2 Introduction
3. Levels of turnout at UK elections and the percentage
of people that are correctly registered to vote has declined substantially
in recent decades. Although turnout for the 2010 general election
was the highest since 1997, only 65% of registered voters participated,
and turnout levels for local authority, European Parliament and
Police and Crime Commissioner elections are even worse. At every
local council and European Parliament election in the last decade
that has not coincided with a general election the turnout has
been less than 50%. There are also millions of people missing
from the electoral registers—it is estimated that 7.5 million
people entitled to vote at an election are not correctly registered
to vote, and that there are millions of British citizens living
overseas that are not registered to vote at all.[1]
These figures indicate a substantial lack of engagement of the
public with elections in the UK.
The electorate
4. Eligibility to register to vote and participate
in UK elections varies depending on the type of election being
held. For general (parliamentary) elections, eligible voters are
British or Commonwealth citizens, as well as citizens of the Republic
of Ireland, aged 18 and over, who are resident in the UK, as well
as British citizens living abroad who were resident in the UK
within the last 15 years.[2]
For local and European Parliament elections,[3]
citizens of other European Union member states aged 18 and
over living in the UK are also entitled to vote, but British citizens
living abroad are not.[4]
5. In 2013 the number of people registered to vote—the
electorate—for general elections was 46,139,900.[5]
This figure is 0.5% lower than in 2012. The Electoral Commission
has estimated that the most recent electoral register is only
84.7% complete. This equates to 7.5 million people that are eligible
to vote in UK elections not being correctly registered to vote,
though the Electoral Commission has stated that this figure does
not mean there should be an additional 7.5 million people registered
to vote, since many of these people may still have been included
on the register but in an inaccurate entry.[6]
The number of people not correctly registered to vote has risen
substantially since 2000, when it is estimated there were 3.9
million people not correctly registered to vote. The Electoral
Commission has cited "higher population mobility" as
one of the main reasons for the increase.[7]
There are also several million British citizens living overseas—many
of whom will be entitled to vote in some UK elections—but
only 15,818 overseas voters are currently registered to vote across
Great Britain.[8]
Turnout
6. Voter turnout varies substantially depending on
the type of election. General elections have by far the highest
turnout, while the elections for Police and Crime Commissioners
in 2012 had the lowest turnout of any election in recent history.
Turnout for recent elections and referendums is detailed in the
table below.
| Turnout for recent elections and referendums
|
| Type of election (or referendum)
| Turnout (as percentage of electorate)
|
| General elections | 2001: 59.4%
2005: 61.4%
2010: 65.1%
|
| Local elections | 2010: 63.1% (same day as general election)
2011: 42.6%
2012: 32%
2013: 31%
2014: 36%*
|
| European Parliament elections
| 1999: 24%
2004: 38.5%
2009: 34.5%
2014: 35.6%
|
| Scottish Parliament elections
| 2003: 51.8%
2007: 49.4%
2011: 50.4%
|
| Welsh Assembly elections
| 2003: 38.2%
2007: 43.7%
2011: 42.2%
|
| Northern Ireland Assembly elections
| 2003: 63%
2007: 62.3%
2011: 54.5%
|
| Police and Crime Commissioner elections
| 2012: 15.1% |
| Alternative vote referendum
| 2011: 42% |
| Scottish independence referendum
| 2014: 84.6% |
| * Figure is for turnout for local elections in England. In Northern Ireland, turnout for the 2014 local elections was 51.3%.
|
7. Although turnout for the 2010 general election
was the highest for any general election since 1997, the number
of registered voters that did not participate—15,909,857—was
still larger than the turnout for any one party. When the number
of people eligible to register to vote but not correctly registered
to vote, are reckoned in the total, the number of people that
did not participate at the most recent general election is larger
than the number of votes cast for candidates of the two largest
parties, or of both of the Coalition parties.
Our inquiry
8. In the light of declining levels of registration
and turnout we launched an inquiry into voter engagement in the
UK. We wanted to investigate the reasons for low levels of registration
and turnout, and find out what could be done to improve them.
The full terms of reference for our inquiry are annexed to this
Report.[9] As
part of our deliberations we have heard from think-tanks, campaign
groups, academics and organisations representing specific groups,
as well as the Electoral Commission, individual Electoral Registration
Officers and the Minister for the Constitution. We have also received
a large amount of correspondence and written evidence, including
a significant volume from members of the public, as well as from
community groups, a former Member of Parliament, an independent
candidate in the Police and Crime Commissioner elections, and
others. Our inquiry was also informed by an informal event at
the University of Sheffield, where members of the Committee discussed
some of the key questions we have been looking at with members
of the public.[10] We
are grateful to everyone that contributed to our inquiry, particularly
to those for whom this was their first occasion engaging with
a Select Committee. A list of all those who gave evidence to the
Committee is on pages 103-109.
9. Democracy is working less well than it used
to and we need to move swiftly to pre-empt a crisis. The scale
of the response must be equal to the task. Millions of people
are missing from the UK's electoral registers. Many of those who
are registered—and in many cases the majority—choose
not to participate at elections, be they for the UK Parliament,
local government, or the European Parliament. In a modern democracy,
it is unacceptable that millions of people who are eligible to
vote are missing from electoral registers. We believe it should
be made clearer in law that any person who is eligible to vote
in a UK election should be on the electoral register. We also
believe that it is desirable in a representative democracy for
turnout at elections of all kinds to be higher—and ideally
far higher—than has been the case in recent years.
1 Figures for electoral registration referred to throughout
this report relate to Great Britain only. The electoral registration
system for Northern Ireland operates separately to that for Great
Britain. Back
2
Certain people are excluded from voting. These are: Members of
the House of the Lords, convicted persons detained in pursuance
of their sentences, and anyone found guilty within the previous
five years of corrupt or illegal practices in connection with
an election. Back
3
Local elections include those for local councillors, mayors, and
members of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Welsh Assembly and Scottish
Parliament. Back
4
The Government's website, Voting in the UK, details who is eligible
to vote for the various UK elections, and the Electoral Commission's
website, About my vote, gives details of how to register to vote. Back
5
Electoral statistics for UK - 2013, Office for National Statistics.
For local government elections, the number of registered voters
was 47,691,800. Back
6
The quality of the 2014 electoral registers in Great Britain,
Electoral Commission, July 2014 Back
7
Q724 [Jenny Watson] Back
8
Written evidence from the Electoral Commission [VUK 40, VUK 156] Back
9
Annex 1 - Terms of reference Back
10
A note of the informal event at the University of Sheffield is
printed at Annex 2. Back
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