UNIT 1 - UK POLITICS ESSAY PLANS

Assess whether direct democracy should be more widely used in the UK (30) - ANS Paragraph 1 - Yes It encourages more political participation bc people themselves chooses Purest form of democracy giving it a high legitimacy This can be seen in Referendums E.g Brexit 2016 Other places like Switzerland uses direct democracy More referendums like Scotland 1997 and Wales 1997 allowed devolution to be created - name keys examples of how this was good E.g having its own electoral system & the white paper 2006 Paragraph 2 - No Referendums are impractical in a large heavily populated state not a good place to do direct democracy E.g Brexit Referendum was an example of Direct democracy and over 70% of Scotland wanted to stay in but they were ignored Instead we should use Representative democracy Mainstream of all parties through FPTP system - Advantages of the FPTP - links between constituency and MPs ( holding accountability in elections) Paragraph 3 - Yes Representative democracy leads to reduce participation E.g low voters turnout E.g it has been decreasing since 2017 and 2019- 67.3% Some minorities under RD may be less representative E.g third parties through the FPTP Paragraph 4 - No Representative democracy holding accountability E.g Prime Minister Question time To what extent is FPTP fit for purpose? (30) - ANS Paragraph 1 - FPTP usage Clear link between MPs and their constituency the people of that constituency can hold account of that MP by choosing another MP in the next election Voters have a clear choice representing their views Paragraph 2 - FPTP is a plurality system so you don't need a majority Fixed term Parliament act - May ( unstable government) Leading to a disportionate of results E.g UKIP won 3.8 million votes but only got one seat Instead we should use STV (used in NI) it brought peace... its more proportional and has closer links between votes and seats, gives more choice