Comprehensive banks of recent examples for this years exams, broken down by topic, can be purchased on the Politics Explained website. Once purchased, it will update weekly with new examples all the way up until this year's exams.

For daily up to date examples and advice on how to do well in A Level Politics, make sure to follow the Politics Explained TikTok.

For detailed videos going through all of the A Level Politics content, make sure to follow the Politics Explained YouTube Channel.

UK Politics Examples

Minor Parties

Reform UK’s Professionalisation:

• Since Reform UK brought in new Chairman Zia Yusuf in July 2024, it has become significantly more professional as a party, with the aim of challenging the electoral dominance of the major parties.

  • In the 2025 local elections on May 1st it is standing candidates in all 1,641 seats, which shows it can challenge the major parties across the country.

    • This was further bolstered by 29 councillors defecting to Reform UK earlier this month, many of which were previously Conservative Party councillors.

  • Further, recent polling suggests they could pose a major threat to the main parties and deliver the Labour Government a significant political blow. 

• This increasing professionalisation has been supported by increased party funding and party membership, which is now over 200,000.

UK Government Examples

Backbenchers

International Women’s Day Debate March 2025:

• On the 6th March 2025, Parliament had their annual International Women’s Day Debate set up by the Backbench Business Committee to discuss and debate discrimination faced by women and girls

• This debate demonstrates Parliament fulfilling its function of descriptive representation – 40% of MPs are female, while 51% of the UK population is female, in comparison to in 2010 when only 22% of MPs were female.

  • This shows a trend Parliament becoming more diverse over time and better fulfilling its representative function as a result.

  • On the other hand, the current composition is still not fully proportional to the current UK population, so it could be argued that this representation is not wholly effective.

• Many backbenchers made speeches, most notably Labour MP Dawn Butler, who started the debate by highlighting that this Parliament is the most diverse to date, with 41% female members.

  • Backbench Labour MP, and youngest female MP Rosie Wrighting made a heart wrenching speech on the dangers for women in politics, including the abuse she herself had faced.

• This also shows the increased relevance of backbenchers, whose powers have expanded considerably since the 2010 Wright Reforms, which established the Backbench Business Committee.

  • Increased powers for backbenchers allow them to represent their constituents and the general public more effectively.

Devolution

Increased Defence Spending In Scotland As An Example Of Reserved Powers:

• In February 2025, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a raise in defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027. The Chancellor highlighted that this would boost jobs and wages in Scotland after announcing a £2bn increase to support defence exports. 

  • This is because Scotland is a hub for the UK defence industry’s manufacturing, supporting 25,000 jobs. As a result, Scotland’s economy will benefit from the increase in spending.

• Due to the fact that defence and macro-economic policy fall within powers reserved to Westminster, the decision made by Starmer affected the whole of the UK, rather than just England as is the case in other policy areas.

• This shows the benefits of the current devolution framework, as important national security policy areas are restricted to Westminster and apply across the UK. This ensures coherent, unified policy on key policy areas - driven by the UK Parliament and Government - whilst still allowing local concerns to be addressed in other policy areas such as health.

US Government and Politics Examples

The Supreme Court & Checks and Balances

Department of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition 2025 - Supreme Court Strikes Down Trump Executive Order:

• On 5th March 2025, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to overturn a Trump administration executive order titled ‘Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid’ that had paused all foreign aid funds being given out.

  • Chief Justice Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett joined the 3 liberal justices and ruled that Congress had already decided where the $2 billion in foreign aid would be spent through legislation, meaning that the executive no longer had the authority to unilaterally withhold these funds.

• This shows how the Supreme Court’s power of judicial review is an important check on presidential power, as it can declare actions of the executive unconstitutional and reverse them.

  • In many cases, this clarifies the separation of powers between Congress and the Presidency and therefore protects the power of Congress.

• It also shows how justices can vote differently to how they would be expected, as Barrett was appointed by Trump as a very conservative judge who would likely be aligned with his decisions, but she has demonstrated that this isn’t always the case in a number of recent cases.

Congress - Oversight

Congress's Failure To Fulfil Its Oversight Function Early On In The Second Trump Administration:

During its first month, the second Trump administration repeatedly surpassed the limits of presidential authority and ignored Congress. This disrupted the balance of power between the 3 co-equal branches of Government laid out in the Constitution, however as Congress is currently unified (both chambers have a Republican majority) they have failed to assert their oversight powers and check the President as the Constitution intended.

1. Firing 17 Inspectors General

• Trump fired Inspectors General from 17 different government agencies. These are auditors who are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate to tackle abuses of power, waste and mismanagement in Government. 

  • They were set up by Congress to investigate the executive following Watergate, and federal law passed by Congress in 2022 strengthened protections for them, by requiring the President to give Congress 30 days notice and a reason for termination before removing any inspector general. 

• This means Trump broke the law with the mass firings, and the actions reduce scrutiny and accountability of the executive. However this has not been met with pushback from Congress - Republican Senators have largely supported the move with Senator John Barrasso stating "Some of them deserve to be fired". 

  • This shows how Congress is failing to assert its own oversight power, as when there is unified government there is significant cooperation on trying to drive through a shared agenda and reluctance to do political damage to a President from the majority’s party, especially one that dominates the Republican Party as Trump does.

2. Not Exercising The Power Of The Purse

• Trump has also challenged Congress’ power of the purse, which means that the President cannot authorise spending/stop spending without Congressional approval.

  • In early 2025, Trump unilaterally exceeded his constitutional authority and ordered a pause of all federal grants and loans to 2600 programs including farm subsidies and health research, justifying this by saying federal spending should align with presidential priorities. 

    • Congress has failed to challenge this executive order despite having the Congressional Review Act which allows them to pass legislation blocking an executive order. 

  • This shows how Congress has been an ineffective check on the Presidency and has accepted moves which undermine their own power, further demonstrating how unified government can lead to ineffective oversight of the Presidency.