Wednesday 29 July 2026 5:39 am  |  Updated:  Tuesday 28 July 2026 2:58 pm

The debate: should voting be compulsory?

By: Alys Denby, Charles Amos and Harry Quilter-Pinner

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Andy Burnham is said to be considering voting reform. Two writers go head to head on whether Britain should introduce Australian-style compulsory voting

YES: Everyone’s vote should count, not just those who turn up

British politics has a turnout problem. Just three in five registered voters went to the polls in the 2024 general election. That’s a big problem for a democracy. It’s not only a matter of how many people vote, but about whose voices count most as a result. In 2024, there was a 25 percentage point turnout gap between the oldest and youngest age groups, and a 20 point gap between university graduates and those with the least educational qualifications.

That electoral incentive skews our politics towards those likeliest to vote: the wealthy, homeowners, older voters. For the rest – renters, ethnic minorities, younger and poorer voters – the risk is a vicious circle: their voices go unheard, so they become ever more disengaged.

Andy Burnham is right to support changes to how our democracy works, like a more proportional voting system and giving more power to regions and cities. But another important idea is gaining........

© City A.M.