exam questions and prep

• 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