Edexcel A Level Government and Politics Paper 1 November 2021 question paper

Source 1 concerns the use of opinion polls in UK politics. Part of the extract comes from a House of Lords report into the recent impact of the use of polls. The second part of the extract is a more positive view of polling from Peter Kellner in The Evening

(Sources: adapted from https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201719/

ldselect/ldppdm/106/10605.htm#_idTextAnchor010, and https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/general-election-polls-how-the-pollsters-got-it-wrong-a3560936.html)

Using the source, evaluate the view that opinion polls bring more advantages than disadvantages to elections and referendums.

In your response you must:

• compare and contrast different opinions in the source

• examine and debate these views in a balanced way

• analyse and evaluate only the information presented in the source.

Source 2 depicts two letters with differing opinions printed in a newspaper concerning the importance and scope of the manifestos of political parties.

Using the source, evaluate the view that in a democracy MPs are free to ignore

referendum results and their own political party’s manifesto.

In your response you must:

• compare and contrast different opinions in the source

• examine and debate these views in a balanced way

• analyse and evaluate only the information presented in the source.

Evaluate the view that the emergence of multiple parties in the UK means that the Westminster electoral system must be changed.

You must consider this view and the alternative to this view in a balanced way.

Evaluate the view that the influence of the media in politics is exaggerated; it is not heavily biased and has little power of persuasion.

You must consider this view and the alternative to this view in a balanced way.

To what extent is liberalism more concerned with society than with the economy?

You must use appropriate thinkers you have studied to support your answer and consider both differing views in a balanced way.

To what extent is there more to unite rather than divide the New Right from One-Nation conservatives?

You must use appropriate thinkers you have studied to support your answer and consider differing views in a balanced way.