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Politics essay question

What are the main arguments for retaining FPTP at general elections in the UK?... Its a 25 mark answer... I know the main points but how much padding out of the answers is neccessary to access the majority of the marks!! (AS Poltics)

Reply 1

adelante

Don't pad out the answers. Give examples to illustrate your answers. Why don't you post the main points that you already have in "point form" and we can all chip in to add points that you may have missed and also contribute examples to illustrate the points?

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Reply 2

abu.10

remember to PEE, point - evidence - explanation. in fact i don't even think you need to explain, just recall! give as many arguments in favour of FPTP

Reply 3

AnythingButChardonnay

All of the above +

It maintains a strong elector-electee relationship. It allows you to vote for a person as much as for a party.

It doesn't make small (often extremist) parties the kingmakers.

It is arguably fairer, as I will explain.

Imagine 40% of people voted for Party A, 30% Party B and 20% Party C.

Under PR two of the parties would have to form a coalition. If Party B and Party C did that would leave the 40% who voted for Party A extremely unhappy, and those who voted for Parties B and C less-than-completely happy (because neither of their parties is totally in office)

Whereas under FPTP (assuming Party A did indeed win) 40% of people would be completely happy. And, yes, the others completely unhappy.

So PR is a more "least bad" option whereas FPTP is more "most preferred" option.

Reply 4

Pedro!

FPTP is easy to understand for the average electorate. Not complicated, who you vote for is who (if they get enough votes) become parliament.

Reply 5

liamb

Look on my wiki, you'll find something on everything. If you can't find it in Unit 1, look on Unit 3 (it's still configured for the old exam).
http://liambellamywiki.wikispaces.com/