Does the UK suffer from a democratic deficit?

A democratic deficit occurs when government or government institutions fall short of fulfilling the principles of democracy in their practices, operation or where political representatives and institutions are discredited in the eyes of the public. In the UK there has been a discussion in recent years that Britain’s democracy is flawed. Politicians are held in low esteem, parliament seems outdated and the expenses scandal exposed just how many politicians had lost a duty to public office.

One of the main factors forwarded to argue there is a democratic deficit in the UK is the low levels of voter turnout and widespread disillusionment with the political system. In 2001 the UK received a general election turnout of 59.4%, which is extremely low. A greater number of voters voted against the Labour government than those that elected them. In 2010 it increased to just below 65%. This means that, low turnouts bring to question government legitimacy and the strength of its electoral mandate. Therefore, if citizens are having little influence in politics, democracy weakens as it is no longer really a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

On the other hand, defenders of the status quo claim that there is not a democratic deficit in the UK because citizens of this country, unlike many others, have their human rights and freedoms guaranteed under the rule of law. Evidence of this can be found in the 1998 Human Rights Act and 2010 Equality Act, as well as Britain’s continued membership of the European Court of Human Rights. In addition to this, reforms are taking place to develop our country so it is more democratic and fair, this is evident in Labour’s 1997 pledge to increase the use of referendums and even, David Cameron’s backing of e-petitions and increased devolution of powers to Scotland and the regions, as a result of the close verdict of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

With exception to the Scottish independence referendum (84.5%), turnouts for referendums have been historically poor, for instance the 2011 AV referendum got a turnout of just 42.2%.  Local referendums have often had lower turnouts; in Sunderland the referendum for a directly elected mayor (2001) had a turnout of 10%. As for e-petitions, Parliament’s Backbench Select Committee still retains the sole power to abandon or debate an issue that may have generated the 100,000 signature threshold gained online.

This shows that there has been a growing ‘democratic deficit’ in recent years, which has mainly been caused due to low political participation in voting and other political areas.