In the last general election in 2010, a majority of people in the United Kingdom - 65 per cent - turned out to vote (UK Political Info). And in 2012, seven in ten (72 per cent) Britons say they identify with a particular political party. Thus, it seems that the majority of the British public today is engaging with our democratic system. So why is there so much discussion about the declining health of Britain's representative democracy? We use 30 years of data from British Social Attitudes to address this question. We ask whether there is evidence of a decline in public engagement with how Britain is governed and, if so, why that might be. And we consider what the trends over the past 30 years can tell us about the likely future of Britain's democratic system.

It has been argued that a decline in class, as well as partisan identities, and a shift away from collective feelings of being part of a society to taking a more individualist approach, have all been linked to a reduced participation in conventional democratic routes (Dalton and Wattenberg, 2000, Clarke et al., 2004). (In fact our latest British Social Attitudes findings in the Social class chapter do not support this theory of decline in class identity, but do support the decoupling of class identity and political partisanship.) More recent attempts by government to engage the public in electoral reform seem to attract minority interest. When British Social Attitudes asked the public about the proposed electoral reforms designed to increase participation and accountability, we found lukewarm support (Curtice and Seyd, 2012). This lack of interest was reflected in the very low turnout of 15 per cent for the 2012 police crime and commissioner elections in England (The Electoral Commission, 2013). The only potential reform of majority attraction to the British public appears to be more direct forms of democracy (such as referenda and the ability to recall errant MPs). 

In addition to these wider societal changes, during the last two or three decades, there have been a number of high profile political scandals and perceived major errors on the part of governments. We know these have affected the British public's confidence with politicians, and government more generally. With the 'cash for questions' scandal in the 1990s, followed by the MPs' expenses scandal in 2009[1], high profile U-turns following the 2010 election on student fees and the NHS, it is perhaps no surprise that the British public has recently been labelled "disgruntled, disillusioned and disengaged" in relation to political life in this country
(Fox et al., 2012: 9). 

With three decades' worth of information about public attitudes to politics, government and politicians, British Social Attitudes has a wealth of data to allow us to address the question of how far the public's engagement with politics has actually changed, reflecting changes in society and a history of political problems and scandals. We track people's engagement with politics across a range of dimensions: identification with political parties, interest in and understanding of politics, feelings of civic duty, political trust, and engagement with conventional and alternative routes of democratic participation. We ask whether a decline in turnout at general election time reflects a reduced interest in politics and in influencing the way in which the country is run, or whether other things are at play. In particular, we look at the views and participation of the young electorate and ask what British Social Attitudes can tell us about the future of our democracy - in the 2015 general election and beyond.