Trends in Political Participation in the UK

Evidence derived from key indicators of political participation in the UK is broadly typical of the data obtained across all fields of our Audit in that they present a mixed picture of the health of UK democracy, with most, if not all, of the trends indentified here also being replicated in other established democracies.
Election turnouts
Elections are by no means the only mechanism of mass democratic participation but they are the most important form of direct political engagement for the great majority of citizens. In a democracy, elections are also the means through which popular representatives are chosen by the population as a whole. It would therefore be difficult to over-estimate the significance of electoral participation, as measured by turnout, to a democracy. Figure 1: Turnouts at UK General Elections, 1945-2010 (%)
90
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
50
45
40

84

82.5
76.7

78.8

72.7

78.7

77.1 75.8

76
72.8

72

72.7

75.3

77.7
71.5
65.1
59.1

Source: British Electoral Facts

1

61.3

UK general election turnouts typically fluctuated between 70 and 80 per cent from 1945 to
1992, peaking at 84 per cent in 1950. However, as figure 1 shows, turnouts in UK general elections fell dramatically from the late 1990s, with the lowest turnout (59 per cent) recorded in 2001. While levels of electoral participation increased in 2005 and again in 2010, the four lowest levels of turnout in post-war UK general elections have all been recorded since 1997.

Figure 2: Estimated turnout in General Elections, 1997-2010, by social class
AB

C1

C2

DE

90
80
70
60

79

76

75
69

66

70

68
60

50

62
56

53

66
57

54

58 57

40
30
20
10
0
1997

2001

2005

2010

Source: Ipsos Mori and The Electoral Commission