Hence, giving people the power to choose the answer to a decision can be seen as sticking to the social contract. Other supporters can claim that important decisions effecting the constitution have to require extensive popular consent of the public. In using referendums it allows the executive to come across and strong and legitimate. For example in 1975, the government held a referendum to decide whether Britain should remain a member of the European Economic Community. In 1974 the Labour government had been divided but after the referendum was passed and the public elected to stay in the EEC it united the Labour government, thus, making the executive a strong one.
Evidence can be found in the activities of Make Poverty History and the Fawcett society, both of which have created campaigns based around asking local people to write to their MPs. Constituency responsibilities and demands have increased greatly for MPs, leading to the opening of Portcullis House in Westminster to provide MPs with more resources. Activity at a local scale has also increased due to governmental activity. Ed Pickle’s localism bill, allowing local bodies to take over council services, is likely to result in a growth of local campaigning. An increase in new local developments, whether related to building infrastructure (such as Heathrow’s third runway) or to immigration (such as mosques and multi-faith community centres), have also created an increase in NIMBY group activity.
Democracy may be defined as a political system in which people exercise power over the decisions which affect their lives. In the case of the UK, there is much evidence to support the claim that it is democratic, but there are features which undermine this claim and this essay will attempt to examine the evidence. One of the strongest arguments in support of the claim that the UK is a genuine democracy is that we have universal adult suffrage, which means that all UK citizens aged 18 or above have the right to vote for representatives to make decisions on their behalf. In addition, democracy is also strengthened by the fact that the electorate can choose representatives at local, regional, national and international (EU Parliament) levels. In addition, the elections are held at regular intervals, which ensures that the representatives are accountable to the electorate.
How far do the sources suggest that James Callaghan was a good prime minister? As sources 1 and 2 would suggest James Callaghan was indeed a good prime minister. James Callaghan is a great prime minister who had the qualities that made him capable of running Britain but daunting economic circumstances led to his downfall. By the end of his government, Britain was deemed “The sick man of Europe”. Source 3 shows a clear disagreement though, as it states Callaghan “struggled to rule effectively until a vote of no-confidence” was called upon.
Source 15 backs up this point; it’s message is that the media has shown the royal families true colours, albeit very bland colours. It tells us that the media revealed that the hype over the monarchy was somewhat exaggerated and they weren’t really worth peoples excitement. We can also see this in the TV show “It’s A Royal Knockout” which was a great embarrassment to the monarchy. Source 16 both agrees and disagrees with this point. It tells us that the nation was very distraught after the death of Princess Diana, who was intensely followed by the media.
Moreover, the fact that Disraeli did not consult parliament lead to him being accused by Gladstone of ‘undermining Britain's constitutional system’, due to his lack of reference or consent from Parliament. However, whilst one can easily condemn Disraeli for his action in this situation, one is ignoring the other side of the story. The Suez Canal purchase of 1875 gave Disraeli more political clout due to the fact that it was of large political important to many European countries. As
In 2010 backbenchers were threatening to rebel over tuition fees. This was enough to force concessions to be made so the rebellion wasn’t as large as expected. It could be said that they failed because the bill wasn’t defeated but in a way it was a success as changes were made. This shows that the image of being lobby fodder is being shaken off by the more outspoken MPs. It is difficult for a Backbench MP to influence government policy if a government has a large majority in Parliament.
The Intro of the essay asserts the notion that the English language has been disfigured by the human race and is on the residual decline as a resultant. Mr. Orwell attributes this downfall to politics and economic causes but goes on to outline his remedy to correct what he refers to as a “reversible” process. George Orwell goes on to cite passages from several prominent essays and articles, concluding on the similarities in their staleness of imagery and lack of precision. He criticizes the passages, stating that the incompetence and vagueness of such political writings desecrates correct English prose- construction. DYING METAPHORS.
Through this, our nation’s trust and confidence in our government has severely declined. How can ordinary people like us trust two very different parties with completely different viewpoints to agree and run our country smoothly? It is a hard concept to wrap your finger around. This is why trust in our government has declined. The increased cost of campaigns has also contributed to this
Referendums were used this way in the 1998 London referendum on whether to adopt an elected mayor. Using referendums in these ways allows for participation from the people, therefore wider use of them could be said to increase legitimacy since the decisions are made by the people instead of by a government which may have had less public support. Referendums are a form of direct democracy, used besides the UKs