Apart from voting in elections and referendums, outline two ways in which people participate in politics (5 marks)

People can participate in politics through petitions and initiatives. A petition is a document signed by the people and if enough people sign it then it has to be debated in parliament. In the UK there is a website called 38 degrees in which petitions are made. An example of a petition on this website is the petition for whether or not the UK should accept more migrants. If the petition gets 100,000 votes it will move to the petition committee who will then decide whether or not it is appropriate for discussion on the floor of the House of Commons.

Another example of ways in which people can participate in politics is through public consultations. A public consultation is when the government consult the public in order to see what the opinion of the general public is in regards to a bill. An example of this would be the High Speed Rail link idea (HS2) proposed by George Osborne, the Chancellor of Exchequer at the time. George Osborne said that the railway would be an “Engine for growth” in the North and Midlands, creating approximately 100,000 jobs. However it was expected to cost billions of pounds and cut through peoples private property and so that is one of the mains reasons why the government chose to do a public consultation, in order to take into consideration the views of the people.