A-level Politics
Component 1 Revision:
Useful Resources:
Skills Booklet (Super useful for Questions and Exam Guidance)
BBC News/The Times/The Telegraph/Financial Times/The Spectator/The Economist/BBC Radio 4/The Guardian
The Politics Shed
Tutor2u
Key Party websites (e.g. Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem, Reform, Green, SNP)
House of Lords Library
Hansard
University of Oxford/Oxford Academic and the London School of Economics and Political Science
A level Politics - Specification
Democratic engagement and trust in parliament - POST (UK Government)
Electoral systems across the UK | Institute for Government (Institute for Government)
The role of the media in democracies: what is it and why does it matter? | UCL Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences (UCL)
The Influence of British Media on Politics (The Gale Review)
UK Election Statistics: 1918-2023: A century of elections - House of Commons Library (Electoral Stats and Analysis)
Devolution - The Constitution Society
, Democracy and Participation:
• Direct Democracy (e.g. referendums). Representative Democracy, elected figures represent the
people and remain accountable to the electorate (e.g. Recall of MP’s Act 2015).
• Pluralist democracy: conflicting opinions and the right to freedoms of expression and
association (e.g. political parties and pressure groups).
• The franchise is the right to vote, while suffrage is who has the right. Labour 2024 Manifesto
pledge to lower the voting age to 16 in all elections, reduced to 18 in 1969.
• Reasons for decreasing turnout: party disillusionment (Tories 24), interest in single issues
(Brexit/Immigration), wasted votes (FPTP), preference of direct democracy (2011/14/16).
• Participation Crisis harms the legitimacy of democracy (e.g. 1974 turnout = 78.8%, 2019 =
67.3%, 2024 < 60%), this is even lower for local elections with an average of 34% in May 2025.
• Around 1.2% of UK citizens are members of a political party, Labour increased under Corbyn.
Trade Unionists account for 13% of private sector workforce, rose 2016-20.
• How to improve Participation: Compulsory Voting, Convenience Voting (e.g. online), lower age
(youth turnout in Scottish Independence Referendum 2014 = 80%, in 2015 only 43% of 18–24-
year-olds voted in the general election).
• Electoral Reform Society support a proportional system, 16+, but not compulsory voting.
• Pressure Groups:
➢ Lobbying: Age UK on behalf of pensioners, Black Lives Matter education reforms.
➢ Public Campaigning: Peoples Vote Remain Campaign.
➢ Donations: £9.8mn Labour (unions 2024), £14.3mn Conservative (businesses 2025)
➢ Media Campaigns: 2020 Rashford Free S-M, BLM post George Floyd.
➢ Civil Unrest: Just Stop Oil, M25 roadblock. This is also referred to as Direct Action.
➢ Legal action: 2020 Liberty on facial recognition tech, Friends of the Earth (Heathrow).
➢ E-Petition (requires 100,000 signatures for debate: Calling for General Election 2024/25.
• Sectional groups promote the interests of a specific group such as an occupation (e.g. NEU)
• Promotional groups focus on achieving a particular goal or drawing attention to an issue.
• Public Support does not imply success (e.g. 2013 Badger Cull proceeded despite public outcry).
• Size: Campaign to Protect Rural England = 40,000. Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament 110,000.
• Insider Status: Private healthcare Companies drafted Health and Social Care Bill 2020.
Confederation of British Industry failed to gain Tory support on pro-enterprise legislation due to
Brexit criticism, despite historic ties. Corporations are often associated through donations.
• Think Tanks are a body of experts who deliver verdicts and solutions on key issues: Non-Partisan
(ResRepublica and Chatham House, international affairs), Right (Adam Smith Institute, free
market and Centre for Policy Studies, Thatcher ideology), Left (Fabian Society, social justice and
Blair Institute, third way ideology).
• Lobbyists are groups or individuals paid to persuade decision makers. Lobbyists spend
approximately £2 billion a year in trying to influence (MPs cannot accept financial bribes).
• Individual Rights are those held by every person regardless of race, religion, gender.
• Collective Rights are those shared by a group (e.g. workers or women’s rights).
• The Development of Rights:
➢ Magna Carta (1215): established rule of law.
➢ Bill of Rights (1689): Parliamentary Sovereignty and prohibited cruel punishment.
➢ Common Law: rights confirmed by judicial precedent.
➢ Statutes: Laws passed that guarantee rights (e.g. Freedom of Information Act 2000).
➢ HRA (1998): Guaranteed ECHR freedoms. Equality Act (2010). Marriage Act (2013).
➢ Equalities Act (2010): Legally protects people at work and some characteristics.
Component 1 Revision:
Useful Resources:
Skills Booklet (Super useful for Questions and Exam Guidance)
BBC News/The Times/The Telegraph/Financial Times/The Spectator/The Economist/BBC Radio 4/The Guardian
The Politics Shed
Tutor2u
Key Party websites (e.g. Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem, Reform, Green, SNP)
House of Lords Library
Hansard
University of Oxford/Oxford Academic and the London School of Economics and Political Science
A level Politics - Specification
Democratic engagement and trust in parliament - POST (UK Government)
Electoral systems across the UK | Institute for Government (Institute for Government)
The role of the media in democracies: what is it and why does it matter? | UCL Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences (UCL)
The Influence of British Media on Politics (The Gale Review)
UK Election Statistics: 1918-2023: A century of elections - House of Commons Library (Electoral Stats and Analysis)
Devolution - The Constitution Society
, Democracy and Participation:
• Direct Democracy (e.g. referendums). Representative Democracy, elected figures represent the
people and remain accountable to the electorate (e.g. Recall of MP’s Act 2015).
• Pluralist democracy: conflicting opinions and the right to freedoms of expression and
association (e.g. political parties and pressure groups).
• The franchise is the right to vote, while suffrage is who has the right. Labour 2024 Manifesto
pledge to lower the voting age to 16 in all elections, reduced to 18 in 1969.
• Reasons for decreasing turnout: party disillusionment (Tories 24), interest in single issues
(Brexit/Immigration), wasted votes (FPTP), preference of direct democracy (2011/14/16).
• Participation Crisis harms the legitimacy of democracy (e.g. 1974 turnout = 78.8%, 2019 =
67.3%, 2024 < 60%), this is even lower for local elections with an average of 34% in May 2025.
• Around 1.2% of UK citizens are members of a political party, Labour increased under Corbyn.
Trade Unionists account for 13% of private sector workforce, rose 2016-20.
• How to improve Participation: Compulsory Voting, Convenience Voting (e.g. online), lower age
(youth turnout in Scottish Independence Referendum 2014 = 80%, in 2015 only 43% of 18–24-
year-olds voted in the general election).
• Electoral Reform Society support a proportional system, 16+, but not compulsory voting.
• Pressure Groups:
➢ Lobbying: Age UK on behalf of pensioners, Black Lives Matter education reforms.
➢ Public Campaigning: Peoples Vote Remain Campaign.
➢ Donations: £9.8mn Labour (unions 2024), £14.3mn Conservative (businesses 2025)
➢ Media Campaigns: 2020 Rashford Free S-M, BLM post George Floyd.
➢ Civil Unrest: Just Stop Oil, M25 roadblock. This is also referred to as Direct Action.
➢ Legal action: 2020 Liberty on facial recognition tech, Friends of the Earth (Heathrow).
➢ E-Petition (requires 100,000 signatures for debate: Calling for General Election 2024/25.
• Sectional groups promote the interests of a specific group such as an occupation (e.g. NEU)
• Promotional groups focus on achieving a particular goal or drawing attention to an issue.
• Public Support does not imply success (e.g. 2013 Badger Cull proceeded despite public outcry).
• Size: Campaign to Protect Rural England = 40,000. Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament 110,000.
• Insider Status: Private healthcare Companies drafted Health and Social Care Bill 2020.
Confederation of British Industry failed to gain Tory support on pro-enterprise legislation due to
Brexit criticism, despite historic ties. Corporations are often associated through donations.
• Think Tanks are a body of experts who deliver verdicts and solutions on key issues: Non-Partisan
(ResRepublica and Chatham House, international affairs), Right (Adam Smith Institute, free
market and Centre for Policy Studies, Thatcher ideology), Left (Fabian Society, social justice and
Blair Institute, third way ideology).
• Lobbyists are groups or individuals paid to persuade decision makers. Lobbyists spend
approximately £2 billion a year in trying to influence (MPs cannot accept financial bribes).
• Individual Rights are those held by every person regardless of race, religion, gender.
• Collective Rights are those shared by a group (e.g. workers or women’s rights).
• The Development of Rights:
➢ Magna Carta (1215): established rule of law.
➢ Bill of Rights (1689): Parliamentary Sovereignty and prohibited cruel punishment.
➢ Common Law: rights confirmed by judicial precedent.
➢ Statutes: Laws passed that guarantee rights (e.g. Freedom of Information Act 2000).
➢ HRA (1998): Guaranteed ECHR freedoms. Equality Act (2010). Marriage Act (2013).
➢ Equalities Act (2010): Legally protects people at work and some characteristics.
