Democracy

What is democracy ?

• Democracy is a form of government where people have the authority to choose their governing representatives - a system of government whereby the people as a whole must provide their consent to those who governed them, the government should serve the interests of the people and be accountable to them.

What is direct democracy ?

• (A form of democracy where citizens themselves rather than representatives make political decisions. The most significant modern example is the use of referendums)

• Direct democracy is a form of democracy in which decisions are directly made by the public without their opinions being channelled through representatives. In a direct democracy, there is no distinction between government and citizen. Instead, there is continuous engagement by the public in the democratic process. With over 40 million voters in the UK, it would be impossible for it to be completely governed according to the principles of direct democracy. However, elements of direct democracy have been introduced into the UK’s systems of representative democracy to engage the public in issues that concern them.

Recall of the MPs Act 2015

• If an MP has been imprisoned or suspended by the House of Commons a petition can be created to remove the MPs - 10% of their constituents is needed in order to trigger a by-election for their seat

• Margaret Ferrier - 2023 - 30 day suspension as she broke lockdown rules for covid - 14.7% of her constituency said she needed to go - recall was successful

• Peter Bone - 2023 - 6 weeks suspension - guilty of sexual misconduct - 13.2%

• Advantages - makes MPs accountable to their constituents in matters of serious misconduct and illegal behaviour

• Disadvantage - the circumstances in which it can be activated aes so extreme that critics argue its impact has been negligible

  
  

Referendums

• They enable the public to directly express their views on single issues

• EU referendum in 2016 - 52% voted in favour of leaving the EU

• 2014 - Scottish Independence referendum - 55.3% voted in favour of Scotland remaining in the UK

• Advantages - can help settle controversial issues as the public have a direct choice. Since the public have voted directly, the result can claim greater legitimacy than a decision reached by their representatives

• Disadvantages - referendums require a detailed understanding of issues which the public may lack. The ongoing debate over Scottish independence and the UK’s relationship with the EU also suggests that referendums don’t conclusively resolve issues.

Electronic petitions

• if a petition on the government website reaches 10,000 signatures the gov responds in writing and if it reaches 100,000 it will be considered for debate in either the Westminster Hall or the chamber of the House of Commons - this doesn’t mean that legislation will have to be forth coming, however it does mean that the parliament has to engage with issues the public feel strongly about.

• 2025 - no digital ID cards petition - 2.98 million signed - successful

• 2025 - call an immediate general election - 1 million signed - not successful

• Advantages - in 2020 Rashford’s #EndChildFoodPoverty gained over 1.1 million signatures generating huge public enthusiasm and persuading the government to commit to fsm for low income families during the holidays

• Disadvantages - they can raise false expectations and consume parliamentary time. There are issues parliament can’t legislate (an e petition to revoke Sir Tony Blair’s knighthood gained more than 1 million signatures - rejected since monarchs give knighthood) or won’t legislate (petition demanding article 50 to be revoked so UK remains in EU - 6.1 mil in 2019)

Open primaries

• in open primaries, the public directly decide who the candidate should be - David Cameron encouraged open primaries to open up politics

• 13 conservative candidates were selected in this way for the 2015 general election, however for the 2019 general election the conservatives selected only one of their candidates through an open primary

• Advantages - if the public have direct influence over who the cand