Like the Palace of Westminster, which remains shrouded in scaffolding, Britain's democracy is in need of restoration and repair.
The past decade has been a turbulent time for British democracy. We've seen increased anger and vitriol in our political discourse, and a deep frustration and pervasive distrust in how our democracy works.
Increased disengagement, indifference, and resentment has made democracy more vulnerable to the forces of extremism and division.
But people the UK still have faith in the principles of democracy, even as they despair at how it fails to deliver.
‘Democratic Repair: What Britons expect from their democracy’ is based on polling and focus groups of our British Seven segments from across the country.
The overwhelming majority of people feel proud of our democracy and democratic values. But a clear majority are unhappy with how the system works. They feel that the ‘political elite’ don’t care about them: it’s one set of rules for them, and another set of rules for the rest of us.
People feel increasingly frustrated by a democratic system that isn’t delivering for them or helping to make their lives better, and they feel let down by politicians who fall short of their expectations. Dissatisfaction is deepest among the three most disengaged groups, who make up almost half the population: Loyal Nationals, Disengaged Traditionalists and Disengaged Battlers.
This distrust and disengagement is dangerous, because it leaves these groups more open to anti-democratic trends that have taken hold in other democracies: populists who break the rules, divide their societies into us-versus-them, and undermine the rule of law and fair treatment of minorities.
In this report, we’ve identified two main themes - ‘No time disengagement’ and ‘No point disengagement’.
