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We're sleepwalking into a real democratic legitimacy problem. Falling turnout means we keep returning governments fewer and fewer of us actually voted for. Compulsory voting is the way out — and it's good to see it's getting some traction. Great thread explaining why from my colleague Nick

Great to be featured in today’s First Edition talking about care reform. Andy’s committed to change - the good news is that while we’ve delayed reform other countries have figured out what to do & how to pay for it. Japan, Australia, New Zealand have all made the system more generous (1/

In (my corner of) UK think tank world, we talk of little else but getting our own democracy sausages

It works well in Australia and has, for the most part, kept our politics sensible. To get the full Aussie experience the Brits must adopt the democracy sausage, ie delicious high fat emulsified offal tubes on white bread served by parents raising funds for schools at polling places.

Does it deny dissent any more than not being allowed to withhold taxes of your choice because of opposition to any given policy? Really? The point being made is that low turnout & politics' failure to represent people less likely to turnout are mutually reinforcing.

👏👏👏 I've come round to compulsory voting, if done on the basis Nick sets out here. Partly because it will help tackle democratic decay, but also because we need to push back at the idea that politics is basically shopping - where you just get to demand what you want. Citizenship involves duties.

I’m really not looking for a mythical silver bullet, you alone seem to be assuming anyone thinks this alone would resolve our democratic problems, and the charge of state authoritarianism is faintly absurd for reasons I’ve already made clear

Well evidently we differ on some of the characteristics of the crisis and failures of British democracy

Come on. It is not a rebalancing of power in favour of the state. Boosting participation + closing turnout inequality is about shifting power to the public. A short walk to a polling station, where you can vote or not vote however you please, is hugely less "coercive" than, say, jury duty.

Administratively, the heavy lifting comes from the intro of automatic voter registration which, happily, is already in the Representation of the People Bill.

Strangely enough, I don't accept any of these various premises. Is compulsory education state over-reach and an assault on individual liberty and freedom? Obviously there is no one arguing that compulsory voting in isolation will address the deep crisis of democracy.

Think the exact level of the fine could be debated - but the evidence is that compulsory voting with a fairly modest (or even, in some cases, nonexistent) penalty still does the job re vastly improving turnout.

I’m a bit puzzled as to why this would count as a ‘state assault’ on individual freedom but, say, tax wouldn’t

As I understand it, in practice in Australia, few non-voters end up paying a fine because most have a valid reason. It's effective at maintaining v high turnout nevertheless. Obviously you could implement penalties in a v flat-footed way, so implementation important.

I don't know of many people who want compulsory voting AND to keep first past the post. CV + electoral reform are complementary measures, aimed at some of the same problems.

Almost all compulsory voting advocates definitely agree about none of the above, and I'm pretty sure the large majority agree about proportional representation - I do anyway

Yes, the premise is what I’m questioning.

Under the proposal, in line with the Australian system, (a) people who provide a valid reason aren’t fined (which is the majority of non-voters in Aus), and (b) you would have the option to vote for none of the above or indeed to spoil your ballot. So, no, that isn’t what would happen.

Not immediately clear to me why this is a slam dunk

I don’t think so - the starting point is it’s a basic duty that people should vote. An interesting aside is that I believe (I defer to expert @dmk1793.bsky.social ) countries with CV but no actual penalty for non-voting still have much higher turnout.