Commons Column 17th July 2007

The percentage of voters who actually go to a polling station and cast their vote appears to have been dropping steadily over the last few decades. This is a worrying trend because democracy is only truly effective if the people the system purports to represent bother to participate in it.

The new Prime Minister has already announced that he will be looking at ways to increase participation in democracy, such as having elections at weekends instead of on Thursdays. I welcome the investigation – but perhaps not the proposed solutions!

It is possible that the apathy that has set in arises because most people (by no means all people, but most people) are quite comfortable at present and are not afraid of the policies of any particular political party. But it is interesting to note that more people voted in “Big Brother” than in the local elections this year. I think that is a matter for concern.

It may have happened simply because Big Brother sets out, as a piece of entertainment, to catch the imagination of the viewer – and it succeeds. Local elections, on the other hand, do not set out to catch the imagination of the electorate. Their purpose is to put before the potential voter a choice of the ways in which their taxes can be spent for the good of the community.

So, perhaps one of the solutions to combating voter apathy is to combine the serious nature of elections with an aspect that will also catch the average imagination. Such an experiment is now likely to be underway in the next election for Mayor of London.

Ken Livingstone - v – Boris Johnston will certainly not be boring. I hope such a contest will encourage greater participation in democracy. I also have my fingers firmly crossed for the right result!!