The low turnout in mayoral referendum
This article was first published in the MJ in May 2012
Last week's big news, apart from sizeable Labour gains on 3 May, was the depressingly low turnout.
It's better than the low of 28% in 1998, but it is still far below the level at which those elected can claim much of a meaningful democratic mandate, and lower than almost anywhere else in Europe. Compare it with 80% voting in France's presidential election. Low turnout in elections follows naturally from low awareness of what councils do, and low perceived relevance, partly stemming from their inability to control their own budgets. Our work on local elections normally finds that even in areas where there are elections taking place, one-quarter of the public think there aren't or don't know. Barely one-third of the public, 36%, claim they know the name of one of their local councillors – and when we check whether the names they give are correct, this figure falls to around one in eight. This week, there have been various calls for more energetic, and effective campaigning. It is true that the pathetic turnouts in the mayoral referendums showed the Government was utterly limp-wristed in its support of its own idea. The irony is that the mayoral system ought to have given the best chance for more independent candidates to get into local politics, at a time when most people are fed up with the main political parties - which is in part why local political elites tend to regard the idea with disdain. Now, most of the public, 61%, say 'more information being provided about the candidates and their views' would make them more likely to vote, and 54% agree 'having more information from the council about the election and how to vote’ would help. For me though, the 60% who think 'councils having more scope to set taxes and charges locally and decide how the money is spent' would make them more likely to vote are probably right - but don’t expect this to happen any time soon. As so often in British local government, it's business as usual.
