Pearson Edexcel A Level UK Government and Politics Sixth Edition

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In support material and examiner reports there are some good examples where we try to spell out best practice and give insights in how to maximise mark potential and reflect on the past series of exams. Sometimes, it can be hard to know where to start with A-Level revision. But there’s no need to worry, because CGP is here to help! Debate Chapter 1 Historical context of the UK political systemDid the Bill of Rights and Act of Settlement mark a significant change in the powerof parliament?Yes NoQ The monarch was now of parliament’s choosing, rather Q Parliament remained only advisory in nature. Q The monarch remained the dominant force in British than ruling through divine right.Q They established the principle of regular and free politics. Q Parliament itself only represented the wealthiest elections.Q They restricted the monarch’s ability to interfere with 2% of the country. laws.Q They meant taxation could only be passed by parliament.The creation of the United Kingdom England and Wales had developed as one country since the conquest of Wales by Edward I in the 1270s. Wales still retained its own language and customs for many years, but politically it was run from Westminster and was often referred to as part of England, though, more accurately, England and Wales together were ‘Britain’. Scotland remained an independent kingdom until 1707, with its own monarch, laws and institutions. In 1603, King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England. The two kingdoms were still legally separate but they now shared the same head of state, which brought a period of peace and stability to Anglo-Scottish relations. In 1155, Pope Adrian IV had offered the crown of Ireland to King Henry II if he could bring the Irish under control. Following his own break with Rome in the sixteenth century, King Henry VIII began a more formal subjugation of Ireland, first by persuading the Irish Parliament to pass the Crown of Ireland Act in 1542. This formally made the Kings of England also Kings of Ireland. Therefore, by the start of the eighteenth century, the same monarch ruled the three separate kingdoms, but England (and Wales), Scotland and Ireland all had separate parliaments, laws and customs, and were still separate countries. The Acts of Union 1707 The Act of Settlement allowed the English Parliament to decide who should be the monarch in England and there was a real possibility that the Scottish Parliament might choose a different monarch to rule their country. This would lead to the breakup of the informal union between the two kingdoms and the possibility of future wars. In 1698 and 1699, Scotland attempted to establish its own colony in Panama in the Gulf of Darien. The expedition proved disastrous and effectively bankrupted the country. Urged on by King William III, the Scottish Parliament was forced to accept terms from the English 9 Key term Electoral systems Chapter 2 The UK political system Party system The set of political The party system is shaped, in part, by the electoral system. The single- 31 parties in a political system and member plurality (first-past-the-post) electoral system used for general the relationships between them. elections has tended to reward the major parties and give a parliamentary majority to the party that secures most votes. This, its supporters claim,The media play an important role in ensures strong and responsible government. Smaller parties (e.g. theelection campaigns Liberal Democrats and UKIP), whose support is thinly spread rather than concentrated in a region, are disadvantaged — there is no reward for coming second in a constituency. With the exception of the SNP, third and smaller parties have not won the number of seats that their share of the vote merited. First-past-the-post has thus acted as a life-support system for the two-party system. However, the way the first-past-the-post system works is changing. With the number of marginal seats decreasing and smaller parties winning more votes and seats, the system is now less likely to produce single- party governments with comfortable parliamentary majorities. Beyond Westminster, proportional representation and mixed-member electoral systems have accelerated the trend towards multiparty politics. The mechanics of the different electoral systems used in the UK, plus their strengths and weaknesses, are explored in Chapter 10. Voting behaviour and the media The rise of multiparty politics also reflects changes in voting behaviour and the support bases of the main parties. In the early postwar period, most people voted for their natural class party — middle-class voters supported the Conservatives and working-class voters supported Labour — and had a strong identification with that party. Class voting has fallen sharply in the last 40 years as a result of changes in society and in the parties. Elections are now decided by valence politics: with little ideological difference between the main parties, voters make a judgement based on the party they think is most likely to deliver a strong economy and good public services, and the leader they prefer. Changes in voting behaviour are examined in detail in Chapter 11. Print media The media also play an important role in election campaigns. Newspaper coverage is partisan rather than neutral. Most newspapers support a political party, and there are more Conservative-supporting newspapers than Labour-supporting ones. Anticipating no clear winner of the 2015 general election, some newspapers supported a continuation of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition (see Table 2.3). Newspaper owners such as Rupert Murdoch (who owns the Sun and The Times) can exercise significant influence. There are three broad perspectives on the political significance of the media: Q Influence. Newspapers have a direct influence over the voting behaviour of their readers. Research shows that, allowing for class and existing attitudes, readers of Labour-supporting newspapers are more likely to vote for Labour than are readers of pro-Conservative newspapers. The Sun claims to have influenced the outcome of recent elections, notably when running hostile campaigns against Labour in 1992 and 2015, or switching support to Labour in 1997. The Liberal Tradition in America– Explores the historical roots and characteristics of liberalism in the United States and its implications for international relations.

Chapter 10 Electoral systems 249 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Elections and democracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249 The first-past-the-post electoral system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 Advantages and disadvantages of the first-past-the-post electoral system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .260 Other electoral systems used in the UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .264 The impact of the electoral systems used in the UK. . . . . . . . .268 Referendums in the UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 Voting behaviour and the role of the media in politics 281 How do different regions of the UK vote? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 How do class, gender, age and ethnicity affect voting? . . . . . .282 Changes in voting trends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .289 Explaining voter choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 The role of the party leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Voting trends across elections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 The role of the media in politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .304 Political parties 310 What is a political party? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 Types of political party in the UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313 The UK party system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 The three main political parties in the UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 The structure and organisation of the three main UK parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .330 Political party funding in the UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .334 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .340 Answers to the exam-style questions at the end of each chapter can be found at: https://www.hoddereducation.co.uk/UKGovernmentandPoliticsvi The American Political Tradition– offers a critical perspective on the American political system and its leaders. Political Ideas You Really Need to Know– a book that includes many of the political ideas covered in the course (though many also don’t apply). Comparative Politics– This textbook provides a comparative analysis of political systems, with case studies that can aid in comparing US and UK politics.We’re Living Through the Breakdown– this book is written by Tatton Spiller of Simple Politics, and looks at how we can understand politics in an age of huge change. Essentials of UK Politics and Government is the go-to textbook for all A-level Politics students studying the Edexcel specification. Building on Andrew Heywood's signature accessible style, this new fifth edition has been thoroughly updated by Kathy Schindler and Adam Tomes who draw on their experience to provide an innovative guide to UK Politics. This book covers all the core topics from Democracy and Participation, Elections and Referendums and Voting Behaviour, to the Constitution, the Prime Minister and Parliament. This Student Book with e-book is specifically designed for the Edexcel AS and A level Politics 2017 specifications, giving you comprehensive coverage of the qualification content and great support for the new assessments - in both print and digital formats.

On Liberty– written by John Stuart Mill (key thinker), advocates for individualism and limited government. Case study Majoritarian or consensual democracy? Dutch political scientist Arend Lijphart located main parties with opposing ideological positions. Power liberal democracies on a spectrum with majoritarian sharing is the norm in a consensual democracy. democracy at one extreme and consensual democracy at the other (see Table 2.1). The UK Westminster model is the archetypal majoritarian democracy, while Switzerland is a In a majoritarian democracy, political power is leading example of consensual democracy. The Blair concentrated at the centre and there are few limits to its governments’ constitutional reforms introduced exercise. Common features include a flexible constitution, elements of consensual democracy (e.g. devolution a plurality electoral system, a two-party system, a and the Human Rights Act), while multiparty politics dominant executive and a unitary state. In a consensual and coalition government have also become more democracy, political power is diffused. Typical features apparent. But the UK is still close to the majoritarian are a rigid constitution, proportional representation, position. Parliamentary sovereignty remains the guiding multiparty politics, the separation of powers and a constitutional principle, the fusion of the legislature and federal system. There are also important differences in executive has not been disturbed greatly, and the first- political culture. Politics is adversarial in a majoritarian past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system is still used for democracy, characterised by conflict between two Westminster elections. Questions Q What are the main differences between a majoritarian and a consensual democracy? Q Is the UK still a majoritarian democracy? Table 2.1 Majoritarian and consensual democracyUK Government and Politics for AS/A-level Aspect of political Majoritarian democracy Consensual democracy system Flexible constitution is easily amended Rigid constitution can only be amended through Constitution special procedures Executive is dominant and controls the legislature There is a balance of power between the Executive–legislative executive and legislature relations Courts cannot challenge the constitutionality of Constitutional court can strike down legislation Judiciary legislation Unitary state with power concentrated at the Federal system with power divided between tiers Territorial politics centre of government Majoritarian system produces single-party Proportional representation produces coalition Electoral system government government Adversarial two-party system Cooperative multiparty system Party system Activity Key term Using the information in Table 2.1 and the rest of this chapter, assess the extent to which the UK has moved from the majoritarian democracy extreme towards the consensual democracy end of the spectrum. Constitution The laws, rules and practices which determine the The constitution institutions of the state, and the The British constitution is highly unusual as it is uncodified. This means relationship between the state that the major principles of the political system are not found in a single, and its citizens. authoritative document. Instead they are located in various Acts of20

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After Victory– A liberal perspective on how international institutions can create a lasting peace after conflicts. If you look across the entire Principal Examiner Reports one common theme which emerges is the demand placed on candidates to reach out and gain AO3 marks. This was a fault line across all papers. The Power of Geography– the sequel to Prisoners of Geography that discusses the future of global politics and power.