How representative is the UK political system?

by jess223 (student)

In the UK, we are regarded as an indirect democracy. Edmund Burke in a speech in 1774, summed up what many see as the essence of representative democracy in Britain:

“Your representative owes you not his industry only, but his judgement and he betrays you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”

The Burkesian view is therefore that we elect individuals to represent us in Parliament and other assemblies. But is the political system in Britain truly representative?

Elected representatives are chosen to speak on our behalf to the best of their ability. They are however, not delegates sent with specific instructions or orders to follow. As a result, our elected representatives might make decisions which are contrary to our wishes. Some may argue that this means that they are not acting on our behalf. However, a counterargument could be that, because they do not always act strictly to what just a significant group in the country want, they are preventing oppression of the minority. This is down to the fact that they look at all the different aspects of a particular topic and try and mediate between the differentiating needs of people in society.

Government can claim legitimacy due to the fact that elections take place frequently. General elections occur every 4 years and they are free and fair. Any citizen can stand for office, meaning that it isn’t just restricted to privileged people. Because the government is legitimate and has gained the right to rule by the people, for the people, they can be viewed as representative. However, the majority of politicians come from generally well-off families. Also, the type of people that make up the government isn’t representative of society. For example, there are very few politicians from an ethnic minority ...

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There are a number of factors in today’s political system that helps construct Britain’s representative political nature. Devolution, the presence of pressure groups, a range of political parties, a democratic society, and the devolution of power to more localized communities and Britain’s involvement with the EU. By devolving power from centralized government in Westminster to create a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly, the UK becomes more democratic as the government is brought closer to those they govern. As the United Kingdom is now a part of the European Union, citizens have the right to vote in the European Parliamentary Elections. On the other hand, some people may say that the influence that the European Union holds over Britain, although sometimes good, e.g. Britain being obliged to conform to the Human Rights ideas of the EU, it can be viewed as overwhelming.

The government is accountable to citizens, and to Parliament. They are bound by law. This helps to prevent general tyranny and corruption within a political party. Parliament is, in turn, accountable to the judiciary and tribunal courts as well as set up inquiries. For example, the 2009 expenses scandal, inquires were set up to look into the different MPs involved in the scandal. Also, when debates occur in the House of Commons, the party in opposition as well as other parties who have seats in Parliament are questioning the actions of the party in power. This means Parliament has to justify what they do. This doesn’t just happen at Westminster. We can also attend regular meeting where members of Parliament are interrogated by the people on certain issues e.g. The London Assembly or Prime Minister’s Question Time.

It could be argued that direct democracy hinder representative democracy. It may be said that by continuously referring to the public on what they want, the representatives are abdicating their responsibility to govern. This is because we have elected them as individuals who we believe are capable of judging the issues on our behalf, and they need the space in which they can do this. Our representatives will often have access to a vast amount of information on which to make their judgements, and have time dedicated to achieving this task. On the contrary, the public may find the government excessively secret about issues that could have a great impact on their lives. For example, the decision for Britain to back the U.S in their invasion in Iraq was, to many people, unexpected. Numerous citizens thought that a referendum should have been called before such a decision. Hence, it could be said that tool of direct democracy could help strengthen our representative democracy as it helps to refresh the mandate several years into a Parliament when momentum may have changed.

In conclusion, I believe that the UK political system is fairly representative. On the whole, the structure of our government is very supportive of good representation. However, I also believe that it will also be hard for MPs to juggle what everyone in our community wants, making some decisions look unrepresentative. Also, there are some technicalities which could lead to the questioning of whether the UK is truly represented. Personally, I believe that the moderate majority are represented, but the fact is that people can only judge how representative the system is by analysing it from their own viewpoint.