A letter to the editor has argued that Britain will remain ungovernable until democratic consent is restored, criticising the current electoral system for producing governments without a genuine mandate. Dr Lalith Chandrakantha of Northampton wrote in response to a recent analysis by Tom Clark on the country's political instability.
Dr Chandrakantha noted that the Labour government entered office with a landslide of seats but secured only 20% of the total eligible electorate. He warned that mistaking the silence of the 40% who did not vote for passive compliance is a fatal error, and that previous governments were not very different.
He argued that thanks to social media and decentralised public spaces, those who abstain from the ballot box now cast their vote on the state's competence daily. Until a system is adopted where the government holds genuine democratic consent, the country will continue to chew through leaders and remain ungovernable.
