Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mrs. Tomassi and I'm gonna be working through a review on your citizenship lesson today.

Hopefully you've got everything you need.

You're settled, you're all good to go.

If that's the case, then we'll get started.

The title of today's lesson is, should the UK Involve Citizens More Directly in Democracy? Now, this course is part of the unit on How can Politicians Involve Citizens in Direct Decision-Making.

Hopefully by the end of the lesson today, you'll be able to explain and argue a viewpoint about whether the UK should involve citizens more directly in its democracy.

Now, in order to be able to prepare for this, we are gonna come across some keywords.

There are three keywords in this lesson.

First is representative democracy.

This is the type of democracy where citizens choose others to represent them, making important decisions on their behalf.

The next is government.

Government is the group of people with the authority to govern a country.

In the UK, the government is chosen and led by the Prime Minister, known as the PM.

The last keyword is citizens' assembly.

Now, this is a group of people who are brought together to learn about, discuss, and make recommendations on a specific issue, such as climate change.

You'll see these in bold throughout the lesson, so if you ever need to or you forgot what they are, you wanna check in, you can refer back to them here.

Let's make a start with the first learning cycle, which is, why does the UK Government make decisions? So you can start thinking about why do you think the UK Government makes decisions? Now, do you know what type of democracy the UK is? The UK is a representative democracy.

Now, what this means is citizens elect MPs, so the Members of Parliament, to make the decisions on their behalf.

Now, these MPs are the ones that really tend to make the decisions.

They sit in the House of Commons and they form part of the UK parliament.

Sometimes the UK does involve citizens' direct decision-making, but it is rare.

It doesn't happen a lot.

So what we're look at bit little bit now is a bit of background of how the UK Parliament works and then that might help to show you why the UK Government makes decisions.

So the UK has a separation of power.

Now, what this means is it's separated into three branches.

These are known as the legislative, that's UK Parliament, the executive, which is the UK Government, and then the judiciary, which is the courts.

Can you think why it's separated into three branches? So the reason for this is it just stops that power being with one branch, and instead, it allows the power to disperse to the different branches, which helps to protect democracy because that one branch can't become too powerful.

Now, the reason this helps with decision-making is because it then involves scrutiny.

When we say scrutiny, what does that mean? Did you know this one? So scrutiny is that idea of really investigating and questioning what another group is doing.

Having a look at those three branches, do you know how they might scrutinise each other? So for now, separation of powers is really good because it helps improve in decision-making and strengthens democracy.

It also allows for the scrutiny.

That's what we are talking about, the examining, the challenging.

That then means that the government is held accountable.

So actually, they're gonna have to explain and justify their actions because people are challenging and questioning them, which, in turn, also helps with efficiency because it means that executive branch, the UK Government, can respond quickly to the issues, and then because they are gonna be scrutinised and held accountable, then it means you've got parliament there that actually can check 'em again and they've got the judiciary that, again, can act upon changes.

So it helps to make the whole system a little bit more efficient.

Fill in the blanks.

When the UK Government, the, branch makes decisions, the other branches, the, branch and the, branch help make sure those decisions are fair and properly checked.

What are those missing blanks? Did you get them? So that first one is really important, is the executive.

Now, the second one, it doesn't matter if you've got them in the different order here, as long as you had that executive branch in the correct place.

So the other two is judiciary and legislative.

Now, you could have had it the other way around and said the legislative and judiciary and still be correct.

So although the public can be involved in decisions, the UK Government are responsible for making the final decisions in the UK.

This involves dealing with complex issues, moral issues, long-term visions, national interests, also crisis responses to emergencies as well.

So the UK Government are the ones that is responsible for those different decisions and dealing with those different issues.

Andeep says, "Here, the UK Climate Change Act 2008 meant that the government were thinking of the long-term vision for the country.

This might not have been the case if citizens made the decision." Then Alex says, "Also, the UK Government negotiate trade deals with other countries, which is complicated and requires legal and economic expertise." So here are some examples of why the UK Government might make some decisions.

Sam says, "The government should make decisions on topics that need expert knowledge.

I don't know much about taxes and spending.

Imagine if they did a referendum on the UK budget.

I would not be able to vote on that.

Then Jacob says, "During COVID-19, lockdown decisions had to be made quickly to respond to the crises.

It would've taken too long for citizens to be involved in the decision." This is giving you some examples of some of those decisions that the government deal with.

Tick all the reasons that show why the UK Government make decisions.

The UK Government is a representative democracy.

The government is the only group that has opinions.

Some decisions are too complex or technical for public votes.

The government can act quickly in emergencies.

The government only think about short-term impacts.

So have a think and tick which ones of those show why the UK Government make decisions.

How did you get on? So yes, the UK Government makes decisions 'cause it's a representative democracy.

Do you know the other type, which would involve citizens more directly? I've kind of just given you a little clue in that, and that would be a direct democracy, and that would mean that the citizens might make more decision.

Also here, some decisions are too complex or technical for public votes and the government can act quickly in emergencies.

We're gonna use this to move on to the first task.

So Laura says here, "If we live in a democracy, why can't citizens make all the decisions in the UK?" Can you firstly explain to Laura the type of democracy that the UK has? So with this, you want to identify it and then if you can give an example or show a reason that can help Laura to understand what the democracy is that we have here in the UK.

When you're ready, if you unpause and we can go through the feedback before we move on to the next part.

How did you get on with that? Now, hopefully, you've managed to, somewhere in your response, say that the UK is a representative democracy.

That's really important.

That doesn't change.

That's the only answer that is correct for that one.

You might have explained it a little bit different and that's okay as long as you recognise that it is a representative democracy.

So you could have said something like this.

The UK is a representative democracy, which means that we elect Members of Parliament to make decisions on our behalf.

This is because it'd be unrealistic and complicated for every citizen to vote on every single issue.

Now, we're gonna move on to the second part of the task.

So can you give at least two examples of the type of decisions that the UK Government makes and why? So take some time to think about this.

See if you can think of two examples and why the UK Government make those decisions.

Again, unpause when you're ready to go to go through the feedback.

How did you find this one? So this one, you might have had some different reasons.

So this is just a bit of an example to show you some that you could have included.

So some decisions are too complex for the public to make directly.

For example, the UK budget is decided by the government because it involves detail, knowledge of finance and taxes.

Experts are needed to ensure the money is spent fairly.

Another example is responding to emergencies.

In these situations, the government needs to act quickly to protect people.

There would not be time to ask everyone to vote.

Did you have something like that? Well done if you did.

Now, we're gonna move on to the second learning cycle.

So how can citizens be involved more in democracy? One way that citizens can be involved more in democracy in the UK is through the use of direct decision-making.

What is direct decision-making? Have you got any ideas? Did you manage to get that it's when citizens make the decisions themselves? So if you remember, the UK is a representative democracy.

So in the UK, it's quite common for the MPs or local counsellors to make the decisions on the behalf the citizens.

However, direct decision-making brings that power back to the citizens.

Andeep says, "Does the UK have to become a direct democracy for citizens to be involved in direct decision-making?" What do you think about this? So actually, it doesn't.

The UK can continue to be a representative democracy, but could choose to involve citizens in a bigger role.

Now, there are many different ways to do this without changing the whole entire democratic system.

Andeep says, "The citizens have a say in direct decision-making in the UK." Again, what do you think of this? If you think they do, could you think of any examples? So did you know actually there are quite a few different ways? These include voting and referendums, taking part in citizens' assemblies, taking part in select committees.

Some of these methods are forms of direct democracy and some are indirect, but they're all about citizens being involved in shaping those decisions.

Do you know what each of them are? If not, don't worry because we're gonna have a look at 'em now.

So true or false? UK citizens cannot get involved directly in the decision-making process in the UK as it's not a direct democracy.

That's false.

Why is it false? Although the UK is not a direct democracy, citizens can still get involved in the decision-making process such as voting and referendums and taking part in select committees.

Andeep says, "Now, can citizens be more involved in the decision-making process in the UK?" Based off what we looked at so far, what do you think? The UK can improve how citizens are involved in the decision-making process, and this involves making methods more accessible to ensure that citizens' voices shape decisions.

To give you examples, improving referendum, select committees and citizens' assemblies.

Andeep says, "We could have more UK-wide referendums on major national issues.

There've only been three in the past 50 years.

If people voted on issues like the House of Lords reform, they might feel more included in the democratic process." So what do you think about that? Do you think that if there were more UK-wide referendums, then that would allow citizens to be all involved directly? Do you think it's a good idea to use referendums for issues like the House of Lords reform and whether or not it should be changed and made an elected chamber? Or, maybe that's not so good idea.

Alex says, "More people should know about select committees.

They actually take evidence from the public and experts.

So if more citizens submitted views, more voices would be heard in Parliament." And this is a good point.

So did you know what a select committee was? So these are committees that are made up of MPs and members from the House of Lords, and they're set up on different specific topics and they are investigating and scrutinising what is going on to find out more about the issues and this will then help them to make informed decisions.

Sometimes though, people tend not to know so much about select committees.

So actually, like Alex is saying here, if more people actually knew about them and got their views in, maybe it could help to make some more informed reports and recommendations that could be utilised to help shape decisions made by government.

Sam says here, "Citizens' assemblies are a great way to get a mix of people to talk about complex problems. The government should listen more to what they recommend as this would help citizens be more involved in direct decision-making." Again, you do know what a citizens' assembly is? So these are bringing people together on specific issues.

So like climate change, and they get to learn about the issue and hear both sides of the story and then help to make some recommendations.

Again, this wouldn't directly shape, but it would indirectly help to shape through the recommendations and the reports if the government was then act on those recommendations.

So Jacob says here, "There was a citizens' assembly on Adult Social Care in 2018.

They recommended that personal care should be free, but the government didn't act on what the members suggested." With indirect methods, it's something for us to remember that the government might not always act on what has been said, whereas obviously with the direct forms of democracy, the government will have to act on those changes.

So how can the UK Government improve citizens' involvement in the direct decision-making process? A, ensure the UK Government makes all decisions.

B, hold more referendums on national issues.

C, increase public awareness of select committees.

D, use citizens' assemblies more often and act on their recommendations.

How did you get on? It is B, C, and D that could all improve citizen improvement.

Now, we've got the Oak National Academy pupils and they've been debating if the UK should involve citizens more directly in democracy.

Andeep is saying here, "I think citizens should be involved more directly.

More referendums would give people real voice on issues that affect their lives, such as electoral reform," whereas Alex is saying, "Referendums can be expensive, take time or can be divisive." What do you think about this? Maybe you might side more with Andeep or maybe you are actually with Alex on this one.

We're gonna have a look at a few more strengths and weaknesses to help you see where you stand with this.

So Sam says, "I think the UK Government should make the decisions.

The people do not have the expert knowledge needed to make decisions on topics such as national budgets or international trade." Jacob says, "Yes, however, citizens' assemblies give people the knowledge to learn about complex topics and give thoughtful input, so they can make informed decisions." Again, here, maybe you side more with Sam or maybe you're like, actually, the people should still be involved more, like Jacob is saying here.

Can you identify one reason why the UK Government should make decisions and one reason why the citizens in the UK should make decisions? So the UK Government should make decisions because issues might be divisive, referendums could take time, citizens don't have expert knowledge.

The citizen in the UK should make decisions, 'cause they can learn about topics and it gives them a voice on issues.

This moves us onto the main task for today.

Can you write about both sides of the debate on the question? Should the UK involve citizens more directly in democracy? In your answer, you should provide arguments for and against involving citizens more directly, use examples to support each side, finish with a conclusion that explains your own opinion on the issue.

If you're with a group, you might like to set this up as an oral debate and actually hear the different sides, and you might want to stake one side, one stand on this, and then you could argue your point against the others, and then when you are all finished, you can complete the written task and do the for and against arguments.

If you haven't got anybody with you and you are on your own, then again, you could also, then you can just do the written task.

And that involves a lot of skill because you are having to critically analyse and look at both sides of the arguments so that you are getting examples from each point.

This is a really great skill to have for the GCSE as well.

So whatever you choose to do, when you are ready, if you unpause, and then we can have a look at the feedback together.

So how did you get on? If you chose to have that oral debate, I hope it went well and you managed to hear some different sides of the argument.

And again, if you are on your own and you've picked the written debate, hopefully you managed to think of both sides of the argument.

What this response will give you is a really good structure that would work well for those longer-style essay questions.

So you might want to, when you're finished, have a look back through your response and you might wanna add some extra points in, or you might wanna have a look at how it's been structured with the full sentences and go back and add to yours.

One reason the UK should involve citizens more directly is that it could involve the public in complex topics, which would help to increase public engagement.

For example, citizens' assemblies help people to understand the issues and make informed recommendations.

These methods make democracy feel more inclusive and give people a stronger voice.

However, there are reasons why the UK should be cautious about increasing direct democracy.

Some decisions are very complex and need expert knowledge.

For instance, setting a national budget involves detailed economic understanding that most citizens do not have.

During emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic, the government had to make quick decisions on lockdowns based on scientific advice.

Referendums or citizens' assemblies would've been too slow and could have put public health at risk.

In my opinion, the UK should use direct democracy more often, but only for important constitutional or moral issues where public opinion is essential.

For complex or urgent matters, it's better to rely on elected representatives and experts.

citizens' assemblies and referendums can complement representative democracy if the government acts on their recommendations seriously.

So that gives you a conclusion there as well.

If you don't need to make any changes or you are all done, then we'll just move on to the summary for today.

So to summarise, the UK has a representative democracy and decisions are made by elected representatives on behalf of citizens.

The UK does involve citizens in direct decision-making through the use of referendums and citizens' assemblies.

Referendums in the UK are an infrequent feature of the UK's democratic process.

The UK could involve citizens more directly by improving awareness of select committees, running more referendums, or acting on recommendations from citizens' assemblies.

Hopefully you've managed to reach a conclusion of where you sit on this debate.

So thanks for working with me and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.