Dr Lily Hamourtziadou
n 507 BC the Athenian leader Cleisthenes introduced a system of political reforms that he called demokratia, or “rule by the people”. This system was comprised of three institutions: the ekklesia, a sovereign governing body that wrote laws and dictated foreign policy, the boule, a council of representatives from the ten Athenian tribes, and the dikasteria, the popular courts where citizens argued cases before jurors. It was the first known democracy in the world, the first form of self-rule government. The system and ideas employed by Cleisthenes, “The Father of Democracy,” hadprofound influences on how democracy developed and it is one of Greece’s most enduring contributions to the modern world. The system of direct democracy paved the way for therepresentative democracies we enjoy today.
At the heart of any democracy is the principle and practice offair and free elections. Growing up in Greece, where voting in general elections is compulsory, I was raised to take great interest in politics, in the different political parties and their visions of our “best society”, knowing I would be using what I learnt, considered and evaluated, when the time came to cast my vote. Becoming interested in politics also helped me understand who I was, what my values were, and why.
In the UK we are now looking forward to the July 4th general election. For those interested in voting, the issues to consider -at national level- currently are:
Brexit Equalities & Rights
Crime Foreign Policy/Defence
Democracy Health/NHS
Economy Housing
Education Immigration
Environment Tax
Jobs/Work Welfare & Pensions
Transport
How many will vote this time? The turnout at the 2019 General Election was 67.3% across the UK, a decrease of 1.5 percentage points from 2017 (68.8%).
Of the 30 highest constituency turnouts in 2019, eight were in the Southeast of England and six in the Southwest. Of the 30 lowest constituency turnouts, 21 were in seats held by Labour and 10 were in the Yorkshire and the Humber region. Three of the four lowest constituency turnouts were in Kingston upon Hull.
In total there were 287 constituencies (44% of the UK’s 650 constituencies) in which turnout was less than two-thirds of the electorate. This was an increase on the 211 constituencies (32%) where this was the case at the 2017 Election. Low-turnout constituencies in 2019 tended to be clustered in certain areas such as urban northern England, the West Midlands metro area, the Thames Estuary, the South Wales Valleys, the Scottish central belt and Northern Ireland (House of Commons Library, 2020).
Why are so many people not using their democratic right to vote?
Non-voting can vary by geographical area. In seats where a particular candidate is likely to win, there may be less incentive for parties to invest resources in persuading marginal voters. As a result, voters may feel their vote would have no influence on the election outcome and may stay home, thinking the seat was safe.
Another reason may be political disengagement, where people believe their own political actions to be ineffective. The more people believe their voice is being heard, the more likely they are to pursue democratic endeavours. The less people believe their actions can have an impact on the political process and on political outcomes, the less likely they are to pursue such endeavours.
“Political efficacy refers to the feeling that individual political action does have, or can have an impact upon the political process. It has two dimensions: internal efficacy, or people’s self-perception of their capability to understand and participate in political processes, and external efficacy, or their feeling of having a say in what governments do. Internal efficacy has been used broadly as a factor explaining political participation. Citizens’ self-efficacy and involvement was also found to predict trust in government and parliament and satisfaction with democracy” (OECDiLibrary, 2021).
In March 2024, a survey of 4,135 adults by the Office for National Statistics indicated that 44% of respondents reported little or no confidence in their ability to participate in politics, and 63% had little or no confidence that they have a say in what the government does (Office for National Statistics, 2024). Non-voters may feel parties do not have candidates or policies that are relevant to them, while parties may only have an incentive to develop policies relevant to people who vote. For example, academic research has linked an increase in working-class abstentionism in UK general elections with a decrease in the number of MPs with working class backgrounds (Heath, 2016).
In my (wider) area in the county of Staffordshire, candidates for the two main parties -Party X and Party Y- have been campaigning on a number of issues, which they have outlined online.
The candidate for Party X states their ‘priorities for our constituency:
Business, skills and secure jobs
• Work with our retail businesses and councils to re-energise our high streets.
• Attract investment from manufacturing and services businesses to provide secure, well-paid jobs.
• Maximise our growing potential as a centre for green, medical and agricultural technology.
• Build a strong focus on apprenticeships.
Health and social care
• Tackle the root causes of poverty and ensure there is strong social security support for those in need.
• Work with GP surgeries locally to improve access.
• Improve access to mental health care for our young people and adults.
• Better facilities for drug and alcohol rehabilitation and people experiencing domestic violence.
Education and children’s services
• Provide safe and well-built schools that deliver a broad and inspiring curriculum.
• Ensure teaching remains a valued profession, with better pay.
• Rebuild home-link and support services to reduce truancy, under-attainment and the number of children sent into care.
• Provide better services, training and support for children with special needs.
Improving our transport systems
• Campaign for our councils to have the power to run our bus services to suit our local needs and provide better buses.
• Rebuild our local rail services.
Agriculture and environment
• Work with farmers to manage the impact on climate change
• Address the impact of leaving the Single Market on the supply chain and the cost of products such as fertiliser and animal feed.
• Work to increase the support provided to farmers by the UK Government and to manage high energy prices.
Crime and community policing
• Re-classify monkey dust as a ‘Class A’ drug and work with police to combat the supply chain.
• Re-introduce local police stations and community policing.
• Renationalise the probation service and for better access to rehabilitation services.
• Support the police in improving training to manage domestic violence and rape cases.
Party Y’s candidate’s last vote was on restricting immigration. They have supported the Safety of Rwanda Acton the basis that the Rwanda Partnership plays a key part in our efforts to crack down on the people smuggling gangs, stop the boats, and save lives, and stating we must go further to ensure proper deterrence to illegal migrants and deport those who have no right to be here. Now that the Act has received Royal Assent, Party Y’s candidate says, we will soon start sending flights to Rwanda, sending a clear massage to those coming to the UK illegally.
Since taking their seat in Parliament, Party Y’s candidate has supported the Prime Minister’s position in the Brexit negotiations at every stage, while helping secure hundreds of millions of pounds of new investment for the city.
They have also successfully got their ‘High Streets (Designation, Review and Improvement Plan) Bill’ through the Commons. The Bill focuses on improving high streets by getting local authorities to assess the condition of their high streets and come up with action plans to help them improve.
Regarding local people’s concerns about vehicles driving too fast down a particular road, the candidate has managed to extend a 30mph speed limit to that road, which comes as a relief to the worried local residents.
They also helped install and will continue to work towards installing more CCTV cameras.
The clear message is: Keep our communities safe!
Even more locally, candidates for Party X and Party Y are promising to stand up for residents and to serve the interests and needs of the community; to be a voice for local people; to deliver government investment.
As for local issues, they are (in order of importance):
1. Potholes
2. A malodorous quarry
3. A new car park
4. Wages
5. Neighbourhood policing
What stands out, yet again, is not the issues themselves, which are roughly speaking in the areas of safety, wellbeing and opportunities. What stands out is their self-centredness. The concerns are only for members of the local community. For those they see as “being like them”. At best, they are for members of the nation/state.
Not that there are no people with concerns for others, people who fight for the rights of others -even for those belonging to other species- risking their own lives for strangers, for people they will never meet. Yes, there are plenty of those, in the UK and in every country in the world! I have the pleasure and the honour of working with some of them, at Birmingham City University.
But the two main parties in the UK continue to appeal primarily to the self-centred and foster self-centredness in the public. That may be behind some of the political disengagement we continue to see, especially when it comes to voters with a broader view of humanity and security.
References
Heath, O. (2016) ‘Policy Alienation, Social Alienation and Working-Class Abstention in Britain, 1964–2010’, British Journal of Political Science Vol 48 (4). Cambridge University Press. pp. 1053-1073.
House of Commons Library (2020) ‘General Elections 2019: Turnout’. Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/general-election-2019-turnout/
OECDiLibrary (2021) ‘Internal and external political efficacy’. Available at: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/b6d836a0-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/b6d836a0-en
Office for National Statistics (2024) ‘Trust in government, UK: 2023’. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/bulletins/trustingovernmentuk/2023#political-engagement
Centre for Brexit Studies Blog 