To what extent does the UK have a democratic deficit?

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The UK is a democracy, the idea that the government of the people, by the people and for the people. Some people may say that there is a democratic deficit in the UK, for the people a lack of democratic accountability and control over the decision-making process.

Firstly, the UK’s parliament is democratically voted for by the people. Within each constituency is a representative who has been fairly and freely voted for by the people. The fact that those eligible can vote freely and fairly demonstrates that the UK is a democracy. We have an electoral commission that monitors the voting as well. However the big question people ask is that is every vote fully represented? Representatives can get elected on tiny amounts of public support as it does not matter by how much they win, only that they get more votes than other candidates. So overall more people may vote against the winning candidate but that candidate may have more votes than the other individual parties. Therefore the representative isn’t necessarily representing the majority.

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Another issue with parliament is the power that the executive has. The leader of the political party which has gained a majority of the seats in the House of Commons at a General Election is invited by the monarch, to form a government. If he or she is successful in doing so, he or she then becomes the Prime Minister. This demonstrates a democratic deficit, as the Prime Minister, who has the power to make and change laws, isn’t officially elected to “rule” the country; he merely receives that job because his party gained the most seats. These means that ...

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