British Democracy In Terminal Decline?
As the annual political party conference season begins, falling party memberships, falling voter turnout and diminishing respect for those in public life are all factors signalling a widening gulf between elected politicians and the people they are meant to represent. In recent decades voter turnout at general elections had been gradually falling, dropping from 83.9 % in 1950 to 77.7% in 1992 and following which there was a marked drop of over six percentage points to 71.4% in 1997,…