Lesson video

Hi, are you all right?

My name is Miss Tomassi and I'm gonna be working through with you on your citizenship lesson today.

So hopefully, you are all comfortable, all ready to go and we'll make a start.

So today's lesson's title is: How can we improve democracy in the UK?

And this is still part of our unit on strengths and weaknesses of the UK Democratic system.

The outcome, so hopefully by the end of the session, you'll be able to describe different ways that democracy can be improved in the UK.

Some key words that we will come across today, there are four of them.

So the first one is democracy.

That is a system of government in which citizens vote in regular, fair elections for representatives who then make laws and decisions on their behalf.

A representative democracy, which is a type of democracy where citizens choose others to represent them, making important decisions on their behalf.

We've got representation, which ensures that different groups of people have a voice in the decision-making process and that their views, interests, and needs are reflected in government.

Then, we have participation, which refers to the active involvement of citizens in the political process such as voting in elections, engaging in debates, or joining political groups.

Remember, if you look out for these in the session, they'll be in bold.

So if you ever need to refer back, they are here on this slide.

Right, so we'll make a start with our first lesson outline, which is what does democracy look like in the UK?

Now, democracy looks different across the world, not just in the UK.

It looks different in each place.

Different countries follow different types of democracies.

One way that we can measure the state of democracy is by using democracy index, which you can see here.

This is the Democracy Index for 2023.

Any ideas what the colors are?

Now, if you can have a look at the UK, it might help to give a bit of a clue here.

So, here is the UK.

In 2023, the UK score was 8.

3 and it's in that blue shade color.

What that means is it is a full democracy.

A full democracy means that the country is democratic.

They'll have vote in free and fair elections and there'll be ways to hold the government accountable and for citizens to get involved.

Now, the reason the UK is a full democracy is it has a multi-party system.

So that is the idea of the different political parties.

There's lots of different parties with different suggestions and they can hold each other to account.

They can have their own ideas and they can bounce off of each other on them.

Then, you have free and fair elections.

So in the UK, the general election runs every five years.

So that way, that it's constantly evolving and changing as well, which helps to hold the government to account.

We've got a separation of powers.

And by this, we mean, you know, we've got the Monarchy, we've got the Parliament, and we've got the government.

And then, the courts are also independent to that as well.

So it means that each segment or area can be held accountable, so it is not just one group in charge.

Then, we've got a lot of chance for political participation.

You might have ever seen protests in the country.

People have the right to be able to take part and to be able to express their opinions as well and they can campaign for change without the fear of being punished.

So, a check for understanding: The UK falls under what category according to the Democracy Index?

Is it A, authoritarian regime; B, a hybrid regime; C, a flawed democracy; or D, a full democracy.

It is a full democracy.

Now, a type of democracy that we also have here in the UK is a representative democracy.

So that's one of the key words mentioned at the start.

And this is the idea where citizens choose others to represent them.

Do you know in this country who represents citizens in terms of decisions?

They are in this room here if you know where that is as well.

So we have here the House of Commons and those that represent the citizens are the Members of Parliament, most commonly known as MPs.

So you might hear that more often.

And as I said, with the general election, they voted in every five years.

They get to debate on the laws in the House of Commons there.

We've got Aisha here saying, "How did they decide how many MPs there should be?

" Sam says, "It's based on constituencies.

These are specific geographical areas.

" So each area in the country is a constituency and they each have an MP that represent them.

So, that's 650.

And then each person in that area votes for their MPs to represent them.

Now, that there, hexagonal map, shows all the 650 constituencies.

The difference here is the UK citizens can get in touch with their MP to discuss issues.

And then the MP, what they do, they take them issues and raise them in Parliament.

And then, they can ask the government ministers on your behalf.

So there's always a connection from the citizens to the Member of Parliament in terms of making change and promoting difference.

Another check for understanding: How many MPs are there in the UK?

Is it A, 600; B, 650; or C 700?

Good if you got it, it's 650.

And obviously, remember they're based off of the constituencies.

So we've got Aisha here saying, "Can I contact my MP?

" And Sam says, "Yes, you can find out who represents your area and contact them directly.

" You can do that via the UK Parliament as well.

And on there, if you just type in the area that you live in, and then you can find out who your Member of Parliament is.

You might also, occasionally you might get post through the letterbox as well.

So might see your MP in your area.

They might be doing some local campaigns as well.

So it's always good to know who they are and what they're doing.

So it is a good one to try and find out who your MP is and also you can contact them as well.

So it is not just for those that are over 18 and who can vote them in.

Anyone can contact them that lives in their area to deal with any issues.

Any idea what issues they might deal with?

So the MPs can deal with hospitals, the NHS, immigration, school closures and funding, transport facilities.

Now, these are just some, they can deal with a lot more than this as well.

But this just gives you a bit of an idea.

So Sam's saying here, "Do we vote for Prime Minister?

" And Aisha says, "No, the members of political party elect who they want to lead their party.

" Now, this is sometimes a bit of a misconception here 'cause sometimes people think that you'd get a chance to vote for the Prime Minister.

Now, the Prime Minister isn't voted in.

So, to give you an example, in the 2024 election, Labour was the political party with the most votes and their leader of that party was Sir Keir Starmer.

So then, he becomes the Prime Minister.

So like it's here, when the general election takes place, the party with the most seats form the government and the leader of that party becomes the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister is the leader of the political party, and then they become head of government.

So, true or false?

The Prime Minister is chosen and elected by the electorates in the UK.

It is false, why?

Because it's the member of the political party that choose and elect their leader.

And then, the winning party's leader becomes Prime Minister.

So we are moving onto the first task for this session.

We've got Sam here who's got an issue that she would like to resolve.

"The local hospital wait times are too long.

They need more staff and better funding to fix this.

" Can you explain to Sam who she can speak to and why they would be able to help?

Now, if you've got a different style of doing this, go for it.

You can come up with a different way of doing it as well.

But if you take take a minute, just pause.

And then, come back when you are finished.

And then, we can go through it.

How did you find that task?

Now, your response to Sam could look like this.

So remember, the UK is a representative democracy.

That means a Member of Parliament or an MP represents the citizens of their constituency in Parliament.

So if you have an issue with the local hospital's wait times, you can therefore contact your MP by email or letter or meet with them in person to explain your concern.

The MP could support you with this by asking questions to government ministers on your behalf.

Now, you could have styled this different, you might have drafted your own kind of email or letter as well.

That's a great way of doing it, but it's just getting that idea across that your MP is your go-to person.

And then, they can speak on your behalf.

So that shows us what democracy is like in the UK.

Now, we're gonna look at how can the UK's democracy be improved.

So this takes a little bit more thinking.

So you can start to think about the strengths and weaknesses yourself of the UK's democracy and where you stand on this.

So, any thoughts to start with?

How can democracy be improved in the UK?

Can you think of anything?

Some ideas that we've got here is better representation in Parliament.

So, again, that's one of the key terms.

So we are looking at how people are represented.

And increased participation from citizens, so given the citizen's chance to get involved more.

And then, obviously we've got there.

So actively taking part is participation and representation is about people speaking or acting on your behalf.

So we will take a look at both of these as we go through.

The reason better representation in Parliament is there is because we've got three parts that make up Parliament.

Do you remember what they are?

House of Commons.

And then, we've got the other house, which is the House of Lords.

And then, we've got the Monarch.

Now, at the moment, the House of Commons is the only elected chamber.

We have the House of Lords and they have about 800 members, but they are made up of three different ways.

So, you've got life peers.

These are experts in their field.

You've got hereditary peers.

These are people that have inherited, so they were born with the title from parents; or you've got bishops.

Now, over time, the House of Lords has become more representative.

When it first started, they only had hereditary peers.

So that would be, you know, when somebody passed, they would go down to their children and so on.

So it just went down in generations.

However, in 1958, the House allowed life peers.

So these were experts in their field.

Can you think why that would help it become a bit more representative?

So if you're thinking about it, it's that reason then actually, they might have dedicated their life and been part of the NHS, so then they can support on decisions there.

Maybe they've been in education, and then they can talk about that.

So there's different subjects that they know a lot about.

Now, again, it's still.

.

.

Although they've brought in more life peers, it still isn't fully representative.

So the citizens themselves aren't actually getting a chance to say who sits in the House of Lords.

Now in 2024, the Labour government have got plans to ban all hereditary peers and a longer term plan to replace it with an alternative elected second chamber.

So if there was a second chamber that was elected, do you think that that would make it a bit more representative?

So that's the kind of question to you.

Would it improve representation in Parliament?

Again, there's still pros and cons with this idea as well.

So would it be fairer and more democratic?

What do you think?

Would it better reflect public views?

Would it make laws fairer?

It is one to think about and to see.

There are, as I said, a number of pros and cons to this idea.

'Cause at the moment, the House of Lords is more takes on the role of scrutinizing the government and the House of Commons and the laws that come through.

If they were fully elected, how would that work?

So, it is something to think about.

What is the elected part of Parliament called?

Is it A, the House of Commons?

Is it B, the House of Lords?

Or is it C, the Monarchy?

It is the House of Commons.

So, the right to vote has changed.

So, we've kind of spoken about representation in Parliament.

We're gonna move now on to participation.

Over time, participation has increased.

So if we go all the way back, we've got a timeline there.

All the way back to the late 1700s where only around 3% of the population can vote, these were adult noble men.

So it was a very, very small minority of people that were allowed to vote.

Moving forward to 1885, again, we've only got males here.

But then, 56% of adult males could vote.

By the time we get to 1918, all men over 21 and married women over 30.

1928, women became all adults.

And then in 1969, it's lower to 18.

And then in 2014, although in the UK, it's still 18 for the general election, Scotland lowered the voting age to 16, 17-year-olds for the independence referendum.

So over time, there has been increased participation by different groups being able to take part in the voting in the UK.

So, increased participation from citizens.

Today, it is 18 for general election.

However, in 2014, like we just said, Scotland allowed 16-17 year olds to vote for all non-Westminster elections.

So, that might be local elections, elections for these Scottish Parliament.

And like we saw in the example, the independence referendum for Scotland.

Now, as a result of that, 89% of 16 and 17-year-olds registered to vote in Scottish independence referendum.

So this idea that one of the cons that people sometimes say is that, you know, maybe 16, 17-year-olds wouldn't be interested.

But here, we've got the Scottish independence referendum where 89% registered to vote.

Wales also expanded the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds for the Welsh Parliamentary elections.

And that was in 2021.

So again, we have some different places across the UK that are allowing younger people to take part.

The minimum age to vote in Scottish local elections is.

.

.

A, 16; B, 17; C, 18.

It is 16.

So they're allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to vote.

And, again, that's the same for the Welsh Parliament elections, but it's 18 for the UK general election.

So the reason that we've been looking at that is because there is a question mark whether the should the voting age for UK elections be lowered?

What's your thoughts on this?

Now, some people agree with it because: they're saying that voting at 16 would match other aspects of citizenship.

So things like, you know, you're allowed to join the armed forces at 16, but then you're not allowed to vote.

Also, some agree with this because young people may have better knowledge of issues than some older people.

So if they're studying, currently studying citizenship and they're engaged in that in school, then they might have an idea and their own opinions of what is going on.

It would help to improve representation because issues that young people care about are more likely to be addressed by the politicians if they knew they were able to vote.

So it improves that representation of young people in Parliament.

Now, we've got the flip side of this.

So there are people that disagree with lowering the voting age and the reason that they give is that people legally become adults at 18.

So although you might be able to do certain things such as join the armed forces, you'd still need permission of a parent.

You are not gonna be on the frontline.

Even some other things that you can do across being 16, you still probably need permission of parents or carers, et cetera as well.

Most 16-year-olds are in full-time education and now even up until you're 18 and living with parents or carers.

So they could be more easily influenced by those around them.

So by allowing them the time than they're 18, then they'll be more independent.

And voter turnout at elections has decreased since 1997.

So what this means is that the people that are actually at the current age of voting, over time, are choosing not to take part or not to vote.

So the argument is that there should be a focus on increasing turnout for the people that actually are eligible to vote before introducing it to more people.

Lowering the voting age could improve participation because it encourages lifelong engagement.

So it's that idea of, you know, if you're engaged at a young age, then you're more likely to continue.

So that idea that then the voter turnout would actually increase because people are gonna engage over a long period of time.

That idea that we looked at increases representation of young people's views.

Improves education and awareness around rights, roles and responsibilities in society.

So it means that, you know, more people are finding out about what their roles are.

True or false?

Lowering the voting age could improve representation.

It is true.

Why is that true?

Because issues young people care about are more likely to be addressed by politicians if they knew that they were able to vote.

So we are moving onto our final task today.

We've got Aisha and Sam here and they are debating whether the voting age should be lowered to 16.

Aisha is saying, she thinks, "It should because you can join the armed forces at 16.

" And Sam says, "Ah, I don't think it should because voting is a big responsibility and you're not an adult until 18.

" Decide who you agree with more and explain why this would improve democracy in the UK.

So take some time to think about it.

We've looked at points that you agree with, looked at points you disagree with.

You might even have your own ideas on this.

It might have been something that you've taken part in or have some views on as well.

So just take some time, pause it, and then see what response you can come up with.

Come back and we'll go through.

So what side of the debate did you end up sitting on?

Now, if you agreed with Aisha, you could have said: I agree with Aisha that the voting age should be lowered to 16.

This is because it would match other aspects of citizenship available at that age, like joining the armed forces.

Therefore, it makes sense to allow 16-year-olds to take part in the democratic process.

Lowering the voting age could improve democracy because it may enhance engagement and political participation.

For example, in the Scottish independence referendum, 89% of 16 and 17-year-olds registered to vote.

Now, you might have come up with that point.

You could have picked a different point because there's many different reasons that the voting age could be lowered.

If you chose to agree with Sam and you believe it shouldn't be lowered, it could be something like: many of the things that 16-year-olds can do are still restricted; for example, they can join the armed forces, but not in frontline service and even then they require permission from parents or carers.

Furthermore, many 16-year-olds still live at home with their families and in full-time education.

So giving them a significant responsibility of voting could mean that they're more likely to be influenced by others.

It would help to improve democracy in the UK 'cause a focus can be put on improving engagement in those already able to vote.

So, again, that gives you a different side to the argument.

What did you come up with?

Did you agree with Aisha or did you agree with Sam?

Did you have similar ideas or have you come up with some completely different reasons as to how democracy could be improved in the UK?

Now, that brings us to the end.

So we're just gonna do a quick summary.

So we've got here the title.

So we were looking at how can we improve democracy in the UK?

Now, remembering the UK uses representative democracy and electorates vote for their MP to represent them.

Electorates can contact their local MP with any issues.

Democracy in the UK could be improved by increasing representation in Parliament.

For example, changing the House of Lords into an elected chamber.

This would improve diversity and allow a range of voices to be heard in Parliament.

Democracy in the UK could be improved by increasing participation in the UK, for instance, allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to vote.

Hopefully, that has made sense and it's given you a better idea of the democracy that we have in the UK and also maybe some ideas of how it could be improved and where you sit and what you believe with that.

So, thank you for working through this session today.