Democracy and participation examples

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Created by
MN

Cards (88)

  • Brexit referendum in the UK
    2016
  • 33 million UK citizens voted in the Brexit referendum, 51.89% voted to leave
  • Recall of MPs Act used, MP for Wellingborough Peter Bone suspended for bullying and sexual misconduct

    October 2023
  • 13% of constituents signed the petition to recall Peter Bone
  • MPs debated a petition on assisted dying after it accrued more than 203,000 signatures

    April 2024
  • Switzerland is considered the 5th most democratic state globally, the UK is 17th
  • The Scottish Referendum 2014 saw an 84.6% turnout, the 2016 EU referendum saw 72%, both higher than General Elections around 65%
  • Voter turnout between 1945 & 97 was 76% on average
  • The total cost of the 2016 EU Referendum was £150 million
  • The Alternative Vote Referendum of 2011 saw a turnout of 42% of registered voters, 20% less than the election of 2010, due to voter apathy
  • In March 2024, 57% of voters believe that the decision to leave the EU was the wrong choice
  • A petition to revoke Brexit got over 6.4 million signs, showing 'bregret'
  • In the 2019 election, safe Labour seats were turned into Conservative seats, such as Redcar
  • Direct democracy

    • Beneficial for political engagement
    • Scottish independence ref, 3\4 of scots got involved
    • Brexit ref, around 38 million online interactions
  • Voter turnout has been decreasing overall since WW2, from over 80% in the 1950s to just in the mid-high 60s now
  • Voter turnout in 'second order' elections like Police and Crime Commissioner is even lower, at just 15% in 2012
  • In 2022, Labour lost 25,000 members, putting it 125,000 down from the 2019 election
  • Voting within the age range of 18-24 between 1992 and 2015 has fallen by more than 50%
  • Jeremy Corbyn has 2.4 million Twitter followers, Nigel Farage has 1.6 million, despite both being out of frontline politics
  • In 2024, the Labour Party suffered a sharp fall of 23,000 members following controversies over its policies on Gaza and its U-turn on green investment
  • Around 300,000 marched for Palestine at a single protest in London in February 2024
  • The Supreme Court and the House of Lords have both tried to interfere with the Rwanda Plan, with the Court holding it as unlawful
  • Changes to the voting system have been rejected - major House of Lords reform was rejected in 2012, and the public voted against AV in 2011
  • The Electoral Commission reported a 75% turnout amongst 16-17-year-olds in the Scottish Independence Referendum, with 97% saying they would vote again
  • Voter turnout amongst 16-17-year-olds in the Isle of Man has decreased from 55% in 2006 to 46% in 2021
  • Research found two thirds of non-voters in 2010 would have been more likely to vote had there been an online voting option
  • Estonia uses biometric ID cards and verification servers to enable online voting, with almost 1/4 of all votes cast in the 2011 election made online
  • The Brazilian Electoral Tribunal has allowed no testing of the country's electronic voting system since 2012, when vulnerabilities were uncovered
  • The Haaland petition, with around 2 million signatures, lacked formality
  • The government responded to public sector strikes with the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act, requiring some workers to still work during strikes
  • WASPI have campaigned for compensation due to the government increasing pension age
  • Insulate UK engages in direct action and civil disobedience
  • UKUNCUT was important during austerity
  • The BMA successfully campaigned for a 2% rise of doctors' wages post-pandemic
  • Just Stop Oil's civil disobedience methodology prioritised getting their message across over public support
  • A 'Students for Palestine' movement erupted in US universities from April 2024, seeking to achieve liberation for the Palestinian people
  • The National Farmers Union has a close link with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
  • Momentum has influenced the Labour party by putting in candidates for selection as Labour MPs and councillors
  • The group FareShare used footballer Marcus Rashford as a figurehead for their social media campaign to provide free meals to struggling children, which received 1.1 million signatures
  • The charity Care4Calais has attempted to bring a legal challenge against the Rwanda Bill