PROGRAMME 1
Activities
Discussion Group Questions
- Youth curfews are widely used in communities across the United States, and have recently been introduced on council estates in the UK. What do you think about the use of curfews as a policy to reduce youth crime?
- Upon Max's return from the police station, his father tells him he believes he is old enough to make his own decisions. Does this mean Max is old enough to vote? Do you think the curfew would have been introduced if sixteen and seventeen year olds were legally entitled to vote?
- What are the arguments for and against lowering the voting age? Does not having a vote mean that Max has no say in what is happening to him?
- What were the main factors that allowed the 'political mugging' of power by the Democratic Consensus Party?
Activity: Electoral Systems
| Aldgate DCP 40% Labour 25% Conservative 35% |
Brighton DCP 12% Labour 68% Conservative 20% |
Cardiff DCP 22% Labour 28% Conservative 50% |
Ealing DCP 42% Labour 36% Conservative 22% |
| Glasgow DCP 41% Labour 30% Conservative 29% |
Harrow DCP 35% Labour 32% Conservative 33% |
Islington DCP 38% Labour 33% Conservative 29% |
Londonderry DCP 41% Labour 29% Conservative 30% |
| Milton Keynes DCP 34% Labour 33% Conservative 33% |
Newport DCP 15% Labour 30% Conservative 55% |
Polegate DCP 19% Labour 37% Conservative 44% |
Scarborough DCP 17% Labour 59% Conservative 24% |
| Tower Hamlets DCP 37% Labour 35% Conservative 28% |
Ullapool DCP 18% Labour 40% Conservative 42% |
Wick DCP 46% Labour 30% Conservative 24% |
UK Totals |
Imagine the fifteen constituencies above make up the country, with one seat in Parliament allocated to each of the constituencies. There are 100,000 eligible voters in each constituency. Look at the table above and using a calculator, work out:
- the number of seats allocated to each party using the first past the post system.
- the percentage of the overall UK vote achieved by each party.
- the number of seats allocated to each party using the proportional list system (Divide the percentage of the overall UK vote by 100 to work out the fraction of seats that the party has won. Multiply this by the total number of seats available, ie 15. Your answer may not be a whole number).
- the overall percentage of the registered voting population that voted for each party (Clue: Check the turnout!).
Which system do you think would be fairest? What are the potential drawbacks of both systems? What do you think is most important - strong government or representative government? Are the two mutually exclusive?