Democratic engagement: Now for those who make the right Big Society choices

By Chi Onwurah MP / @ChiOnwurah

“Whether a person chooses to register or not should be their individual choice.” With this short paean to individuality the coalition overturned the basis of the contract between citizen and government and ushered in a era where democratic engagement is the privilege of those who make the right Big Society choices.

People fail to register for different reasons. On occasion it is out of dissatisfaction with the political system, but the most common reason given is that, having just moved house, registration does not top the huge list of things to be done. For me, compulsory registration and non-compulsory voting is the classic British compromise in the very best sense of the term. There are many arguments for compulsory voting. The state takes taxes out of the pockets of working people, has the (legal) monopoly on violence and decides how much to spend on hospitals and how much on guns, all in the name of democracy. Surely then, people have a duty to participate in deciding who runs the state?

More practically, my Australian friends say that knowing they are going to have to make a choice, they pay more attention to political debate. But there are also good reasons for keeping voting a matter of individual choice. Would a captive audience, forced to vote, be wooed so assiduously by politicians? Has the state any right to force people to participate in a system in which they may not believe?

Obligatory registration and freedom of choice when it comes to actual voting ensures that as many people as possible have the right to vote on election day – and also the freedom not to use that right.

And even so, many do not register. As I said in the house yesterday, only 84% of registration forms are returned in Newcastle. That’s because we are a city with a large student population and many areas of urban deprivation. The coalition accept that over 3.5 million people are missing from the register. And we know that they are mainly in Labour constituencies like mine. Making registration an optional extra on a busy life will only serve to increase the proportion of those who are not registered. Immediately, yes, because councils will put less effort into ensuring registration. And over time even more so because the incentive to fill out the form when it arrives will necessarily be diluted. But it also sends a message that democratic engagement is way below putting on your seatbelt or picking up your litter when it comes to civic duties. And the coalition know that very well.

Being a citizen in a democracy brings with it duties as well as rights. But the coalition only want their own voters to have the right to exercise that duty.