| # | Example | What it shows (AO2) | Best used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2024 general election turnout, 60% | The lowest turnout since 2001, down from 67% in 2019. The headline figure for the participation-crisis case. | Participation crisis; democratic deficit. |
| 2 | 2014 Scottish independence referendum | 55% No on 84.6% turnout, the highest turnout of any UK-wide vote since 1992. Direct democracy at full strength. | For direct democracy; referendums (2024 Q1a). |
| 3 | 2016 EU referendum | 52-48 Leave on 72% turnout, the largest direct-democracy vote in UK history, but a binary answer to a complex question with a divisive aftermath. | Against direct democracy; tyranny of the majority. |
| 4 | Climate Assembly UK, 2020 | 108 randomly chosen citizens deliberated for 60 hours on net zero and reported to Parliament. The strongest UK case for citizens' assemblies. | Deliberative democracy; reform options. |
| 5 | Scotland and Wales votes at 16 | Holyrood from 2016, the Senedd from 2021. Moves the votes-at-16 argument from "would it work" to "it already does". | Votes at 16; widening participation. |
| 6 | Recall of MPs Act 2015 | Used to remove Fiona Onasanya (2019), Chris Davies (2019) and Margaret Ferrier (2023). A small but real direct-democracy check between elections. | Reform; holding MPs to account. |
| 7 | Westminster e-petitions | 100,000 signatures triggers a Commons debate; the 2019 revoke-Article-50 petition drew 6.1 million names. Easy access, but only a debate, not a decision. | E-democracy; participation reform. |
| 8 | Hansard Society Audit, 2019 | Only 22% felt they had any influence over national decisions and 63% thought the system favoured the rich and powerful. Evidence of disengagement. | Participation crisis; democratic deficit. |
| 9 | Turnout by education and class | In 2019 turnout was 69% among graduates but 53% among semi-skilled and unskilled workers. Unequal participation skews whose voice is heard. | Participation crisis; representation gaps. |
| 10 | Australia's compulsory voting | Turnout near 87% with a small fine for non-voters. The standard comparison when arguing for compulsory voting in the UK. | Reform; compulsory voting debate. |
| # | Example | What it shows (AO2) | Best used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BMA junior doctors' strikes, 2023-24 | The largest sustained industrial action in NHS history, which won a 22% pay deal under Labour in 2024. An insider group using outsider tactics when talks fail. | Sectional and insider; methods that work (2024 Q2a). |
| 2 | NFU and the 2024 farming protests | A permanent insider link with DEFRA, then mass protests in London in November 2024 over the inheritance-tax change. The textbook core insider. | Insider status; access points. |
| 3 | ASH and the Health Act 2006 | Drove the ban on smoking in public places and shaped plain packaging through technical expertise, not mass mobilisation. The specialist insider model. | Insider methods; what makes groups succeed. |
| 4 | ClientEarth air-quality cases | Environmental lawyers who won judicial reviews in 2015, 2016 and 2018, forcing the government to produce a lawful air-quality plan. Influence through the courts. | Methods; legal action route. |
| 5 | Marcus Rashford free school meals, 2020 | A single celebrity campaign on social media forced a government U-turn within 48 hours. The "clear ask plus a public face" outsider model that wins. | Outsider success; methods. |
| 6 | Just Stop Oil, 2022-24 | M25 blockades and stunts kept climate visible but won no policy reversal and helped provoke the Public Order Act 2023. Agenda-setting without policy change. | Limits of direct action; outsider failure. |
| 7 | Insulate Britain, 2021 | Motorway blockades demanding home insulation triggered tighter protest law without winning the original demand. The unintended-consequence case. | Outsider tactics; backfiring methods. |
| 8 | IEA and the 2022 mini-budget | A free-market think tank supplied much of the intellectual content of the Truss-Kwarteng package and feeds personnel into government. Think tanks as policy drivers. | Other influences; think tanks. |
| 9 | Greensill and the Cameron lobbying scandal, 2021 | A former PM lobbied the Chancellor by text for a private firm, exposing gaps in the Transparency of Lobbying Act 2014. Informal lobbying is the real story. | Lobbyists and corporations; regulation gaps. |
| 10 | Stonewall | A core insider on LGB equality in the 2000s, then lost government and BBC backing over the trans debate in 2021-22. A group's access can rise and fall. | Shifting access; pluralism debate. |
| # | Example | What it shows (AO2) | Best used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Human Rights Act 1998 | Brought the European Convention into UK law so rights can be enforced here, but courts can only declare law incompatible, not strike it down. Rights within parliamentary sovereignty. | How rights are protected (2025 Q1a). |
| 2 | Declarations of incompatibility | Around 43 issued since 2000, and Parliament has usually amended the law. Evidence that the HRA works in practice as a check on government. | Rights well protected (agree). |
| 3 | Prisoner voting (Hirst v UK) | Strasbourg ruled the blanket ban unlawful and Parliament refused to comply. Shows the limits of the courts under parliamentary sovereignty. | Rights poorly protected; sovereignty. |
| 4 | Belmarsh case, 2004 | The Law Lords ruled indefinite detention of foreign terror suspects unlawful and discriminatory. The judiciary checking the executive on liberty. | Judiciary protecting rights; civil liberties. |
| 5 | Rwanda asylum scheme, 2022-24 | Blocked by Strasbourg, ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court (2023), reversed by statute (2024), then scrapped. Rights versus the elected government, played out in full. | Rights and sovereignty clash; judicial review. |
| 6 | Illegal Migration Act 2023 | Large parts were declared incompatible with the Convention in 2024 and suspended. Parliament can legislate against rights, but the courts push back. | Limits on rights; collective v individual. |
| 7 | For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers, 2025 | The Supreme Court ruled "sex" in the Equality Act means biological sex. Shows the courts settling deeply contested rights questions. | Rights conflicts; equality law. |
| 8 | Equality Act 2010 | Consolidated anti-discrimination law into one framework covering nine protected characteristics. The main statutory protection for equality rights. | How rights developed; statute law. |
| 9 | Magna Carta 1215 and the Bill of Rights 1689 | The historic roots of rights in the UK: limits on the Crown and the rule of law. Rights here grew by gradual milestone, not a single charter. | Development of rights; milestones. |
| 10 | Public Order Act 2023 | Created new protest offences after the climate blockades and was challenged by Liberty. The clash between collective order and the right to protest. | Individual v collective rights; protest. |
| # | Example | What it shows (AO2) | Best used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2024 general election result | Labour 412 seats on 33.7%, a 174-seat majority on the lowest winning vote share in modern history; the Conservatives fell to 121, their worst since 1906. A volatile, fragmented result. | Party system; two-party decline (2024 Q2b). |
| 2 | Reform UK in 2024 | 14.3% of the vote but only 5 seats, then leading some national polls through 2025. A challenger party squeezed by the system but reshaping competition. | Emerging parties; party system. |
| 3 | Christopher Harborne donations | Routed more than 6 million pounds to the Brexit Party in 2019 through UK-registered firms, the largest single donation that year. Big money and the funding debate. | Party funding; donations. |
| 4 | PPERA 2000 | Created the Electoral Commission, capped campaign spending and required large donations to be declared. The main attempt to regulate party finance. | Funding reform; regulation. |
| 5 | Lib Dem tuition-fees U-turn, 2010 | A signed pledge against fee rises was abandoned in coalition; the party fell from 57 seats to 8 in 2015. The cost of breaking a manifesto promise. | Coalition; party credibility. |
| 6 | SNP dominance and decline | 56 of 59 Scottish seats in 2015, then down to 9 in 2024 as Scottish Labour revived. The rise and fall of a dominant minor party. | Multi-party system; nationalist challenge. |
| 7 | Labour membership swings | Around 190,000 in 2015, surging past 550,000 under Corbyn, then falling back under Starmer. Membership tracks leaders and movements, not steady loyalty. | Party membership; participation. |
| 8 | Lee Anderson defection, 2024 | A former Conservative deputy chairman crossed to Reform UK, who then took 5 seats. A challenger party pulling sitting MPs, not just voters. | Party realignment; emerging parties. |
| 9 | DUP confidence and supply, 2017-19 | 10 DUP MPs propped up a minority Conservative government for around 1 billion pounds for Northern Ireland. How a small party can win real influence in a hung parliament. | Minor-party influence; hung parliaments. |
| 10 | Two-child benefit cap rebellion, 2024-26 | Labour MPs rebelled in 2024 and the cap was lifted in the 2026 Budget. Old-Labour pressure shifting a centrist leadership leftward. Internal division. | Party divisions; ideological tensions. |
| # | Example | What it shows (AO2) | Best used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2024 disproportionality under FPTP | Labour won 412 seats on 33.7%, Reform UK 5 seats on 14.3%, the Lib Dems 72 on 12.2%. The starkest recent gap between votes and seats. | Against FPTP; disproportionality (2024 Q1b). |
| 2 | 2015: UKIP v SNP | UKIP won 12.6% and 1 seat while the SNP won 4.7% and 56 seats. FPTP rewards concentrated support and punishes evenly spread votes. | FPTP flaws; wasted votes. |
| 3 | 2011 AV referendum | 68% No on 42% turnout. The public decisively rejected reform, though the vote was tangled up with Lib Dem unpopularity. The system stays. | Reform blocked; referendums. |
| 4 | SNP majority at Holyrood, 2011 | The SNP won an outright majority under AMS, a system designed to prevent one. Proportional systems still allow strong single-party government. | AMS; PR in practice. |
| 5 | 2009 European elections and the BNP | The BNP won 2 seats on 6.2% under closed-list PR but none under FPTP in 2010. PR is fairer but can also let extremes in. | PR strengths and risks; list systems. |
| 6 | Northern Ireland Assembly under STV | STV produces broadly proportional, power-sharing results suited to a divided society. The case for STV as fair and inclusive. | STV; multi-member systems. |
| 7 | Donkey voting under STV, 2019 | In NI local elections the alphabetically first co-party candidate won 85% of the time. A real drawback of long STV ballots. | STV weaknesses; ballot design. |
| 8 | Belfast South, 2015 | An MP elected on 24.5% of the vote, so over three-quarters preferred someone else. An extreme case of FPTP minority winners. | FPTP flaws; legitimacy. |
| 9 | Liberal-SDP Alliance, 1983 | 25.4% of the vote but only 23 seats, against Labour's 27.6% and 209 seats. The classic historic case of FPTP punishing third parties. | Disproportionality; third parties. |
| 10 | Blair's 1997 landslide | A 179-seat majority on 43.2% of the vote. FPTP can manufacture a decisive majority and strong, accountable government. The case for FPTP. | For FPTP; strong government. |
| # | Example | What it shows (AO2) | Best used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1979 general election | The Conservatives won on economic competence even though Thatcher trailed Callaghan personally, with Saatchi and Saatchi running the first marketing-led campaign. Issues and image over class. | Class dealignment; the rational-choice case (2024 Q2a). |
| 2 | 1992 general election | The Conservatives won despite trailing in the polls; the Sun claimed it had won it. Used to argue both the press matters and that polls can mislead. | Media influence; opinion polls. |
| 3 | The Sun and 1997 | The paper switched from Conservative to Labour ten days before polling, after Blair courted Murdoch. The reinforcement-versus-influence debate in one event. | Press partisanship; media effects. |
| 4 | 2010 leaders' debates | The first UK TV debates produced "Cleggmania" and a Lib Dem poll surge that FPTP then flattened to 57 seats. Campaign events can move opinion. | Short-term factors; the campaign. |
| 5 | 2017 "youthquake" | Corbyn's rallies and viral content cut May's lead and produced Labour's biggest vote-share gain since 1945. Social media and campaign as short-term factors. | Short-term factors; social media. |
| 6 | 2016 EU referendum cleavages | 71% of 18-24s voted Remain and 64% of over-65s Leave; graduates split Remain, no-qualification voters Leave. Age and education as the new dividing lines. | Voting factors; age and education. |
| 7 | The Red Wall, 2019 and after | Long-Labour seats went Conservative on "Get Brexit Done", then became three-way Reform contests by 2024-25. Long-term class loyalty has broken down. | Class and regional dealignment. |
| 8 | YouGov on Reform UK, 2025-26 | 37% among DE voters but 14% among AB; 33% of over-65s but 6% of under-25s. Class still shapes the vote, but not in the old Labour-Conservative way. | Class, age and gender; partisan dealignment. |
| 9 | GB News since 2021 | Over a million daily viewers and repeated Ofcom impartiality sanctions, with heavy Reform exposure. The rise of opinion-led broadcasting. | Media and impartiality; new media. |
| 10 | AI deepfakes, 2023-24 | Fake audio of Starmer and Khan spread widely and the Khan clip nearly caused disorder, with no clear criminal offence to stop it. New media risks to elections. | Media and misinformation; opinion formation. |