That people get less interested in politics and current affairs with every year that passes is quickly entering the realms of political truism. And, on the face of it, it’s indisputably true. Recently, I looked up the figures for turnouts at general elections in Leigh. They make sobering reading.
In 1922, a staggering 89.9 percent of people turned out to vote in the election that saw the return of the town’s first Labour MP. Compare that with last year’s turnout. Just under half of those eligible to vote did so in the election when I was returned as Leigh’s fifth Labour MP.
But the trouble with truisms is that, sometimes, they are only partially true. People probably are a bit less interested in politics than they were years ago, but that’s not the whole story. More importantly, they are much more cynical both about politics and the electoral process.
In 1920s Leigh, you could easily imagine how voting was a matter of life or death. For those who daily risked their lives down the town’s pits or worked in its deafening mills, a Labour government held out the promise of better living and working conditions, an education for their children.
People had similarly good reasons to vote Labour last year but many didn’t turn out. Perhaps the ‘things-aren’t-so-bad’ factor had an impact. But that’s the most optimistic reading. From my experience on the doorstep, two more worrying factors were also at play: the ‘you’re-all-the-same’ and the ‘voting-makes-no-difference’ factors.
In the search for solutions to combat this and reconnect people to the political process, there has been much focus on the role of the media. The BBC has been conducting a thorough review of its news and current affairs political programming and is set to announce a revamp. But to what extent can refreshed coverage help rekindle interest in politics and boost turnout?
I don’t see any evidence to suggest it can. In fact, the opposite is true. The advent of the mass media has coincided with the drop in turnout and growing public cynicism – and I don’t think the two are unrelated. In Leigh, turnout dipped below 80 percent for the first time in the 1964 general election and has carried on falling ever since.
But before we rush to put all of the blame on the media for this culture of cynicism, we must first look at ourselves. After all, it’s politicians who give them
their raw material. Isn’t it the case that
much of the Westminster and Whitehall process has always been unedifying and grinding? The fact that the print and broadcast media has thrown more and
more spotlight on that process over the
years has inevitably reduced public respect for it and perhaps rightly.
Isn’t it also true that we politicians have closed down debate? Pre-1992, Labour suffered media torture and rightly adopted an internal discipline that was critical to
our subsequent victories. But let’s not kid ourselves that there was no price for that:
it did hammer some of the colour and interest out of politics.
So we must shoulder much of the blame. We have to work harder to make ourselves relevant. But the media has had
a hand, too. Today’s political programming goes along with the ways of the Westminster village rather than challenging them. It may be great for enthusiasts and anoraks, but it’s just not connecting with the vast majority
of voters.
The BBC probably doesn’t consider Kilroy as part of its political programming but, in terms of voter reach, it’s arguably their biggest success. On the rare occasions that I appear on Newsnight, Despatch Box or Westminster Live, people barely mention it. But appearing on Kilroy is an entirely different matter. It generates plenty of comment and last time I couldn’t go anywhere without people taking great delight in recalling my roasting at the hands of irate care home owners.
The BBC’s review should spend time reflecting on this. I’m sure Kilroy’s success is partly due to the fact that participants give vent to thoughts and feelings in a way that those on heavyweight political programmes rarely do.
So, yes, there does need to be a revamp of political and news coverage. But let’s not be unrealistic about what it will achieve. And we all have to face an uncomfortable truth: if it succeeds in reaching more viewers, it may only make people even more cynical about their representatives.