There are two main types of electoral system in the UK:First Past the Post (FPTP) Proportional Representation (PR)

Electoral systems There are two main types of electoral system in the UK: * First Past the Post (FPTP) * Proportional Representation (PR) First Past the Post (FPTP) FPTP is the voting system used for the election of MPs to 'seats' in the UK Parliament. It is a system in which the 'winner takes all' and usually gives a clear majority both at constituency and national level. This means that a candidate in a constituency only needs one more vote than the nearest rival to win the seat. Similarly, political parties only need to win one more seat in the House of Commons to have a majority. Advantages of FPTP There is very little chance of extremist parties being elected to Parliament under FPTP because they are unlikely to gain enough votes in any one constituency. Generally the results of elections using FPTP can be calculated quickly. When necessary, this makes the transfer of power from one party to another much easier. The 1997 and 2001 elections were clear evidence of this. Disadvantages of FPTP The main criticism of FPTP is that the number of votes cast for a party in general elections is not accurately reflected in the number of seats won. An example of this was the 1997 election when the Conservatives gained 18% of the vote in Scotland but not one seat. This is mirrored at constituency level, where the winning candidate may have received only one third of the

  • Word count: 1018
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
Access this essay

To what extent did “The longest suicide note in history” contribute to Conservative victory in the 1983 General Election?

To what extent did "The longest suicide note in history" contribute to Conservative victory in the 1983 General Election? For the Conservative Party, the 1983 General Election victory would have seemed to be another political triumph. However, many argue that this particular victory was aided by many factors which the 'Tories could not have controlled. I will look at and analyse the General Election results as well as other major factors such as the battle in the South Atlantic, the state of the Labour Party, the public opinion of Thatcher, and other personal triumphs for the Conservatives as a whole. By looking at election results and the other factors mentioned I will show that uncontrollable factors were as much to hold responsible for the Conservative victory as the 'Tories were themselves. There were many successes to the Conservative Party during the late 1970's and mid- 1980's. Under Margaret Thatcher, the Conservatives had achieved three general election victories on the trot, in 1979 and 1983 then again in 1987. During this period, the Conservative Party had achieved successes in the form of the Housing Act 1980, which was a major piece of legislation which enabled people to buy their council houses- consequently emphasising the New-Right ideology of independence and self-reliance. Another major factor, which brought success to both the Conservative Party

  • Word count: 1048
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
Access this essay

How effective is Parliament in checking Executive Power?

How effective is Parliament in checking Executive Power? Parliament scrutinises the Government through many different mediums. These mediums include but are not limited to select committees, Question Time and debates in both Houses. Despite the many different ways in which power can be checked the effectiveness of this scrutiny is often criticised. These criticism include select committees having a majority of the governing party's MPs, the Government sitting in the House of Commons and therefore influencing decision made and the lack off information for opposition parties. Some may say that the number of ways in which the Government can be scrutinised provides adequate effectiveness. One way is during debates every Member of Parliament, whether that be a member of the Government itself or the single representative of the Green Party, may voice their opinion or suggest changes to a bill. Despite this, many backbenchers and independent MPs have little voice and the majority of major issues are contested between the frontbenchers. The official opposition party, the party with the second most seats, has a larger voice than other opposition parties. This is partly due to them having more MPs and partly due to the leader of the official opposition being allowed more questions during Prime Ministers Question Time. This allows more specific and in depth scrutiny that if every

  • Word count: 858
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
Access this essay

Analyse the circumstances in which ministers resign

Analyse the circumstances in which ministers resign Abbas Ameli The scene of UK politics has been witness to many ministerial resignations in recent decades, some more controversial than others, some more sought than others, and some more high profile than others. Whilst some resignations such as that of Estelle Morris's seem to have been the minister's own preference, many other ministers have practically been forced to resign under conventions of ministerial responsibility. One of these conventions states that ministers whose departments are seen as incompetent and commit serious errors and/or if the individual minister is proven to have committed unacceptable acts should resign. This is the Individual ministerial responsibility, which also asserts that ministers should regularly attend parliament and answer questions and be prepared to be held accountable. David Blunkett, former Home Secretary, has already resigned twice under this convention from Tony Blair's cabinet. Another convention which has, on occasions, forced ministers to resign from cabinet is the Collective Ministerial Responsibility. Under this convention, individual ministers should not, at least in public, disagree with govt policies. Ministers who wish otherwise should resign from cabinet. Robin Cook and Claire Short resigned in 2003 from cabinet in oppose to the government's decision to go to Iraq. In

  • Word count: 518
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
Access this essay

Explain the arguments for and against introducing a codified constitution

Explain the arguments for and against introducing a codified constitution. Discuss. Ursula Oliver 12RJ At present, the UK's constitution is uncodified or de facto; there is no single document though the majority of Britain's constitution lies in written form of acts, court judgments and treaties. The foundation of British constitution is the doctrine of Parliamentary Sovereignty where acts passed by Parliament are the UK's supreme and final source of law. Therefore, simply by passing an Act, Parliament has power to change the constitution. This has caused debate over whether this uncodified constitution is seen as flexible or a liability to the UK. Some people wish to recover the constitution by introducing a codified constitution which is entrenched, whereas others such as Conservative leader David Cameron believe a British Bill of Rights alongside or instead of the Human Rights Act is best whilst maintaining an uncodified constitution. Arguments for introducing a codified constitution usually suggest that the introduction would help to correct imbalances in the current political system. This refers mainly to the second chamber and considering the constitutional status the House of Lords holds, whilst also allowing a discussion over the relation between the executive and legislature. A constitution which is codified provides a counter-balance to the power of the executive,

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 1166
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
Access this essay

To what extent did Wilson's achievements as Prime minister and leader of his party outweighs his failures between 1963 and 1976?

To what extent did Wilson's achievements as Prime minister and leader of his party outweighs his failures between 1963 and 1976? Wilson's achievements as Prime minister outweighs his failures as he was able to get Labour into power after a phenomenal thirteen years of Conservative rule. His main achievement as Labour leader was to get the party into power in 1964. He did this by making the party respectable and untied. This was achieved not only by his own hard work, but the failures of the Conservative government, such as not joining the E.E.C. and there being a continuous rise in unemployment. He also promised so much in his manifesto, such as the 'White Heat of Technology', which was to endorse money into scientific projects to hopefully increase Britain's potential competitiveness in trade on a worldwide scale. Although Wilson was unable to fulfil his promise of the 'White Heat of Technology' as all the proposed research went into 'arms' and Concorde projects. This was due to opposition from civil servants of the Treasury, who would not allocate money to the Prime Ministers for his proposed developments. Wilson's character also enabled him to gain power in the 1964 election, as he was young, charismatic and 'fresh' compared to Macmillan who was considered part of the establishment and out of touch with the young electoral. This seemed to be a big achievement as the

  • Word count: 854
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
Access this essay

According to British constitutional theory Parliament is sovereign. How far is this really the case in the UK today?

AS Politics According to British constitutional theory Parliament is sovereign. How far is this really the case in the UK today? Parliamentary sovereignty suggests that parliament has all the power within a state, so to say that it is above all other institutions. I feel that, constitutionally, the answer is clear; parliament is sovereign, since it is the only institution elected by the people, the people's representative. There are many aspects of parliamentary sovereignty that can justify why it is in fact sovereign, such as the executive is fused with the legislature since members of the government are traditionally members of either house of parliament. Also the government gets legitimacy for its actions from its majority in the House of Commons whilst at the same time one of the functions of parliament is to make the executive accountable or answerable at the very least for its decisions and policies. This is as well as the party with the majority of MPs in the House of Commons forms the government, its leader becomes the PM and constitutional tradition and practice ensures that this majority delivers extensive political power and significant control of both parliament's authority and the power privileges associated with the monarch. An example of parliamentary sovereignty is that even though the Prime Minister can use the royal prerogative to negotiate treaties,

  • Word count: 597
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
Access this essay

There is no convincing case for a written constitution in Britain. Discuss

"There is no convincing case for a written constitution in Britain." Discuss The statement that 'there is no convincing case for a written constitution' appears to be relatively incorrect in nature, as when in regard to the constitution there are many pros and cons surrounding each of the alternatives to what is currently in place. Using Britain as an example of an unwritten constitution, I hope to establish what is wrong with it currently, and how it could be improved if a written system was used, in the eyes of the electorate and benefit for the nation. Ultimately concluding on whether the negative or positive factors balance or outweigh each other in providing the foundations for a 'convincing case' in favour of a written constitution. An unwritten or uncodified constitution is that which is in no single referable format, an unwritten constitution is comprised of the body of the constituent country's law. Enacted over time, coupled with an emphasis on political precedent and enshrined parliamentary procedure to create a framework in which a limited government operates. Although these principles are not codified in a single law, they are still recognized by courts, legislators, and executives as binding upon government, limiting its powers. Thus, a court might cite 'the constitution' in forbidding an exercise of power, even though no document exists. A written or codified

  • Word count: 1394
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
Access this essay

Constitution - Sources and Codified Debates

Constitution Questions What is a constitution? A constitution is an authoritative set of laws and practices specifying how a state is to be governed and the relationship between the state and the individual. A constitution can be written (codified) or unwritten (uncodified) and provides the framework for the political system. The UK's constitution is uncodified and determines where sovereignty resides within the state. Explain, using examples, the sources of the UK constitution. Due to the UK's uncodified constitution we have to look for the key rules of the political system in different places. One source of the UK constitution is statute law which is law created by Parliament. There have been many recent examples of statute law that were of major constitutional significance, including the Scotland Act (19980 which created a Scottish Parliament, the Human Rights Act (1998) and the House of Lords Act which looked at removing hereditary peers. Statute law is considered the most important source of the principles and rules making up the UK constitution. Another source of the UK constitution comes from works of authority, although they have no legal authority they help with interpretation. An example of one of these works is Erskine Mays (1844) work which is regarded as the 'Bible' of parliamentary practice as it is such a detailed work. Another example is A.V. Dicey's

  • Word count: 816
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
Access this essay

The Labour Party.

Political Parties 2002 ~ Research Project The Labour Party Brief history of Party: * The Labour Party was founded in 1900 after several generations of preparatory trade unions. * It elected 29 members to parliament in 1906 and in the two elections of 1910 it elected 40 and 42 members. * In 1924 it formed its first government, with Ramsay MacDonald as prime minister, nevertheless the government only lasted a few months but in 1929 they were re-elected. * In 1945 it won an overwhelming electoral victory where Attlee became prime minister for the party's first majority government. * During the time of their opposition in power i.e. the conservatives in 1955 and 1959, the part almost split between right and left during this time. Then when Attlee retired the right-winger, Hugh Gaitskell became the party leader. * Harold Wilson then became party leader after Gaitskell's death in 1963, where he was able to lead the party to victory in 1964. * The party lost power to the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher in the 1979 elections and remained in the opposition until late 1997. * When Michael Foot became party leader in 1980, the party moved sharply to the left but the party split with the SDP formed and leaving some left-wingers left over, the party faced a crushing defeat in the 1983 election. * Michael Foot then resigned and was succeeded by Neil Kinnock where Kinnock

  • Word count: 6026
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
Access this essay