So there you have it, the next General Election will take place on the 4th of July.
For all the flaws in our political system, I have always found these moments of mass democratic participation exciting. My earliest political memory was seeing my dad come down the stairs in 1992 shocked by the result – most of the country was. There was the optimism of New Labour in 1997, the novelty of coalition in 2010, and the ups and downs of the post-Brexit wranglings that defined 2017 and 2019. The dates become synonymous with the culture of the time. But, despite the power of these moments, they are also fleeting. It has become almost cliché to say that democracy should be more than a cross in a box every few years, but that doesn’t make it any less true. And it feels more important now than ever.
For the first time in my life I feel genuinely concerned about the future of our democratic system. Trust in our democratic institutions has never been lower. Recent YouGov polling found that only 11% of people believe parliament does a good or fairly good job of representing their interests. While declining trust in institutions is affecting western democracies globally, it is particularly marked in the UK. The ONS’s 2023 Trust in Government Survey found that only 27% of the UK population trusted national government. The most recently published OECD average was 41%.
So how do we shift the dial when it comes to trust in our democratic institutions? I have always believed that the only way to build trust is to give it and yet Britain continues to be one of the most centralised countries in the world. For too long citizens have been left on the sidelines, disempowered by a system that sees us as a problem to be solved rather than an asset to be unlocked. That needs to change and the public want that too. Recent New Local research found that 75% believe that communities should have a greater say over the issues affecting their lives.
I created Public Life because I believe that now is the time for a radical transfer of power to communities. That’s why I’m scaling the citizen incubator model I’ve been designing and proving over the last seven years UK-wide. There are a growing number of people and organisations recognising the vital need to revitalise democratic life and the stakes couldn’t be higher. If we can get this right, we can inspire a new generation of citizens to lead the way in helping tackle the pressing social issues facing communities. But if we can’t, there is a risk that declining trust in our democratic institutions turns into a loss of the public consent on which their power resides.
I hope we look back on 2024 as the year power was returned to citizens. Imagine how different democracy would feel if General Elections were a milestone rather than the moment itself.
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