.The big dEE .

17.1.25

LONDON: A bill to help citizens in Scotland and Wales order their postal vote online was hailed as a new democratic dawn by labour mps on friday.

The bill intends to make voting remotely in elections easier.

Labour mp Tonia Antoniazzi considered the bureaucratic tweak a historic step. “Thinking about the history of parliamentary reform my honourable friend is a modern day chartist woman,” she said of labour mp Tracy Gilbert who brought the bill, comparing her to those who demanded the vote for the common man.

Antoniazzi added she was surprised by negative attitudes towards politicians. “There is a growing disrespect for parliamentarians, which I find hard to understand. Our democracy is the backbone of the United Kingdom and of our devolved countries,” she said, conflating the electoral system with democracy.

Labour mp Ruth Cadbury agreed the political system was pretty good as is, despite some negative feedback. “I hugely enjoy the interaction with voters, despite being shouted at occasionally. It is so important we are linking their concerns for their communities and their families with our role as actual or potential elected representatives. The bit that gels all that together is the process of voting,” she said.

Labour mp Rosie Wrighting was similarly confident of the system’s standing. “Does my honourable friend agree that we should be doing everything we can to encourage political participation across the UK, to maintain our reputation as one of the world’s strongest democracies?”

But labour mp Kirsteen Sullivan was more downcast, recognising not all was necessarily well and good. “At the 1997 general election I first felt the buzz of putting an x in the box and exercising my democratic right. However, for an increasing number of our fellow citizens, that is not what democracy means to them … as we have heard, participation in democracy is falling around the UK. Turnout at local elections is consistently disappointingly low … there is much to be done to correct that trend, re-enthuse people about our democracy and rebuild the bonds of trust that have been tested over the past few years,” she said, seeming to push in the right direction.

“A vital part of our strategy must be around greater consistency and access to voting,” she added, hastily returning to terra firma.