Compulsory voting unveiled in plan to heal UK democracy

A leading think tank has called for a radical redefinition of British citizenship, proposing compulsory voting as the foundational step in a sweeping package of reforms designed to combat political disillusionment and counter the divisive narratives of the radical right.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) argues that a crisis of national pride and a stark generational divide in political participation necessitate a new, more robust model of what it means to belong to the UK.

The IPPR’s report reveals a significant erosion of national confidence, with public pride in Britain’s history, democracy, and global influence declining by at least 20 percentage points over the last decade.

Concurrently, the gap between young and old voters has widened dramatically, with only 56% of 18-24 year-olds casting a ballot in the last election, compared to 81% of those over 61. A similar 20-point chasm exists between voters with the lowest educational qualifications and those with university degrees.

To address this, the IPPR proposes making voting mandatory for all eligible UK residents, with a £10 fine for non-compliance and an option to register a vote for ‘none of the above.’ This measure, mirroring systems like Australia’s where turnout has remained consistently high, is described as the most minimal responsibility of a democratic citizen.

The report suggests that the citizenship debate has been wrongly fixated on migration and welfare entitlements, obscuring the more fundamental question of national identity and shared values.

Lead author and IPPR senior research fellow Dr Nick Garland said: ‘The fundamental building block of collective progress is citizenship. Without a new, shared ideal of democratic citizenship, our politics is reduced to a zero-sum game of haggling between rival groups and voters’ narrow financial self interest.’

‘Mainstream politicians have ceded too much ground to the radical right, which wants only to talk about who can be a citizen, and not the rights and duties we all share in as citizens. The failure to offer a more robust idea of citizenship is one of the factors behind declining democratic participation and political trust.

‘To change that, progressives must be much bolder about changing how our democracy works, and making a big argument about the way we can live together.