People are politically disengaged if they do not know, value or participate in the democratic process. In the UK, political disengagement takes different forms and is more prevalent among certain groups than others.
This paper considers characteristics associated with several indicators of political disengagement: selected political attitudes; levels of participation in political activities; electoral registration; voting; and elected councillors, candidates and MPs.
Age: young people are less likely to register to vote. In their study of the 2015 registers, the Electoral Commission identified some differences between young people based on their level of qualification. 77% of 18-34 year olds educated to a degree level were estimated to be on the electoral register in December 2015, compared with 57% of those with no qualification.
Young people are also less likely to vote and be elected, and to participate in selected political activities, but older people tend to have more negative attitudes about politics. 54% of 18-24-year olds turned out to vote, compared with 77% of people over 65. The average age of councillors, candidates and MPs is over 50. The 2018 Census of Local Authority Councillors noted that the average age of councillors was 59 years in 2018, and that 15% were aged under 45 and 43% were 65 or over.
Ethnicity: people from minority ethnic groups were less likely to be registered to vote with studies noting that non-registration was higher among minority ethnic groups: 25% of first generation and 20% of second generation ethnic minorities who were eligible to register to vote had not done so, compared to 10% of the white population.
Minority ethnic groups were also less likely to vote and be elected. People from white groups were more likely to have negative attitudes to politics and participate less in political activities. Academics found that people from white and minority ethnic groups who were registered to vote at the 2010 General Election were equally likely to do so. They also found that turnout was low (53%) among first generation ethnic minorities, but higher in the second generation (63%), although it remained below the turnout among the white population (70%).
Social grade: unskilled workers and the long-term unemployed were more politically disengaged than people from other occupational backgrounds, as measured against all the indicators included in this paper. People in the lower social grades, outlined in the report, are more likely than people from higher social grades to feel that the democratic system in Britain does not address their interests well.
Not much is known about the socio-economic backgrounds of councillors, candidates and MPs, however the number of MPs from a lower-skilled background has decreased in recent years.
Gender: women tend to have more negative attitudes to politics than men, and to be less likely to participate in political activities. Men and women are equally likely to register to vote and – usually – to vote, although women were less likely to vote at the 2019 General Election. Women are underrepresented in local government and Parliament. A House of Commons Library briefing paper Women in Parliament and Government notes that in 2018, 36% of local authority councillors in England were women. In 2017, 33% of those responding to a survey of Scottish local councillors were women. An estimated 66% of local government candidates were women in Wales in 2017. In Northern Ireland in 2015, women held 25% of council seats.
Research suggests while some people are unhappy with the way democracy functions and would like to have more opportunities to participate, others share their unhappiness but not their appetite for more involvement.
The Government has used a variety of measures to address different forms of political disengagement in the UK.
~ By Elise Uberoi & Neil Johnston | House of Commons Library
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