Get to grips with the UK’s political system in our six minute politics series! For A Level Politics students, each of these blog posts is a six-minute summary of some of the main topics you will need for your exams. For university-level scholars or independent researchers, we’ve included clickable links to useful literature, primary sources and canonical scholarship you’ll need to know.
In this post, explore the workings of democracy in the UK!
Edmund Burke influenced our ideas of representative government
Direct and Representative Democracy
A direct democracy is one in which individuals express their opinions themselves rather than through representatives. Arguments against direct democracy include how difficult it is to reach agreement in a modern state with millions of people. This type of democracy emerged in Classical Athens and can be seen today in referenda.
The UK does not use referenda as much as some other countries: we also use them for constitutional questions, whereas other countries use them for social questions. In the UK, the government calls the referendum, but in countries such as Switzerland and the USA, the people can trigger a referendum by way of an initiative (petition).
The Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act (2000) specifies some technical rules but nothing in terms of consistent principles for the use of referenda. However, government must have the support of parliament as a whole, as shown in the case of the House of Lords rejecting the initial Brexit referendum bill.
Referenda can supplement and enhance parliamentary democracy in many ways by enhancing public engagement, creating debates that offer an opportunity for public education. They can also help to counter the democratic deficit (a flaw in the democratic process where decisions are taken by people who lack legitimacy, not having been appointed with sufficient democratic input or subject to accountability).
However, their use has been tactical. The referendum in 2011 was the result of a political bargain between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. The promise of a referendum on devolution helped the Labour party win Scottish votes from the SNP in the 1997 election (when the SNP was a huge threat to them). In the case of the Brexit referendum (2016), it could be argued to be the Conservatives’ way of winning votes from UKIP in the 2015 election.
There are arguments that the people would not have the knowledge or time to make important political decisions, with turnout in most UK referendums being low (the Welsh Devolution referendum in 1997 had a 50% turnout and the ‘yes’ vote was only just over 50%). Referendums are also potentially divisive (as we saw in the Brexit referendum).
There is also the argument that referenda turn complex issues into binary choices, although this can be addressed by supplementary questions: for example, in the referendum on Scottish Devolution in 1997 (the supplementary question was, should the devolved Parliament have tax varying powers?).
There is also the issue of the tyranny of the majority, where the interests of minorities can be ignored. These problems happen less with representative democracy.
Earl Grey’s government brought about the Great Reform Act of 1832
Representative democracy (indirect democracy) is a system in which an individual selects a person (and/or political party) to act on their behalf. In the UK, people vote for a government through regular elections with secret ballots and a choice of candidates. Government is accountable to the people: its power is limited by the free press and the individual rights of the people.
Theories of Representation:
Edmund Burke described representative democracy in this way: “Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”
This is known as the Burkean or Trustee Theory of representation: MPs should take into account their constituents’ views, but also exercise their own personal judgement. Elected officials are trustees, representing constituents and their interests in Parliament. This means that MPs might sometimes vote against the general view held in their constituency.
Strong party discipline and the parliamentary whipping system has significantly weakened the trustee theory, but we still have votes of conscience (e.g. on abortion, euthanasia or gay marriage) which are unwhipped. This usually happens when there has been no manifesto pledge on the issue.
Delegate Theory sees MPs as the ‘mouthpiece’ of their constituents. It is difficult to put into practice, because it is hard to judge the general consensus of constituents, but evidence suggests that MPs are not rewarded by their constituents for acting as delegates.
Mandate Theory holds that MPs are primarily responsible for carrying out their party’s manifesto. This presupposes that the election is fought on the grounds of the party, not the personality of the individual MP, which implies a duty of party loyalty. This is supported by examples of MPs who have been elected as representatives of a particular party, left mid-term and then stood either as an independent or for another party in the by-election: these have almost always gone on to lose.
The Right to Vote
Franchise and suffrage both refer to the ability or right to vote in public elections. Suffrage was widened in the 1832 Great Reform Act, which tidied up England and Wales’ and constituencies and broadened the property qualification to include small landowners, tenant farmers and shopkeepers in the (counties) and created a uniform franchise in the boroughs, giving the vote to all householders who paid a yearly rental of £10 or more and some lodgers.
However, women were formally excluded from voting in Parliamentary elections, as a voter was defined in the Act as a male person. The property qualification meant that the majority of working men still could not vote.
The Chartists emerged as an early political pressure group and the suffragettes were women campaigning for the right to vote on the same terms as men. In 1914 the WSPU (suffragettes) ceased all agitation to support the British in World War II. In 1918, the British government granted suffrage to women over age 30 in recognition of women’s war work. The same Act gave the vote to all men over the age of 21.
Emmeline Pankhurst advocated for votes for women
The Equal Franchise Act of 1928 granted equal voting rights to women and men. As a result, both men and women could vote at the age of 21. The Representation of the People Act of 1969 reduced the voting age from 21 to 18 and required that the ballot papers included the name of the party as well as the name of the candidate.
The participation crisis is a lack of engagement by a significant number of citizens who choose not to vote or to join or become members of political parties or to offer themselves for public office. There is also the problem of electoral fatigue (“not another one”).
Rights in the UK
The Magna Carta (1215) established the equality of all (including the King) before the law. It acted as an early check on autocratic executive power. It historically underpins the right to liberty in Britain due to the principles it is associated with, such as the right to a fair trial.
The 1998 Human Rights Act (HRA) incorporates into UK law the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It creates a remedy for a breach of the ECHR available in the UK courts, without the need to go to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The UK judiciary must take account of any decisions, judgments or opinions of the European Court of Human Rights. It must interpret legislation in a way that is compatible with Convention rights and it can issue a declaration of incompatibility (seeking to maintain the principle of Parliamentary Sovereignty).
Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man defended the idea of natural rights
The Equality Act (2010) provides a legal framework to protect the rights of individuals and advance equality of opportunity for all, bringing together over 116 separate pieces of legislation into one single Act. It merges the Equal Pay Act 1970, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, part two of the Equality Act 2006, and the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007.
In our next post, explore the UK’s electoral systems!
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