Actual 2026 AQA A-level POLITICS 7152/1 Paper 1 Merged Question Paper + Mark Scheme

Actual 2026 AQA A-level POLITICS 7152/1 Paper 1 Merged Question Paper + Mark Scheme

Section A – Short Questions
Answer questions 1, 2 and 3.
0 1 Explain and analyse three ways in which Labour Party ideology has changed under its
different leaders.
[9 marks]
0 2 Explain and analyse three ways in which backbench MPs can influence policy within the
legislative process.
[9 marks]
0 3 Explain and analyse three ways in which pressure groups promote democracy in the UK.
[9 marks]
3
IB/G/Jun24/7152/1
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Section B – Extract Question
Read the extracts below and answer question 4 that follows.
The impact of referendums upon democracy in the UK
Extract 1
Referendums bypass the procedures designed to optimise decision-making
Representative democracy is indirect democracy. The ignorance, self-interest and emotion,
which almost all of us are capable of, are filtered out by the institutions and procedures of
representative democracy. These are designed specifically for that purpose and allow mature
intelligence to be focused on the business of government.
Referendums bypass the institutions and procedures designed to optimise decision-making, and
go straight for the opposite, posing a simplified question to a body of people among whom very
few have given the matter much thought. In handing decision-making over to a referendum,
politicians thereby abandon responsibility, and there is little guarantee that the outcome will be
the most considered possible alternative.
The example of the EU referendum is likely to make future thinking about referendums more
cautious and sensible. Phrases such as ‘the will of the people’ do not bear scrutiny in
referendums without the safeguards of full franchises and threshold requirements.
Extract adapted from an article by AC Grayling for the politically independent magazine
Prospect, February 2017. AC Grayling is an academic at Northeastern University and
Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne’s College, Oxford.
Extract 2
A report on the use of referendums in the United Kingdom
In 2010, the House of Lords Constitution Committee published a report on the use of
referendums in the United Kingdom and considered arguments from witnesses. Some
expressed the view that referendums could legitimise policy decisions and help restore public
faith in democracy. Referendums give the public an opportunity to think deeply about an issue
and often this improved knowledge and understanding.
Others argued that referendums tend to be dominated by elite groups rather than being about
the views of the public.
Some believed that referendums improved public engagement with politics overall, as people
could see that their active participation had real policy implications. However, others argued that
there were increasing signs of public apathy to votes, and that low turnout in referendums could
question the legitimacy of the result.
There were contrasting views among the Committee’s witnesses over whether referendums can
settle a policy issue.
Extract adapted from a House of Lords Library Briefing that was prepared in advance of a
July 2018 House of Lords debate on the impact of referendums upon parliamentary
democracy.
0 4 Analyse, evaluate and compare the arguments in the above extracts regarding the impact
of referendums upon democracy in the UK.