Question Prime: Public Disillusions

Although the next General Election is only around the corner, it seems the public today are growing more and more disillusioned with the political process. Late last year Russell Brand made headlines with his claim that the public had grown ‘disenchanted’ with politics, calling for a political revolution in an essay for the New Statesman. Now Labour’s Ed Miliband has waded in on the debate, advocating necessary changes in the political process to help win back public confidence. On the Andrew Marr Show last week, Miliband called for a public question time for Prime Ministers – suggesting the PM take questions from the public at least fortnightly, with those asking the questions ‘chosen by a method to ensure a wide representation of the country and political backgrounds.’ For Miliband, “At the moment there are a few inches of glass that separates the public in the gallery from the House of Commons but there is a gulf a mile wide between the kind of politics people want and what Prime Minister’s Questions offers.” Whatever the feasibility or sincerity of such a proposal, Miliband’s suggestion taps into a pertinent issue at the heart of contemporary British politics, and alternatives to the current British political system should be on the minds of all you Politics and PPE applicants. How would you go about igniting voter participation and bridging this gap in the political process? Are you an advocate of online compulsory voting? Or do you think that we need deeper and more long-term changes to have any lasting impact on British political culture? With past interview questions such as: ‘If you were Prime Minister for a day how would you go about changing the political system?’ and ‘Would you agree that the current form of democracy in the UK is the best possible?’, asking yourself these probing questions would prove a worthwhile exercise for those looking to apply for a range of politics-related courses.