One year ago: "Is Keir Starmer’s Government the most unrepresentative since women got the vote?"
Only 20% of the total possible electorate voted Labour yet it won 63% of the seats
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2025
Our warnings this time last year - we should not be surprised at what is now happening
This time last year Facts4EU analysed the state of democracy in the United Kingdom following the general election just five weeks earlier. In a special series on parliamentary democracy, Facts4EU.Org revealed the full extent of the democratic deficit already visible to us at that point, as a warning of what was to come.
Report planned for today has been held
NOTE: We have held the report planned for today, pending legal advice. In its place we are re-publishing our alarming assessment one year ago of the implications of the result of the general election. This most certainly stands the test of time, as our reports generally do. Given we are currently already working on a new report on the state of our democratic deficit, what follows is an appropriate precursor to the new report.
Facts4EU's Aug 2024 analysis of the implications for democracy in the UK of the general election results
Is Keir Starmer’s Government the most unrepresentative since women got the vote?
- We start with a summary of our analysis of the 2024 general election results
- This is followed by comparisons with the elections of the last 100 years
- Then : Postal votes, which have soared nearly 10 times since Tony Blair’s changes
Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
Results of the 2024 UK general election
1. Results by party, sorted by percentage of votes cast
[Source : As reported to Parliament by the Returning Officer for each constituency.]
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2024 - click to enlarge
2. Comparison with election results since 1924 (100 years ago)
- Voter turnout 2024 : 59.7%
- This is the second-lowest turnout in the last 100 years
[Source : House of Commons Library.]
The UK has had 26 general elections in the last 100 years, from 1924 to 2024. Turnout has declined over the years, with an accelerated decline since 1992 when John Major took over from the late Lady Thatcher.
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2024 - click to enlarge
3. Postal votes have soared nearly 10 times since Tony Blair’s changes
[Source : House of Commons Library.]
The number of ballot papers received by post has increased dramatically since 2001, thanks to Tony Blair’s relaxation of the rules. Now almost anyone can register to vote by post and it is thought that over 10 million ballot papers were sent out in the 2024 election. Below we show the percentage of postal votes from 1945 (earliest data available) to 2019 (latest data available).
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2024 - click to enlarge
This was NOT a ‘Labour landslide’
The starkest observation to make is clearly that Keir Starmer’s Labour won power based on securing only 20% of the potential votes from the whole electorate. In a massive show of apathy/abstention, over 40% of the electorate were not sufficiently inspired enough to go out and vote. This resulted in Labour winning fewer votes than when the neo-Marxist Jeremy Corbyn was Leader of the party.
Equally, fewer Conservative voters found themselves able to vote for Rishi Sunak, which resulted in his party’s worst defeat by vote share (23.7%) for more than 100 years. As for the potential pool of all eligible voters which was potentially available, they secured just 14.2%.
Coming up in Part II
In Part II of this series on parliamentary democracy we examine the wholly skewed votes and seats distribution between the major parties and in particular its effect on Reform UK. Now that really IS a shocking report...
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Observations
[18 Aug 2025] To our readership who have been loyal to us for years, and who therefore read the above report a year ago, we apologise for repeating it. Unfortunately and at the last minute, we have had to hold a report we had planned for today. As we have also been working on a different report about the state of democracy in the UK, it seems appropriate to replace the report we had planned with this reminder of what we wrote a year ago about the extraordinary election results at the last general election.
Below are our observations from one year ago.
For voter apathy to have increased to the extent it has should be concerning to all politicians, as well as to all those who care about democracy in our country. The turnout in the election in July fell below 60% for only the second time since the First World War.
Some would argue " 'Twas always thus " but this ignores the trend, which continues on a downward path as our chart above shows.
There can of course be many reasons for this but one question must involve the extent of a feeling amongst the public that no matter who they vote for, things will just carry on as before. The alienation now felt by many across the country is palpable and is increasingly visible in our streets. To restore any faith is going to take conviction politicians who take direct action to address the concerns people have on matters like mass immigration, cost of living, cost of Net Zero, and - increasingly - wokery and the erosion of our freedoms.
Please, please help us to carry on our vital work in defence of independence, sovereignty, democracy and freedom by donating today. Thank you.
[ Sources: Election results as reported to Parliament by the Returning Officer for each constituency | House of Commons Library | British Electoral Facts 1832-2006 ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Mon 18 Aug 2025
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