Transition work for Politics A Level Welcome to Politics! You have chosen a brilliant new subject to study at A Level. We’re looking forward to teaching you politics in the coming years. Politics will help you to make sense of the world. It explains how power is acquired and used in Britain and the United States. Politics is a fast-changing subject, so we are always discussing current issues, events and developments. We hope to make sense of the news. Our aim is to bring politics alive. Politics is also fun. If you engage with the subject, we hope you will learn to enjoy it as much as we do. What is the transition work? The aim of this work is to give you a head start for September. Because Politics is a new subject (for everyone), getting started can sometimes seem a bit daunting. A key reason for this is because you are learning a number new words and concepts. The more quickly you understand them, the sooner you will access the course. We want to help you grow in confidence and understanding. We have put together a series of tasks that we hope will enable you to get started. We suggest that you print off all of the sheets. We expect you to complete all of the tasks. Tasks Complete the following sheets about the UK and US political systems using websites such as www.bbc.co.uk and www.politics.co.uk. The worksheets will help to structure your work. The tasks are: 1. Who are the main political leaders of the post-war era? 2. Who’s who in UK politics today? 3. How is political power devolved across the UK? 4. Some key democratic facts about the UK 1. Who are the main political leaders of the post-war era? United Kingdom United States Prime Minister Party Term President Party Term Clement Attlee Labour 1945-51 F D Roosevelt Democrat 1945 1951-55 1945-53 1955-57 1953-61 1957-63 1961-63 1963-64 1963-69 1964-70 1969-74 1970-74 1974-77 1974-76 1977-81 1976-79 1981-89 1979-90 1989-93 1990-97 1993-2001 1997-2007 2001-09 2007-10 2009-17 2010-16 2017- 2016-19 2019- 2. Who’s who in UK politics today? Person Party Position / Role Main aims Heidi Allen Jonathan Bartley Vince Cable Arlene Foster Caroline Lucas Jeremy Corbyn John McDonnell Nicola Sturgeon Nigel Farage Philip Hammond Sadiq Khan Theresa May 3. How is political power devolved across the UK? Use this information to label the map: 129 AMS Holyrood MSP 60 Belfast London Senedd 650 Cardiff MA Stormont 90 Edinburgh MLA STV AMS FPTP MP Westminster 4. Some Key Democratic Facts about the UK: [A] Political Parties Number Which parties? Parties in Parliament 2017 Party Seats % of vote Membership Conservative Labour LibDems SNP DUP [B] Electoral Turnout [C] Electoral Systems Election Turnout System Where used? 1987 FPTP 1992 1997 AMS 2001 2005 STV 2010 2015 SV 2017 [D] Governments Government Type of government Share of Vote Share of Seats Majority 2005-10 Labour majority 35% 55% 66 2010-15 2015-17 2017- [E] Representatives in the UK 2010 2015 2017 Women Ethnic minority [F] Referendums Result Date Issue Turnout For Against 2011 Change to AV for general elections 2014 Scottish independence 2016 Remain or leave the EU .