The extent to which there is a ‘democratic deficit’ in the UK can be argued to varying degrees of accuracy. A democratic deficit would be when a democratic institution, such as the UK Government or in the courts of the UK, breaks or falls short of its democratic principles in their principles. An example of democratic deficit in the UK is when In parts of London, Sheffield, Manchester and Birmingham, thousands of would-be voters had to stand in line for hours only to be turned away as election volunteers locked the doors of polling stations before they had a chance to cast their ballots. However, the UK government as a whole fulfills most of its democratic principles as it allows freedom of speech, religion, assembly and the press.
It can be argued that there is a democratic deficit in the Court system in the UK as judges aren’t elected by the people. It can be argued that unelected judges are making important decisions on social policies without any kind of democratic mandate, particularly in controversial human rights cases. It can also be argued that the electoral system in the UK has a democratic deficit as FPTP or First Past The Post eventually will always result in a two-party system, which arguably isn’t democratic as not everyone is represented. This problem also effects peoples vote as people are forced to vote otherwise as their vote won’t count for much if they vote for a party that won’t many votes in other areas of the country. It can be said that this is a democratic deficiency as it results in an unfair election.
However, even though voting system created an unequal two-party system, the Government did try to rectify this by putting forward a referendum to the public that asked whether they should change the voting system, the answer was no. Therefore the Government cannot be blamed for having a democratic deficit in this field as they tried to change but listened to their people, arguably being even more democratic in the process, thus reducing any democratic deficit that might exist. The UK also maintains the four pillars of democracy being the freedom of speech, religion, assembly and the press, therefore lessening the extent as to which the UK has a democratic deficit.
Overall the extent to which the UK has a democratic deficit is rather lessened to fact that the Government tries as hard as it can to try and reduce this, namely by attempting to get rid of a flawed and arguably undemocratic voting system, maintaining the four pillars of democracy and pointing out that judges aren’t voting in. However it can be argued that there is a democratic deficit as the judges still aren’t voted in and the voting system in the UK is democratically flawed.