Mores.blog

“Votes at 16 is the most debated bit of today’s electoral reforms but the least significant in its effects.” Discuss.

Votes at 16 feels like window dressing for a Government that made a big deal of wanting to 'deliver change', has spent much of their first year consolidating the status quo and is now scrambling around for concrete 'changes' that they can point to.

More effective reforms could be: electoral system reform; properly regulating campaign finance; none of the above voting option; further democratisation of internal party politics; or considering changes to how we make policy decisions in the UK.

And B) the issue with significant levels of political apathy is not the UK’s current extent of suffrage but perhaps more fundamental and wider questions around the voting options that are available to voters and the wider prism that these options sit inside.

There is also the issue that this is simply aiming at the wrong target.

A) there are probably better means to engage 16/17 year olds politically than simply voting;

Votes At 16: Unnecessary And Illogical? Keir Starmer’s Labour party has been derided by some for its lack of ambition when it comes to delivering social and economic change; while some have doubted this, it is harder …

Back in July 2024, we wrote a blog on the move to lower the voting age.

Starmer's argument that these people work and pay taxes and therefore should vote, is not a strong enough reason to lower the age - there are plenty people in the UK who can do this but cant vote.

mores.blog/2024/07/04/v...

Voting age to be lowered to 16 in UK by next general election 16- and 17-year-olds will be able to vote in all elections as part of changes including easier voter registration and crackdown on foreign interference

Just over a year on from the 2024 GE and the Government has moved to fulfil their manifesto pledge on lowering the voting age to 16.

Ultimately this change is an insignificant step in overturning widespread apathy in the UK's political and economic system.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

and subsequently very impactful on the lives of citizens, are able to speak publicly and transparently about the very policies that impact all facets of a citizens live.

Citizens need this exposure to civil servants - without this, this will simply allow misinformation around policy development.

Not sure the recent private instruction from the Government to dissuade civil servants from speaking publicly will really help anything.

If we are to improve trust and transparency in Government and Policy, it is vital that civil servants, who are vital in these decisions...

We need to rethink what democracy looks like in the UK's political and economic system, to put citizens at the heart of these systems, to promote engagement and citizen-centric policy.

Perhaps this requires an entire rethink of the UK's Westminster Model.

Without this, we will simply compound the inherent short termism in the UK's political and economic system and continue to disenchant voters, who may eventually turn against some of the underlying principles of democracy.

While voters and parties will differ massively on what reform of the UK's political and economic system ought to encapsulate, we need to at least begin with a recognition that the current system needs reform.

put the 'put the interests of the nation above those of their own party just about always or most of the time'. Further to this sense of apathy, following the 2024 GE, only 19% 'think the system of governing Britain needs little or no improvement'.

This year's survey reconfirms a feeling that the UK system does not serve the interests of citizens: 26% are 'struggling on their current income'; 59% are 'dissatisfied with the health service'; 53% are dissatisfied with social care.

Meanwhile, on democracy, only 12% trust politicians to..

British Social Attitudes | National Centre for Social Research Every year the British Social Attitudes survey asks a representative sample of the population what it's like to live in Britain.

The newest edition of the British Social Attitudes Survey has been published by the National Centre for Social Research

In sum, this year's edition largely reasserts the trend of dissatisfaction and apathy with the UK's political and economic system🔽

natcen.ac.uk/british-soci...

Our full article on the welfare cuts and how they demonstrate that the focus on deliverism rather than a underlying political and moral philosophy will only continue to undermine the Government, can be found here:

mores.blog/2025/03/28/w...

The same issue is at hand in the Government's plans to pursue airport expansion and the plethora of real terms in the Spending Review.

Without a reckoning with what they want their underlying philosophy to be, the Government will just continue to make these mistakes.

As the Government faces a large rebellion from 80+ of its own MPs re the welfare cuts, it's worth remembering how we got here.

March 2025, we wrote about how the cuts demonstrate Labour's vision problem - they are allowing themselves to be governed by ‘deliverism’ rather than a moral philosophy

Whatever you think about Palestine Action's tactics, I'm not 100% sure ministers have entirely thought through the decision to label them a terrorist organisation. From now, if I was to say here, "I support PA and their campaigns", I could in theory be jailed, with a maximum sentence of 14 years.

For Mores, the rationale for assisted dying is quite intuitive: we trust people to be the authors of their life, to choose the jobs and relationships they pursue - the same should stand for their death.

We should not lose sight of this underlying moral argument in the debate around the Bill.

Today's vote to send the assisted dying Bill to the House of Lords is an important landmark for UK politics.

The process is far from over but this vote signifies a move towards policy orientated around individual autonomy that trusts people to be the authors of their lives and their death.

In Praise of Kim Leadbeater The Labour MP has provided a vision of what politics can be: practical, empathetic, consensual and rational.

In Praise of Kim Leadbeater

Regardless of how today's vote goes, she has shown us a politics of compromise, compassion and decency. We should treat it as proof of concept for a better kind of politics.

iandunt.substack.com/p/in-praise-...

This is definitely interesting following this post from Peter Walker regarding Reform's actions in their newly acquired councils.

Definitely raises a few questions about whether representative democracy and strong party politics risks undermining localism in devolution

bsky.app/profile/pete...

ICYMI

We wrote about the Local Elections and how maybe it is time to rethink devolution to ensure that localism becomes a force in and of itself - not just a byproduct of national politics...

How Our Politicians Created an ‘Island of Strangers’ So They Don’t Have to Make Our Lives Any Better By presenting tougher immigration as a solution to people’s discontent, Keir Starmer and others sidestep the real reasons why people feel estranged in their lives – it’s a cynical and simplistic polit...

"Doing nothing about the real issues behind people's struggles, politicians like Starmer create & trap us on an 'island of strangers' – a place not only of 'alien foreigners' but of Brits alienated from themselves & a political system of no use"

My long read on how complexity/humanity is missing 👇

The UK’s 2025 Local Elections – Time To Rethink Devolution? Many commentators have dubbed the recent Local Elections in the UK as a watershed moment. Reform UK and Liberal Democrats beat the two traditional main parties, the Labour Party and the Conservatives, to first and second place with both taking control of several county councils and unitary authorities. Meanwhile, of the 6 Mayoral elections, Reform UK took impressive victories in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull & East Yorkshire to defeat the Conservatives and Labour Party.

Our new blog covers the recent local elections in the UK but in a different light.

It asks whether the stream of hot takes from the local elections speak to the fact that devolution in the UK has failed to cement localism as a force in and of itself.

The UK’s Racist Riots Of Summer 2024 – Call It What It Is The UK has been gripped over the last week by increasing unrest following the tragic murder of three children in Southport last week. Yet, as usually goes with civil disobedience and the far-right …

This speaks to the core argument from our blog on the riots last year.

Specifically, that preventing these riots begins with political actors leading an repudiation of the values and attitudes that inform these far-right rioters, not just their violent action.

mores.blog/2024/08/06/c...

Responding to the 2024 Racist Riots - Race Equality Foundation PROJECT Responding to the 2024 Racist Riots A sector-wide initiative focused on confronting the root causes of the August 2024 racist riots and establishing long-term strategies for violence pre...

Really thought provoking report published this week by the Race Equality Foundation on last year's racist riots in August that laments the Government's failure to recognise the true scale and underlying causes of the violence.

raceequalityfoundation.org.uk/projects/res...

The UK’s Racist Riots Of Summer 2024 – Call It What It Is The UK has been gripped over the last week by increasing unrest following the tragic murder of three children in Southport last week. Yet, as usually goes with civil disobedience and the far-right …

This speaks to the core argument from our blog on the riots last year.

Specifically, that preventing these riots begins with political actors leading an repudiation of the values and attitudes that inform these far-right rioters, not just their violent action.

mores.blog/2024/08/06/c...

This brings us to the Government's move to ban disposable vapes and regulate the advertising of vaping.

It's not the first public health measure in public policy and it won't be the last. Interestingly, it reveals the Government's conception of whose autonomy matters and what autonomy is.