How do we re-engage politics with people?

Our politics is in crisis. Turnout is falling, trust in politicians seems to be at a record low, and people are losing faith in the power of politics to change their lives.

The election results we had a few weeks ago underline the scale of our challenge. What was startling was not that UKIP did well, but that just one in nine people voting for a political party can be described as a ‘political earthquake.’

I’ve spent the last year asking why people feel so disconnected, through my People’s Politics Inquiry. I’ve been guided by one simple principle: step out of the day-to-day grind of politics at Westminster and talk to the people who are actually disengaged. With colleagues, I went to mothers & toddlers’ groups, universities, held town hall meetings. I knocked on doors and called people up from the electoral register who we knew haven’t voted. And we began a dialogue.

A couple of months ago I brought together 15 of the hundreds of people that we met to form an Inquiry Panel. You can watch a film about the day here.

It was an eye-opening day, but it was Annette – a children’s centre worker from Oldham who has never voted – who made a point that has really stuck in my mind. I had written at the top of a piece of flipchart paper ‘how can we re-engage people with politics’. She put her hand up and said: ‘You’ve got the question wrong. It should read how do we re-engage politics with people’. In that comment, I think she might have summed up the problem.

I’m giving a speech to the Electoral Reform Society this afternoon where I am outlining what Labour will do as a result of what we heard in the Inquiry. You can read the full speech, but I just want share a couple of conclusions now.

The first thing we will do is demystify the polling station. I was struck by the number of people who told me that they didn’t know what happened when they go to vote and felt too embarrassed to ask how. As well as working with schools to make sure people learn these basics at an early age, we will also do more to give people enough information before elections. Every registered elector is already sent a poll card, and that is where we should start. Every card should contain basic information about how you vote, and it should provide links or QR codes so that people can access further information online.

There are already a number of websites where people can learn more about their vote. The Electoral Commission, Parliament and Downing Street all have online information about voting and registration. But this information is incomplete, and spread across a variety of places that you really have to seek out. A Labour Government would work to produce a comprehensive democracy portal that would draw together in one place all of the things you need to know before you vote – such as who your MP is, who your local council and representatives are, how you vote, who the political parties are and what they stand for.

Using modern technology isn’t just the answer to how we can better inform voters about elections, it is also crucial to how we create a voting system fit for the 21st century. Person after person I met during the Inquiry just couldn’t understand why when they can shop online, bank online, meet their partner online – they can’t vote online. The Electoral Commission are right to be looking at online voting, and the Speaker was right to say last week that it makes sense in our internet age. But we can’t ignore the scale of the security challenge we’d have to face. The Inquiry showed me that we can’t allow ourselves to fall behind the times on online voting because the more out of touch with people’s lives voting is, the less relevant voting feels to them.

My speech also addresses the crucial question of the breakdown in trust between people and politicians. I think the first solution is to provide more information about what exactly it is MPs do, and why they do it. IPSA did some research last year which underlines the scale of the problem. More than half of people don’t know what their MP does, especially when they are in Parliament. This is of course primarily the responsibility of individual MPs, but Parliament and political parties should do more nationally too.

Clarity can only really come when the process of legislation is clearer and more accessible, and when people can follow what it is their MP is doing in the House. That is why I announced in February my reforms to the legislative process to make it simpler, more accessible and more widely reported. A new public stage would ensure that the public can have their say, and a new scrutiny stage would test Minister’s mettle, ensure legislation is in better shape, and mean that the media would have something more succinct and interesting to report.

It is not just processes we need to change, we must change the way we operate too. The Speaker is right to criticise the worst aspects of bad behaviour in the chamber, because to the public that looks like public school boys arguing in the playground. People I met in my Inquiry were right to criticise our soundbite culture, because the buzz words might poll well, but they make politicians sound like automatons. And as Karina said during our panel discussion, people just don’t believe politicians keep their promises. That’s a problem that I think all politicians have a responsibility to solve. The focus groups may not say it, but I think the British people value honesty over the cheap headline.

I want to thank every disengaged voter who took the time to talk to me. Talking to people who don’t vote about why was definitely the right place to start.

Angela Eagle is the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons