Summary Essay Plans. Paper 1: Edexcel A-Level Politics UK Politics
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Course
UK Politics and Core Political Ideas
Institution
AQA
Detailed essay plans using specific evidence for many different types of essay question that could come up in Paper 1 of A Level Politics . I achieved an A* in Politics at A Level in 2022 by using these essay plans and scored the highest mark in my cohort for this paper . The evidence used in thes...
Evaluate the view that the actions of pressure groups have been more significant than
government legislation in defending and promoting rights in the UK [30]
Intro:
-De jure: Govt responsible for securing legislation BUT De Facto: Pressure Groups.
Legislation:
● HRA- 1998
● Equality Act 2010
● Data Retention 1984
● Voting Rights , Votes at 16
● British Bill of Rights
→ Uncodified Constitution, Not Entrenched, Parl Sovereignty
Types of Pressure Groups + Rights:
Examples + Recency: BLM, F4J, Calais Action; trying to secure visa access for Ukrainian Nationals, Liberty,
Extinction Rebellion, Child Poverty Task Force , Rashford.
Promotion → Promotion:
- Defining Rights through taking action by Judicial Reviews:
E.g. BMA won judicial review 2021 which overturned regulations that gave the UK
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care the power to suspend the payment of
pensions benefits to any doctors/ NHS professional charged with certain criminal
offences- but not yet convicted
BUT: judges in the UK have lesser powers due to fusion of powers and executive
dominance. E.g. judicial reviews act 2022.
→ Insulate UK is an important group - it engages in direct action and often breaks
the law.
→ UK UNCUT were quite an important group during austerity. Their direct action
protests forced companies that avoid paying corporation tax like Starbucks to repay
£2m to the Treasury.
→ Govt ultimately decides; Overton Window (when the debate moves).
, Can close window if they have support i.e. majority e.g. votes for prisoners, gender
neutral passports promoted by the Mermaid Trust.
→ Uncodified Constitution, Not Entrenched, Parl Sovereignty.
INTERIM: Have limited access points so are much more reliant on the favour of
MPs, no judicial route
Drafting ● Drafting:
- Insider Groups e.g. Stonewall EM Act 2013, have objectives broadly in line
with the government.
→ Work with the government and are often consulted by the government for insights
on how policies may impact a particular sector of society. e.g (CBI) and (BMA): not
only do they seek to influence the government, but the government also seeks to
consult them.
→ the BMA managed to pressure the government to increase spending on
the NHS under a plan that would increase spending by 3.4% per annum
from 2019 to 2024.
→ The CBI, which speaks on behalf of British businesses, managed to
pressure the government to give more powers to devolved governments.
In 2018, the Northern Ireland Civil Service was provided more powers by
the UK government.
● Outsider groups, e.g. BLM, F4J, Extinction Rebellion.
→ Maintain their distance from the government to ensure ideological purity, which
may be threatened through compromises with the mainstream. Kept because of
their largely non-mainstream ideologies. But it may also be that they do not have
access because of their lack of funds or exposure.
→ Resort to public awareness campaigns, protests and civil
disobedience. e.g. Extinction Rebellion (XR), seeks to pressure the government to
legislate on one of its objectives, to have greenhouse emissions to net zero by 2025.
→ Their actions, however, often lead to not only public
disapproval but also legal repercussions that may harm the group’s
legitimacy and future survival. E.g. Extinction Rebellion targeted BlackRock,
an asset management firm, by dumping ashes in its office.
INTERIM: While Extinction Rebellion is certainly a radical group and does not
represent the nature of all outsider pressure groups, the ideological stubbornness of
nearly all outsider pressure groups means that their influence is limited.
, → Political Parties vital in securing legislation, PG cannot make laws.
Parties can go forwards or backwards on rights e.g. Brexit + British Bill of
Rights.
→ Not consulted by the government, have objectives outside political mainstream.
Their influence is dependent on the fluctuation of the political climate, sectional
issues often overlooked. e.g. CAGE UK= group campaigning to empower Muslims
and against ATL, little influence on gov policies, mainly due to lack of electoral
power, only 4.3% Muslims in UK, account for a small minority
Defending → Defending:
- Heathrow Action Group
- Liberty on anti-terror legislation.
-
- ‘New’ pressure groups such as Marcus Rashford’s free school meal campaign
linked to pressure groups like FairShare + reinforced the campaigning done by
more established pressure groups like BiteBack2030
→ Scale; Government when it chooses to, able to use all the organs
of the state to defend rights e.g. Hate Crimes. Police Sentencing
Court Bill, Ask the police to protest.
→ Amnesty International was involved in campaigns including the
rights of those in care homes during the covid 19 lockdowns In
three months 18,562 people living in Care Homes died with COVID-
19. Petitioned for an enquiry. High court stated sending positive
covid patients home
was unlawful.
Evaluate the view that think-tanks, lobbyists and corporations have little impact on government
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