Assessments Of The UK’s Democracy

• Arguments That UK Democracy Has A Participation Crisis

  Elections:

  Voter turnout in UK General Elections has been on the increase since 2001, which was the lowest it had been since the end of the first world war at 58%, however it is still hovering around 68% → a great deal less than the average between 1945 and 1997, which was 76%.
• Arguments That UK Democracy Has A Participation Crisis

  Elections:

  Turnout is even lower in so-called 'second order' elections and referendums such as those for devolved bodies and councils.
• Arguments That UK Democracy Has A Participation Crisis

  Elections:

  Low turnout means that governments are elected on a reduced share of the popular vote, therefore calling the strength of their mandate into question.
• Arguments That UK Democracy Has A Participation Crisis

  Elections:

  One explanation for lower voter turnout is political apathy; a lack of awareness or interest in political issues that affect society.
• Arguments That UK Democracy Has A Participation Crisis

  Party Membership:

  Only 1.6% of the electorate now belongs to a political party, compared to 3.8% in 1983, however this differs party-to-party.
• Arguments That UK Democracy Has A Participation Crisis

  Party Membership:

  The Conservative Party had just under 150,000 members by 2016, a significant drop from an estimated 400,000 in the mid 1990s.
• Arguments That UK Democracy Has A Participation Crisis

  Party Membership:

  Less traditional political involvement could be associated with a negative perception of MPs, due to various scandals and promises being broken.
• Arguments That UK Democracy Has A Participation Crisis

  Other Methods Of Political Participation:

  Other forms of political involvement are certainly important, but are arguably less impactful and important than voting and party membership, whilst also suggesting less confidence in the political system.
• Arguments That UK Democracy Doesn’t Have A Participation Crisis

  Elections:

  The 2014 Scottish independence referendum and the 2016 EU referendum had turnouts of 84.6% and 72.2% respectively, showing there is still significant engagement surrounding critical issues.
• Arguments That UK Democracy Doesn’t Have A Participation Crisis

  Elections:

  An alternative viewpoint is the idea of 'hapathy' (happiness and apathy) suggesting people are generally content and therefore don't need to push for change. This may explain the low voter turnout in the 2001 and 2005 elections, when the UK economy was booming, but not the low turnout in 2010.
• Arguments That UK Democracy Doesn’t Have A Participation Crisis

  Party Membership:

  There was a surge in Labour Party membership in 2015, when Milliband made it possible to join for just 3 pounds, with the Party now having over 540,000 members.
• Arguments That UK Democracy Doesn’t Have A Participation Crisis

  Party Membership:

  Following Indyref1, membership of the SNP surged and it had over 125,000 members in April 2018, in a country with a population of just 5M.
• Arguments That UK Democracy Doesn’t Have A Participation Crisis

  Party Membership:

  There was an increase in membership of UKIP in the run up to the 2015 General Election, with nearly 50,000 members by the time of the election.
• Arguments That UK Democracy Doesn’t Have A Participation Crisis

  Other Methods Of Political Participation:

  Pressure group membership has been on the increase.
• Arguments That UK Democracy Doesn’t Have A Participation Crisis

  Other Methods Of Political Participation:

  Many demonstrations have been well attended on issues such as the Iraq war, Brexit and the climate crisis. This direct action has been recognised as a feature of modern politics, indicating that people feel conventional politics has let them down and are turning to new methods of expression.
• Arguments That UK Democracy Doesn’t Have A Participation Crisis

  Other Methods Of Political Participation:

  Social media has allowed people - especially the young - to participate in politics online without engaging in it in the real world.
• Arguments That UK Democracy Doesn’t Have A Participation Crisis

  Other Methods Of Political Participation:

  E-petitions on specific political issues regularly receive hundreds of thousands of signatures.

  • For example, the Revoke Article 50 petition of March 2019 has over 5.5M signatures.