Two essay plans which can be used for a wide range of essay questions for the electoral systems portion of Paper 1 Edexcel Politics. It has great examples and points about the pros and cons of each electoral system (i.e. FPTP, AMS, STV, and Supplementary Vote)
Evaluate the claim that the advantages of FPTP outweigh the disadvantages
Paragraph 1: Effectiveness in creating a strong stable government
Agree Disagree
- FPTP usually creates a single clear winner - It has not always been able to produce
to form a majority government, with a clear strong and stable governments
mandate to govern
Eg. Coalition in 2010 and Confidence and
Eg. Conservative Party won a commanding Supply Agreement in 2017
majority of 80 seats (landslide victory) = to
‘get Brexit done’
Paragraph 2: Constituency-MP bond vs Unfair
Agree Disagree
- One single representative for each - The overall outcome is not proportional or
constituency means that there is a close fair
MP-constituency bond
- Some parties win more seats than their
Eg. In 2019 Jess Phillips MP stood outside overall majority warrants while others win
a school in her Birmingham Yardley fewer than they deserve
constituency to defend teachers who taught
primary school children about LGBTQIA+ Eg. LibDems won almost 12% of the votes
relationships in 2019 but only 2% of the seats
Eg. Conservative won 365 seats with only
43.6% on the vote
- Although this is relatively high for FPTP,
the fact that the Conservatives have such a
high majority yet they did not even have
50% of the votes, suggests it is very
undemocratic
Paragraph 3: Extremist Parties
Agree Disagree
- It helps prevent ‘extremist’ parties from - It prevents new parties breaking into the
breaking into the system system and so produces political ‘inertia’
Eg. BNP received over half a million votes Eg. UKIP won broad support across the
in the 2010 general election yet did not win country in 2015 with almost 4 million votes,
a seat yet they only won one seat
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