Elections and democracy

Parliament can run for a maximum of 5 years, it needs to be dissolved by the Queen before an election. It can be dissolved at any time if the government no longer has a majority or an election can be triggered if the government loses a vote of confidence in the commons. Jim Callaghan lost by one vote in 1979- winter of discontent. The coalition government passed a law fixing the date of elections every 5 years so the next one is due on the 7th May 2015. Up until now the Prime Minister fixed the date of elections, it has always been traditional to hold them on a Thursday (since 1935). In order to vote you have to register on the electoral register in your constituency. There are around 45 million people on the electoral registers today. 


In England there are 37,912,549    Scotland- 3,885,148
    Wales- 2,262,769                       N/Ireland- 1,134,983          Source= BBC


Citizens living overseas can vote but less than 15,000 of the estimated 5.5 million actually do. 15% of all votes in 2005 were via postal as we saw a rise in the amount of people voting through post. You cant vote however if you are under the age of 18, if you are a member of the House of Lords, if you are a European citizen- citizens from any country apart from the Irish, if you are serving a prison sentence or if you are from Republic or Commonwealth countries.


Representation of the people's Act
1918- men over 21 and women over 30
1928- Universal suffrage - all adults over 21
1969- All adults over the age of 18 have the right to vote, it isn't compulsory in England however it is in Australia and if you do not vote you get fined!


How do you win?
First you pass the vote- not PR whoever gains a majority in the constituency is elected. This means that national voting percentages are not reflected in seats. This means that the election comes down to marginals because most votes in safe seats are wasted. Labour won half the seats in 2005 with 35% of the votes. This has lead to people voting tactically trying to prevent the party they dislike from winning. 


Cobbett idea of the Closure Act was where working class were forced off of the land and into working factories that were all based in the cities. Therefore most people in the cities are working class and will vote Labour. 


Each candidate puts down a deposit of £500 to become an MP this is to show you are serious and prevents men dressed as chickens for a laugh taking part. If you get at least 5% of the votes this deposit is returned to you. Spoilt ballots are disqualified the returning officer will try to work out what the voter intended but if they cannot it will be rejected. If the votes are close there will be a re count.


Winchester 1977 saw Mark Oaten beat Tory MP Gerry Malone by 2 votes. This went to the high court and was granted a by- election which lead to Oaten winning by lots- proportional representation (PR).


Independence Referendum- 2014 is the biggest vote as it could see the end of the UK if England are beaten by Scotland. It is held then as it is the anniversary of Bannockburn 1314.

History of politics

In the 19th Century there was a growth in political parties, the Rotten Boroughs  population changed and the demographics lead to the rise of the industrial north in Manchester and Liverpool within the factory system. Politically England were much more sophisticated to compromise compared where the question arose as to why there wasn't a revolution like there was in France. 


The Reform Act in 1832 lead to a shift of representation towards the North where the vote was extended to everybody. The system was fixed so that the age to vote was lowered. There was a re- appeal of the corn laws as the system was rotten to the core as told by Dickens and Cobbett at the end of the Tory V Gladstone liberals Conservative party. 


Post war socialism saw the rise of the Labour party where there was a strike in the 1920s. People did go back to the Conservative party during the depression years. After the 2nd World War in 1945 the first 'proper' Labour government had a secure majority. There were many social demographic reforms of the NHS, Reynesian Economics, trade unions dismounting  of the British Empire - Indian independence.


During the time of Churchill the country was still devastated after the war and so Clemence Atley changed modern Britain 'fair shares for all'. People elected Labour , Clemence Atley as he proposed Britain's Welfare System - The NHS, William Beveridge. Labour took Beveridge who created the NHS which is the biggest expenditure- biggest risk. 


The public money (keynesian economics) flood the country with money. Beveridge report - national insurance 'from cradle to grave'. In the 1970s it was a disaster for Labour, left wing unions and Labour were close, unions were powerful. In 1979 it was a Winter of Discontent unions remained powerful there were huge strikes, even grave diggers were forced to strike. The Labour government introduced gas, electricity and public servants paid by taxes. The State was powerful and so were the workers that were organised by unions. Unions asked for a pay rise of 9% and everyone was out on strike. You would want the trade unions destroyed, you would want more reliable services when things are funded by public there is a struggle. Private industry were more ruthless you would want to privatise all the companies. 


Margaret Thatcher was the person to do this. She went for the minors to wipe them out so all of the unions would know about her. Miners were the biggest trade unions at this point. The 80s boom lead to selling of industries to private sectors, British Gas, British Airways, if you are brave enough you will get your money.

Politics

Local Politics
The local government is sectioned into the highest being the Hampshire County Council then the City Council which is also known as the District Council and then the lowest form is the Parish Council. Big cities such as Southampton have a City Council that is joined with the County Council. A cabinet minister is also known as a portfolio holder. The Civil servants are not elected and are there to prevent things happening. They are a top councillor and remain neutral in terms of politics and parties. 


National Politics
There is a group of people known as the constitutional position, The Fourth Estate who are basically the 'watch dogs' over politicians. There job is to make sure the politicians are doing their job and keep an eye on expenses and what is being bought. They are allowed to report on anything that may seem suspicious as they have privilege. John Wilkes was a hero journalist as he is the only one to have a statue which is in London. He was a mayor of London and a member of parliament who was elected 3 times from in prison. He wrote for the newspaper The North Briton and attacked the Lord Brute MP and King George ||| which  in theory was contempt of parliament however by doing this he established the privilege for us.  He went and reported what was going on in parliament as he believed people had a right to know even though he did this illegally.  He also established statutory QP for reporting on parliament. 


Fair comment
This provides a defence for journalists when expressing their opinion in newspapers. You are not allowed to write about politicians private life as this is defamatory and you can be sued, you are allowed to comment as long as it is in the public interest and it is not malicious. You are allowed to say what you like about politicians in newspapers and you don't have to write a balanced account. However on television and radio you are expected to be balanced about both parties. This is due to the Representation of the People's Act also Broadcasting Act section 6. You cant be sued if you break the RPA however it is seen as a criminal act which states you need to give the same sort of air time to the party and its opposition. In some cases the idea of 'balance over time' can get you out of trouble if you haven't successfully followed these acts.


Westminster
You have Qualified privilege in the house apart from subjudice (contempt) which you need to be careful of.  There is an old rule that you are not allowed to mention the Royal Family which is still in place which needs to be followed. Voting in the commons is a division where parties try to control the way in which their MP's vote through whipping unless there is a free vote on matters of conscience. Whipping means that people are there to ensure there is party discipline whereas a vote on conscience is very rare which is in the case of abortion or a subject away from politics.     
MPs- Shadow Cabinet (Michael Goal Minister for Education - Rival Party  (Ed Milliband)


House of Lords
All new laws have to be approved by both Houses of Parliament (except tax- raising measures which are for MPs alone to decide) Peers are not elected and do not represent the constituencies. They are not paid a salary although they can claim expenses. Peers are not allowed to vote on changes to taxation and finance and never have the final word though sometimes government may choose to compromise. Just a little note that in parliament opposing parties speak via a 'speaker' as this is seen as less personal and is supposed to keep people more calmer. Some amendments have to be agreed by both houses and in the event of disagreement the Lord doesn't have the power to reject legalisation which can always be overruled by the government. 


A new law begins as a green paper where it is fresh and new, this is then looked at and comes back as a white paper, it then has a first reading and a secondary reading, it then reaches the committee stage which is where a group of MPs that are experts in that particular area analyse the 'new law' it then goes to the report stage and then has a third reading where it is put to the House of Lords and goes through consideration of Lords Amendments where it is finally passed for Royal Assent.


Hansard is the official report of the proceedings of Parliament which is published daily and is for all of the public. Party Funding used to be through subscriptions from members, state funding and donations from wealth donors. However party membership has fallen so donors are relied on.

Innocence Project- Mr Warner

In June 2003, Mr Warner applied to the CCRC for a review of his conviction to prove his innocence. There was no blood found on Mr Warner's clothes or at his caravan however there was evidence that he had taken Mr Pool's jumper to wear. At first Mr Warner had denied ever entering the home of Mr and Mrs Poole but later on backtracked his statement to admitting he had gone into the house on the night that they were 'murdered'. He stated that the front door was already open so he thought that this would be an easy way to break in. He was drunk on the night and left via the window as he didn't want to seem suspicious walking out of the front door again. Already this idea seems to be unclear as he hadn't stolen anything from the house. The question arises as to why he would have been worried about leaving out of the front door as he claimed he was unaware that a couple had been murdered upstairs.


His fingerprints had been found above the knife in the kitchen (the murder weapon) which was a key piece of information the CCRC would have taken into account. The defence also stated that Mr Warner's house mate Mr Martin Knox had lied when he said that on the night in question Mr Warner had arrived home around 2:45am. This evidence links with Mr Reardon who also stated that at around 2:45am he had seen a man fitting Mr Warners description heading towards the park which was on route to his caravan. The day after the murder bearing in mind he allegedly had arrived home at around 2:45am his jeans had been washed and he had left Easthampton taking the same pair of shoes he had worn the night before with him.


The defence stated that Mr Warner had entered the house before or after the murder due to the amount of blood found at the scene and the lack of evidence against Mr Warner. The fact that he later admitted he had entered the house was due to a a spur of the moment drunken intention to steal. He also stated that he was in the Pool's home around 12:45am and was only in the home for 5 minutes, he later mentions he arrived home around 1am. It seems correct to point out the fact that he was drunk and weather he could have got out of the window of the home and back to his caravan in the space of 5 minutes. It was also explained that Mr Rodgers known as the 'vampire' a runaway rapist may have been around the area at this time. Also Mr Smith who was local to the area and known for harassment had fingerprints in the porch of the home. However it appears that these assumptions aren't strong enough evidence to compete against the evidence against Mr Warner.


The CCRC had taken into account the defence case and decided to get a senior officer to carry out a section 19 investigation. A full forensic review was directed by a Investigating Officer who found more formidable evidence. Fibre from the blue jumper was found to have been in contact with items recovered from upstairs. These new findings carried out by the investigation provided strong evidence to support overturning Warners assertions that he did not go upstairs. Therefore it seems that although the CCRC already had evidence against Mr Warner, by doing further investigations they strengthened their case against Mr Warner. In my opinion the CCRC were in correct to leave the investigation as they built up enough evidence (including fresh evidence from section 19) to prove beyond reasonable doubt it was Mr Warner.

Andrew Napier

Andrew Napier is a local reporter of Winchester who writes for both the Hampshire Chronicle and the Daily Echo. He is one of 5 reporters in Winchester and is the chief reporter who covers topics such as council meetings, schools and court. He speaks to the police and fire services on a day to day basis to try and find out stories. Andrew advised us to get stories by:
- Making calls
- Going out and seeing people
- Public meetings/ council meetings
- Press releases (they get around 1000 a week)


He said that the police are hard to get hold of as they have so many press officers in the way. There are a few CRD police that regularly do give you information. It is believed police won't always provide us with information as they can't control what journalists write about them. 


- Before council meetings Andrew already has an idea of what local issues will be discussed so he knows what sort of stories he will be looking for to write about. He also understands what issues locally will be interesting to the public that he can write articles about for the paper. He also gets quotes from councillors where possible as it makes articles more interesting. 


- He started off as an editor but always knew he wanted to write for the papers as he always had a passion for them. He stated he 'loved the look , feel and smell of papers' and loves the idea that you create something, a hard form of news that can always be looked at for many years to come. 


- He writes around 50 stories a week, roughly 10 a day for both papers. Some stories consisting of long detailed features whereas others consist of a small local story or online.


- 'Fleet Street' used to be the name given to all the old newspapers who were in the same building together.
- He said that there are many ways to get around 'libel issues.'
- Out of feature writing and writing for the news he prefers news as he said its 'constantly unpredictable', however feature writing gives you more freedom.


- He said that although writing for National newspapers is better money it is a lot more hours of work and involves travelling. All journalists working for a national newspaper carry their passports on them at all times as at any minute of the day they can be transferred to another country depending on the news. He stated that national journalists are a 'slave to their job' as they are constantly controlled by the news editor. 


- At times and depending on the paper the news editor can guide you on how to write a certain story. He said the good thing with the national papers is the competition between them all as he said this keeps you 'sharp' at all times. Whereas he doesn't get this as he writes for a local paper where it is the only one so the public solely rely on this paper for their news. 


- You must always source what has been said so if it ever turns out to not be true you are covered. This is evident in court reporting such as 'the jury heard.'


- Any stories that may be serious should have reliable sources. No sources should remain anonymous if these are the only ones you have. Statements are a good way to have a record of what has been said and who by. 


- Local papers need to remain polite as they are always working amongst the community. For local stories its a good idea to look in the local papers such as the Daily Echo to find the stories before looking more into them.
- As a journalist you should try to link ideas together to create a story or to try and find your own story.

Public affairs.. The council and MPs

Steve Briant is the Winchester local MP, Chris Huhne is the liberal democrat MP for Eastleigh.


An MP is a national politician that represents a local area and in London in parliament. They have no effect on what happens locally as this is separate from the court and council. Steve Briant does have a clinic where you can book an appointment to see him and discuss any issues which he will pass onto the council.


Winchester city council is a district council and Southampton is a city council which means it has unitary authority a single tier council responsible for all local authority services and functions. Hampshire county council is at the top of the tier and is the most important.


The local authority spending in England is £133 billion a year which is spent on education mainly. There is a cabinet system where there are 2000 MPs who are in charge of different things such as transport. These people are usually part of the biggest party and are elected to be chosen for the cabinet.


Council meetings can be reported due to it being in the public interest but mainly due to qualified privilege. The Defamation Act 1996 gives privilege subject to contradiction when reporting on local committee. This means the person needs a change to defend themselves.
The local government in England are funded by grants from the central government, council tax and business rates. Council tax provides a quarter of local funding. Nearly every household pays tax depending on the value of their home.


The Councillors agree local budget and set the policy framework and appointing chief officers and making constitutional decisions. The Councillors are elected by local people for a 4 year term. If there is an issue that you have a link to such as your mum being a school teacher you have to 'declare an interest' which means you can't do stories if you are part of it.


The Hampshire county council has around 40,000 staff, 53 librarians and 8 country parks. It also has 6 press officers, 5,000 articles. During its evaluation it scored 56% positive 30% neutral and only 14% negative. Whereas Winchester city council turnover 12.5 million and are responsible for bins, leisure, environment, health and parking.