Democracy in Scotland

• Advantage Example for fairer to all parties of additional member System

  for example, the 2016 Scottish parliament elections saw a difference of 5% between the votes received and the MSPs returned.
• What are the two main types of voting in the uk

  First past the post and proportional representation
• What is first past the post 


  When the candidate with the most amount of votes is elected
• What is proportional Representation 


  This is when the

  number of votes a

  party gets = a

  proportional

  number of seats
• What is an example for proportional representation 


  E.g. if a party gets 25% of the vote,

  they get 25% of the seats
• What is Policies For a political party

  Political parties form when people

  with similar ideas work together.

  These ideas are called their policies.
• What is a manifesto 


  Often before an election these

  policies are put together into a

  booklet (PDF now as well) called a

  manifesto.
• Name as many campaigning methods as you can

  • Publish manifesto

  • Media (TV, Radio & Newspapers) appearances and interviews

  • TV adverts (party political broadcasts)

  • Leafleting

  • Hustings (Q&As)

  • Canvassing (door-knocking)

  • Producing Party Political Broadcasts
• Roles of an individual


  listen to the different arguments

  and conduct research

  • It is important that they make

  careful and thoughtful decisions

  before voting

  • They should consider both sides

  of an argument

  • They should research both

  things that they agree and

  disagree with rather than just

  accept it
• more roles of an individual

  To turn up on Election Day and

  vote

  • One of the most important

  responsibility in our society

  • If you don’t vote you cannot

  complain at the result

  • Most young people were

  against Brexit but because

  more older people turned up

  to vote the Remain side lost
• More roles of an individual 


  Actually stand to be elected and

  campaign

  • If individuals don’t stand for

  election then there cannot be

  an election

  • Individuals need to put

  themselves forward and then

  argue why they should be

  chosen over anyone else

  • Individuals must also

  campaign using the right

  methods
• Role of political parties

  Campaign during the election

  • Parties need to organise public

  events to meet citizens and

  promote themselves

  • Organise volunteers to leaflet

  and canvas voters

  • Give media interviews and take

  part in debate

  • Prepare Party Political

  Broadcasts
• More roles of political parties

  Produce a manifesto and policies

  • Parties need to set out and

  make public their promises to

  the people

  • These are used if elected to hold

  the government to account

  • It helps us see if the public liked

  the promises being made
• More roles of political parties

  Prepare for government

  • This means that’s the bigger

  parties have to be prepared in case

  they win the election

  • They need to know who would be

  in charge of what departments and

  how things would change

  • They will meet in secret with civil

  servants who run the departments

  before an election
• Role of the media

  Inform the public

  • This means that TV, Radio and the

  Press will write stories about

  party policies and campaign

  events

  • TV will show the party political

  broadcasts

  • BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and SKY all

  host TV debates with the leaders
• More roles of the media

  Scrutinise and hold politicians to account

  • This means that the media will interview and

  ask questions to politicians about their

  policies

  • Sometimes it gets very awkward and

  sometimes it can destroy a parties changes if

  they done answer well

  • These questions can often expose half truths

  (lies)
• More roles of the media

  Promote particular parties

  • This means that newspapers are

  allowed to favour different parties

  • They may write or publish stories that

  make some parties look good while

  criticising others

  • The Sun in Scotland has supported

  the SNP while the Daily Mail in

  Scotland has supported the

  Conservatives and spoke out against

  the SNP & Labour
• What does LVS stand for in roles of an individual

  Individuals

  Listen different arguments

  Vote

  Stand as candidate
• What does PCM stand for in roles of political parties

  Political Parties

  Prepare for government

  Campaign

  Make manifesto
• What does SIP stand for in roles of the media

  Media

  Scrutinise politicians

  Inform public

  Promote political parties
• Example for why political parties may use the media 


  For example, during an election campaign, Scottish labour may use social media such as YouTube to promote their policies by posting short video clips.
• Example for social media in politics 


  For example, the SNP has over 150,000 followers on twitter.
• What is an example of campaign funding

  SNP had increased funding during the 2021 elections
• Example of party membership

  SNP had a 15,000 surge of membership before 2021 election which helped fund their campaign. Members pay a monthly fee.
• What are outsider pressure groups

  Outsider groups are those whose aims do not enjoy the

  support of the Government.

  They tend to adopt media based, high profile campaigns

  to capture public attention which in turn may put

  pressure onto decision makers. Sometimes they may

  resort to illegal activities.
• What are insider pressure groups

  Insider groups have the support and attention of the Government.

  Government will often approach them for advice. They will often

  have long standing and regular discussions with Government.

  Insider groups will rarely organise demonstrations or marches.

  Instead, they will rely on regular meetings with Government

  (lobbying), often behind the scenes away from the cameras to

  influence decision making.
• What is an example of letter Writing 


  For example, the Surfers Against

  Sewage pressure group organised a letter

  writing campaign about a bottle deposit scheme

  which the Scottish Government announced it

  would support.
• Example for protesting and demonstrating 


  For example, Extinction Rebellion organised

  protests and demonstrations like the funeral for COP in

  Glasgow. The Scottish

  Government have since declared a climate emergency

  and changed some of its policies to support the aims of

  the climate change group.
• Example for lobbying 


  For example, the TIE campaign won campaign of the year for their successful

  efforts to lobby MSPs into supporting Scotland to have the first LGBT+ inclusive

  education system.
• Example of ineffectiveness of petitions

  There have been over 1600 petitions since 1999. Many are considered

  then closed. Some only have 1 signature.
• Example of ineffectiveness of letter writing 


  Not very many letters might be written and they could be ignored.

  This method can be expensive and not a lot of people take part.
• Example of ineffectiveness of lobbying 


  In the past the church of Scotland and the Catholic

  church has lobbied against greater equality for LGBT people. This has

  been politely ignored by most MSPs.
• Example of MORE REPRESENTATIVES (advantage of AMS)

  For example, someone living in Knightswood can approach

  their constituency MSP for Glasgow Anniesland – SNP MSP Bill

  Kidd – or they might rather speak to one of the Glasgow

  Regional MSPs. There were 4 Labour MSPs, 2 Conservative

  MSPs and 1 Green MSP.
• Example of CONFLICT BETWEEN THE TWO TYPES OF

  REPRESENTATIVES YOU HAVE (disadvantage of AMS)

  List (regional) MSPs have been described as “a waste of

  space”. There is an element of rivalry between constituency and

  List MSPs. Constituency MSPs tend to see themselves as the

  "real" MSP for the constituency.
• Example of appoint and remove cabinet members (why first minister is powerful)

  For example, John Swinney has

  been appointed as the Deputy First

  Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for

  Covid Recovery as he has been a

  loyal ally to her.
• Example of can

  make key decisions for Scotland

  on devolved issues. (Why first minister is powerful) 


  For example, Nicola Sturgeon

  approved the Scottish

  Governments responses and rules

  during the Covid-19 Pandemic

  which were sometimes different

  from those in England.
• example of scrutinise the government (hold them too account) - role of committee 


  For example, the finance and public administration committee

  scrutinises the Scottish Governments budget.
• Example of Hold Inquiries (role of committee)

  For example, Nicola Sturgeon was called to an inquiry regarding her

  handling of Salmond’s sexual harassment case. It found that she had

  misled the parliament about their meetings.
• Example of Consider Petitions (role of committee)

  For example, in 2020 the government announced a £500,000 fund for

  security measures at places of worship following a petition asking for a

  review of the hate crime legislation.
• Example of ethnic minority representation in Scotland

  
  

  • Humza Yousaf is leader of the SNP and the

  first ethnic minority First Minister.