Getting the vote out! - It’s time for Change

With an historic by election in Gorton and Denton and May elections to come we need ask some urgent questions about why people do or don't vote - and how they vote. Giving 16 year olds the right to vote at the same time as people fail to vote in elections isn't going to work in a fast paced world of populism and disengagement. Politics is out of step with the democratic process. 

It has never been more important to vote so Gill Morris asks how do we get democratic renewal and restore trust in the process? Is devolution part of the answer?

Getting the vote out

On the doorstep, in the pub or on the train you will hear people complain about everything and anything; from the weather and potholes to the cost of living. There isn’t anyone who doesn’t want something to change so why is it so hard to get people to vote in UK elections and use the democratic process as a means to an end?

We are crying out for democratic renewal. Having a voice and feeling genuine empowerment should not be  “nice to haves” or feel irrelevant to most people. They are essential if we are serious about delivering the change people say they want to see.

Low turnouts in elections should worry all of us. They are deeply unrepresentative of the silent majority and, by default, hand disproportionate influence and legitimacy to a vocal minority. That is not a healthy democracy. Yet we often treat low turnout with a ‘shrug of the shoulders’ rather than a failure of the democratic process. 

How low do we go?  Is a 10% - or lower - turnout representative of anything?  Is it time to stop asking whether people are voting and start tackling why they aren’t?

Is it simply a lack of information about who or what people are voting for? Or is it something more basic and more uncomfortable: that many voters are disengaged and no longer feel it really matters or don’t care? How many times have I heard, “I don’t vote, they’re all the same etc” on the doorstep? A LOT!

The “why” matters most. We’ve seen this starkly in the consistently low turnouts for Police and Crime Commissioners, soon to be abolished, and in local elections more broadly. People are asked to vote for individuals or roles they barely understand, often on the basis of a 200-word statement (or less), or simply because they belong to a party, union or representative body. In a fast-paced, hyper-digital age, that feels woefully inadequate and out of step.

The way political leaders seek election, build mandates and connect with the public has not kept pace with the world we now live in. Public opinion can change in a nanosecond. Political narratives are shaped instantly, often emotionally and often irresponsibly. Yet democratic, policy and legislative change remains glacially slow. That mismatch doesn’t just frustrate people, it fuels disengagement and leaves behind those who are already feeling locked out or left behind.

This isn’t a new problem, but it has become an urgent one.

Reform UK is not the answer. It is exploiting a vacuum, driving a divisive wedge into the centre of UK politics that both left and right will be tempted to chase. Again, the question is: what do people think they are voting for? Or more likely, what are they voting against?

The truth is that politics is failing to fill the space between people’s lived experience and the institutions meant to represent them. While that gap widens, others rush in. We are left fiddling while the house burns.

Low turnouts provide only a veneer of democracy, one that becomes harder and harder to defend or stand behind. They weaken mandates, corrode trust and ultimately undermine the legitimacy of the system itself. No party, no government and no voter benefits from that

Does devolution hold the key to democratic renewal?

Devolution should and must be part of the democratic renewal conversation, not be seen as a technocratic reshuffle of powers, but rather as a means of restoring purpose, proximity and agency to politics.

As I’ve argued before in relation to the Devolution Bill, devolution done properly is about more than structures. It is about empowerment: bringing decision-making closer to people’s lives, aligning power with place, and making politics feel tangible again. When people can see who is responsible, what levers exist, and how decisions affect their community, engagement follows.

Mayors and devolved authorities, at their best, offer visibility, accountability and a clearer line of sight between vote and outcome. That clarity is essential if we want to rebuild trust and participation. Devolution can shorten the democratic distance between citizens and the state, replacing abstraction with relevance.

But this only works if government moves faster, communicates better, and is honest about the why as well as the what. Structures alone won’t save us. Democratic renewal requires modernised engagement, clearer mandates, better storytelling and a willingness to let go of central control.

There is a narrowing window

For Gorton and Denton, I fear it may already be too late to shift the malaise or get the vote out but the rallying call for unity and all the media attention might just swing it. Regardless, look at the turn out and where those votes go. Whatever happens, something has to change. Even a close win for Labour doesn’t mean the problem has vanished. This historic by-election followed by the predicted losses around the May 2026 elections is a wake up call for all parties. Without a doubt there will be calls for electoral and Lords reform and so on - but let’s rethink fast about getting people excited about voting and re-set. Labour still has agency. Getting the communications right on the why, accelerating reform, and showing visible momentum matters.

Perhaps it’s time to dust off Gordon Brown’s 2022 Commission on the UK’s Future. Not as an academic exercise, but as a call to action. Democratic renewal cannot be deferred. If politics doesn’t renew itself, others will reshape it, on far less constructive terms.

Devolution, empowerment and engagement are not separate agendas. They are strands of the same renewal we now urgently need.