Edexcel A/S Politics Question

I've got an A/S politics Unit 1 exam on Thursday. I was looking through some past questions and saw a question along the lines of the one below comes up:

"Outline/Explain three policies of the Labour/Conservative party." (15 marks)

Is it expecting you to name 3 policies (i.e. that they included in their election manifestos) or is it asking you to talk about 3 ideas in their ideologies?

Cheers.

Reply 1

thebadeconomist06

(b) What are the main policy areas that divide the Labour and Conservative parties? (15)

Examples include the single European currency, with Labour on the whole in favour. The Conservatives are more hostile to the euro, ruling out entry for the lifetime of this parliament and, by implication, in principle.

On health, the Conservatives favour the greater use of private insurance for most citizens, whereas Labour maintain their preference for a health service essentially funded through central taxation.

The Conservatives would lock up all those waiting for judgements on asylum although Labour now favours the use of accommodation centres.

On some issues the Conservatives appear more radical, such as in responses to Labour's planned reform of House of Lords.

Labour supports restrictions on, or the banning of, hunting with dogs, which the Conservatives oppose.

Level 3 (11 – 15) responses will offer three accurate policies where party policy is clearly explained .

This part of the question was often poorly answered. The majority of responses contained a list of traditional ideological differences. Many candidates made no reference to policy differences. Often the policies that were highlighted were out of date. Devolution was a frequently cited example.

This question may have been difficult, given the silence on many policy issues by the Conservatives, although the best responses did allude to this factor. For this reason, candidates were credited with any correctly identified policy difference going back to the time of the 2001 general election.