusal to debate, 67% turnout, second highest since 1997
    • cleggmania, lib dems lost seats, 2019 election turnout went down from 2017 by 1.5%
    • most people still vote as they were regardless of broadcast media
  • Three ways media can influence the outcome of an election in the uk
    Social Media
    • used by many young voters to access political information
    • Political parties spend a lot more money on social media campaigns
    • Labour 2017 86 million views on their social media campaign whereas tories on 25 million
    • However social media generally used to share views one already holds creating an echo chamber
    • Conservatives still won 2017 election with a 21 point lead
  • Three ways in which UK political Parties select their leaders
    Conservatives
    • no formal mechanism for electing leaders until 1965
    • Between 1995-97 only MPs could run in the leadership election
    • 1997 Fresh Future outlined the current election rules
    • 2 stages
    • Tory MPs vote in elimination rounds until 2 candidates are left
    • Party members then vote out of the two candidates
    • The process has become more democratic internally with greater involvement of party members
    • more power to Mps than Labour or Lib Dems as only 2 candidates progress to 2nd round and each are heavily backed by supporters
  • Three ways in which Uk Political Parties select their leaders
    SNP
    • 3 potential candidates
    • candidates need 100 nominations from 20 geographical branches to stand
    • candidates ranked in order of preference using alternate voting, more than 50% of vote is needed to win
    • no worry of wasted votes
    • Single ballot and avoids need for tactical voting
  • Three ways in which Uk Political Parties select their leaders
    Liberal Democrats
    • relied on postal ballots from members since 1975
    • uses alternate voting, more than 50% needed to win
    • candidates must be MPs with support from at least 10% of Lib Dems, from 20 local consituencies, and at least 200 members
  • Three ways in which the EU has had an impact on UK politics
    Impact on Devolution
    • Threat to stability in northern ireland after brexit. Northern ireland protocal allowed northern ireland to stay in the EU customs Union, provided it follows EU trade rules,
    • in 2021 Uk government threatened to suspend the protocal in response to distruption cased by goods checks
    • SNPs calls for a second Scottish Independence referendum after majority voted to remain in 2016
  • Three ways in which the EU has had an impact on UK politics
    Impact on constitution
    • brexit involved a massive change to constitution - EU law no longer suspended UK law
    • Future Uk laws and policies could be developed independently of the EU
    • Leavers argued this restored full sovreignty back to parliament
  • Three ways in which the EU has had an impact on UK politics
    Impact on Government
    • David Camerons decision to do a referendum and his subsequent resignation
    • attempt to prevent UKIP from taking votes from the conservatives, included a EU referendum in his mannifesto
    • tories very divided over eu Cameron wanted remain, boris and michael grove opted to leave
    • resigned after as he was the leader of the remain campaign, defeated after result was declared
  • Explain and analyse three long-term factors, other than class, that can influence voting behaviour
    Age
    • older more likely to vote conservative, and young more likely to vote labour
    • 70% of 18-24 voted remain in 2016 referendum compared to 40% of those aged over 65
    • impact on turnout - younger voters less likely to vote than older people, 47% amongst 18-24 year olds and 72% among those aged 65 and up
  • Explain and analyse three long-term factors, other than class, that can influence voting behaviour
    Geography
    • Traditionally there was a clear North/South divide - southern being more likely to vote conservative and northern being more likely to vote labour
    • divisions linked to social class and occupation with the north being mostly industrial jobs and the south being higher paying professional jobs
    • Reigonal shifts, 2019 traditional labour midlands seats lost to tories due to issues such as Brexit
  • Explain and analyse three long-term factors, other than class, that can influence voting behaviour
    Ethnicity
    • BAME groups (black, asian and minority ethnic groups) are significantly more likely to vote labour, in 2019 64% of BAME voters voted labour
    • harsh legislation regarding immigration from tories deters BAME voters
  • Explain and analyse three influences upon individual MPs when voting in the House of Commons
    Whips
    • Party 'Whip' issues instructions on how MPs shpuld vote on a weekly basis
    • A three line whip is a strict instruction to attend and vote according to the party line
    • Boris Johnson's expelled multiple rebel Conservative MPs because they voted against the whip and voted against a no-deal Brexit
    •  a Party Whip influences MPs largely when voting in the House of Commons because the consequence of voting against the whip is disciplinary action, which could end in expulsion
  • Explain and analyse three influences upon individual MPs when voting in the House of Commons
    Constituency representation
    • each MP represents a constituency and everyone within it
    • jeremy corbyn represents everyone in islington north
    • a fifth of Labour MPs defied the three-line whip and voted against the Brexit Bill Feb 2017, with many citing constituents as a reason for doing so
    • in the delegate model of voting, some people view MPs and some MPs act as a mouthpiece for their constituents, therefore they will vote along with what their constituents want, further influencing them
  • Explain and analyse three influences upon individual MPs when voting in the House of Commons
    Public Responsibility
    • where constituents trust their MP to make the right decision and vote for what they feel is best, Burkean or Trustee Model
    • Usually surrounding specific issues involving abortion, same-sex marriage, war etc
    • MPs may feel pressured to vote for what is right and go against what the party or their constituents want, therefore influencing them