State Of Demoracy

Features of democracy in the UK

Free and fair elections

·       Democracy in the UK is characterised by regular, free and fair elections.

·       These are conducted by secret ballot, where everyone’s vote in private and so free from outside pressure. Everyone’s vote is of the same value, there is a choice of candidates/parties, everyone over the age of 18 has the right to vote unless they are in prison or have been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

·       Voting is not compulsory in the UK.

·       The Electoral Commission oversees the administration and running of elections. Its purpose is to ensure that election rules are being followed, for example, spending limits, and to ensure that electoral fraud is not being committed.

Parliament

·       Parliament is another feature of the UK’s democratic system.

·       This consists of the monarch, the House of Commons (which is elected) and the House of Lords (which is appointed).

·       The government is formed by the party which has an overall majority in the House of Commons.

·       In the event of a hung parliament (where there is no overall majority), parties are able to join together to create coalitions.

·       This is very rare in the UK, due to the characteristics of the electoral system.

·       The electorate votes in Members of Parliament every five years, under the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act.

·       In addition to this, there are elections for local councillors, Members of the European Parliament, and Mayors of major cities Voters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also vote in elections to their devolved legislatures.

Referendums

·       Since 1997, referendums have been more widely used in the UK to vote on single issues.

·       These can be binding (Parliament must accept and implement the result) or advisory (Parliament does not need to implement the result).

Pressure Groups

·       Finally, pressure groups also supplement the ‘formal’ structures of UK democracy.

·       These are groups which vary hugely in size and influence but are usually concerned with a particular issue or a particular group in society.

·       Examples of these include the Confederation of British Industry and Greenpeace.

Democratic Deficit -> decision-making procedures suffer from a lack of democracy and seem inaccessible to the ordinary citizen due to their complexity

UK suffers from democratic deficit because:

Underrepresentation of minority viewpoints because of voting system:

·       House of Commons is elected by first past the post

·       Creates mismatch between votes cast for UK political parties and seats that each party win in parliament

House of Lord lacks democratic legitimacy:

·       UK is has two chambers of its parliament, one being completely unelected.

·       Attempts to reform this has failed which leave the second chamber

·       Membership is elected by successive prime minsters

·       Smaller numbers of members chosen by party leaders and…