What stops people from getting involved in politics, and how can we help remove those barriers?
Those are key questions for us here at the John Smith Centre, where we work on providing routes into politics for diverse young people, including those who might not otherwise be politically engaged. Dovetailing neatly with that focus, my new book looks at some of the drivers of political inequality the UK and, crucially, some possible ways to open politics up.
Join us for the book launch!
8 October 2025
3.00pm – 4:30pm
Bower Building Room 248, University Avenue, Glasgow G12 8QQ
In this blog I draw on the interviews and focus groups that I conducted with MPs, activists and lower-participation members of the public. I focus on their suggestions for overcoming barriers to political participation, which centre on three solutions in particular: continuing and expanding outreach activities by elected representatives and political institutions; citizenship education, both through provision of practical information about how to participate and the curriculum in schools; and more accessible (and trustworthy) information about politics and political institutions, and how they work.
By far the most common answer when people were asked how to remove barriers to politics is political outreach. Often, emphasis is played on outreach by elected representatives such as MPs and councillors, and one of the key ideas is being available in the locations where people go anyway. Practical ideas here include having visible premises (e.g., on high streets) for constituency offices and rotating locations, times and types of public engagement. In the latter case that might include having public meetings in halls, bookable surgeries in the constituency office, and chats in local cafés. Lots of these things are already being done by a great number of elected representatives, and it was often MPs who suggested such solutions, but they were also supported by many of the activists and members of the public who I spoke to for my research.
'...public engagement by politicians should focus on finding out what local people want and communicating what has or has not been done in relation to those things.'
People also emphasise that public engagement by politicians should focus on finding out what local people want and communicating what has or has not been done in relation to those things. Some people actively called for elected representatives to explain when promises have not been delivered so that people have a better sense of when, how and why politics works or not. This specific, detailed information might help combat the general sense that the political system does not work that is often cited as a barrier to participation. This call for more information about how political works is also reflected in support for the kinds of activities that the UK Parliament’s Education and Engagement Team organise to educate young people and the public more widely about the work of Parliament.
The endorsement of outreach activities by institutions such the UK Parliament points towards the second way to open up political participation that people identify: citizenship education. This includes providing public information about the practicalities of participation, such information on how to vote and practice voting booths for first-time voters. Indeed, some of the people that I spoke to emphasised how alien that key democratic act can feel if, for instance, your parents do not vote or take you with them to do so when you are growing up. Practical education and challenging the sense that ‘politics is not for me’ can also be done, as some people stress, through citizenship education that is part of the curriculum in schools. Often, this is seen as a key way to prepare young people for voting and political life more generally and, as the Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT) have emphasised, this is all the more important now that votes at 16 will be introduced before the next general election.
Finally, and dovetailing with calls to equip people with the skills and knowledge to participate via citizenship education, people also talk about making information about politics and political institutions as accessible as possible via as many routes as possible. These include news and current affairs programmes on TV, websites and, of course, social media. Sometimes these comments also tackle the difficult question of how to provide trustworthy information about politics, with some people calling (not uncontroversially) for ‘neutral’ providers of information. Certainly, there have been great strides in the availability of information about politics in recent years but, problematically, they have accompanied be high levels of misinformation and disinformation. So, the question of how to provide political information that people can trust (especially since we have biases in what we perceive as trustworthy) remains a hot topic.
Beyond the suggestions themselves, there are two heartening observations to make about the solutions that people talk about. First, many of the things that people identify as ways to open up politics and help people participate are already happening. Some of these activities could be expanded or institutionalised, and might be well-received by the public, but the foundations are already in place. Many elected representatives, and organisations like the UK Parliament’s Education and Engagement team, already undertake significant outreach activities. There is already some degree of citizenship education in schools, though it could be prioritised to ensure that all students receive similar levels of such education. Finally, there is now a vast amount of high-quality information about politics available online, even if it is often hidden amongst less reliable information. Second, as I note in the book,
‘What is remarkable… is that there is already such a degree of commonality in the solutions offered by MPs, activists and volunteers, and low-participation members of the public.’
This would appear to be at least one area in which elected representatives are doing a good job of reflecting the views of the public.
To finish on a note of caution, however, a key question remains: if politicians and the public share a wish to see these solutions implemented, why are they not happening? Certainly, expanding political outreach activities and citizenship education in schools would require extra funding. And it might prompt controversy about precisely what to include in public information and the school curriculum, given that the strengths and weaknesses of UK democracy are not agreed on. Indeed, one area in which the people I spoke to showed less agreement was in their support for reform of the political system itself, even though this might be the most important and fruitful way to open politics up and encourage political participation from a wider array of people. Further, given the relationship between political inequalities and wider societal inequalities, efforts to reduce inequality more generally might also provide a key route to removing barriers to political participation but are unlikely to be politically uncontested.
