19 November 2012 — Unlock Democracy
It’s official: last Thursday’s elections for the Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England and Wales had the lowest turnout of any nationwide election since 1945.
This was widely predicted: the only thing critics of these plans got wrong was that it ended up being even lower than even they were expecting. The government are already attempting to belittle this and try to move on: it’s crucial we force them to take action. Will you add your name to the 4,000+ other people who have signed our open letter demanding Home Secretary Theresa May takes action?
Turnout across England and Wales varied from 11.6% in Staffordshire to a high of 20% in Northamptonshire, where the high profile by-election in Corby was being held on the same day. The number of spoiled ballot papers was also unusually high.
As an organisation, we have been concerned about the current form of elected police and crime commissioners, and the outrage over the PCC elections and the resultant lack of democratic engagement has concerned us gravely. We don’t want to see this situation ever again.
We can’t let the government try to spin these elections as anything but a catastrophe. In this narrow window of time, we need to tell them we won’t stand for this and they must seek out an alternative. We’ll be handing in the letter to Ms May early next week, so please add your name by Friday 23rd November.
Many thanks,
Peter Facey
Director, Unlock Democracy
The New Dark Age 