Today we’ve co-published The Missing Half with the Campaign for Compulsory Voting. This report argues that the political inequality created by economic inequality can only be addressed by fundamental democratic reform, including the introduction of compulsory voting. Addressing the influence of billionaires on politics is critical, but is not in itself enough; we must also tackle the mechanisms by which politics favours the interests of the ‘ordinarily’ wealthy over those without wealth.
And there is a strong link between wealth and turnout at elections. Analysis of House of Commons data shows that in England’s most deprived fifth of seats, turnout was 50.7% against 67.8% in the least deprived fifth, a gap of 17 points. Comparing evidence on child poverty and electoral turnout, we can also see that those who do not vote are disproportionately poorer and more housing-insecure. Between 2019 and 2024 the largest decline in voter turnout was in East Ham, where it fell by more than 18 percentage points. East Ham sits within the borough of Newham, where almost 45% of children live in poverty. In fact, deprivation in Newham increased between 2019 and 2024, just as voter turnout decreased, according to the 2025 Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).
This relationship between wealth and turnout is changing political incentives. It skews interests in the favour of wealthier citizens, and discourages politicians from responding to the needs of those facing the worst effects of the UK’s unfair distribution of wealth and income. Unequal turnout also becomes a vicious cycle, since the more disillusioned voters become, the less likely they are to vote.
Compulsory voting could help to break that link by bringing everyone into the political process, so that politicians finally have to listen to the vast majority of people. International evidence shows that compulsory voting is the most reliable policy for delivering broad and sustained electoral participation. Australia, for example, consistently has turnout rates of around 90%. Research also tells us that countries with compulsory voting have lower income inequality and less political corruption than countries where voting is optional. They are also more responsive to citizens’ needs, resulting in a fairer distribution of income.
Today’s report follows calls from former Labour leader Neil Kinnock and former Home Secretary David Blunkett. Recent reports from ThinkLabour and the IPPR have also backed compulsory voting, and several MPs spoke in favour of it during the recent debate on the Representation of the People Bill.
We also call for a ‘None of the Above’ option on ballot papers, so that popular discontent can be formally recorded. This might sound novel, but the Netherlands and Spain already count the ‘blank vote’ at each election, and it is recognised in different ways in Sweden, Greece and Switzerland.
This report could hardly have come at a more opportune time. At Labour Party Conference last week, the Prime Minister pledged to amend the triple lock on the state pension. For too long, that policy has been protected by the interests of those who can be counted on to turn out in droves, namely older voters. In the foreword to our report, Baroness Polly Neate, former Chief Executive of Shelter, argues:
“Now the Prime Minister has touched the third rail of British politics by daring to fix this unfairness, he needs voters on side. Compulsory voting would give Burnham the political cover and popular support to deliver. The people most likely to back reform, including younger voters, would be at the ballot box to reward a government that took on intergenerational inequality.”
In other words, compulsory voting helps to address the fact that the policies most needed to improve fairness are often the hardest to defend at the ballot box, because the people who would gain most from them are the least likely to turn up and vote.
Levelling the playing field in this way could also help counter the corrosive influence of big money in our politics, in a way that the Representation of the People Bill did not fully tackle.
The Prime Minister also promised last week to launch a National Commission on Electoral Reform, and to make a manifesto commitment to overhaul Westminster’s voting system. If that Commission is serious about increasing participation, compulsory voting should be part of its remit.
Of course, introducing compulsory voting and a ‘None of the Above’ option will not solve political inequality overnight, and breaking the link between economic and political inequality through democratic reform entirely will not be easy. But this paper shows how making our political system fairer, by increasing turnout, can in turn make our economy fairer and help to tackle economic inequality.
Failing to introduce compulsory voting would be a missed opportunity to finally make our politics a fair fight, and to give everyone a say over the decisions made in their name. If the Prime Minister wants to rewire politics in the interests of everyone, bringing everyone into the process through compulsory voting is essential.
With thanks to the report’s author, Charles White, Director of the Campaign for Compulsory Voting.
the devil is in the detail. Whilst the Australians use it the demographic is different for the UK. Enforcement of non-compliance would be a nightmare even using pcns as a mechanism. I support it but I don't think you will get it 'over the line'