This shows that a reduction in participation of a specific age group, as well as overall, is a cause for concern and sequentially many would say that due to the smallness of these voting figures compared to 100 percent of the whole enfranchised population, the UK suffers from a participation crisis to a rather large extent as people are simply choosing not to get involved in voting. .
However, just because there has been a lack of political contribution in traditional terms, it does not mean that there has been one in other terms, such as social movements. These have newly emerged, for example feminism and environmentalism have become significant movements in society. Although there is no single feminist or environmentalist party, their ideas are widely spread and supported by many individuals and have in some instances been taken on and championed by the traditional parties. One substantial example of this is the evolvement of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) rights in the UK due to the LGBT social movement. Since the turn of the 21st century, LGBT rights have increasingly strengthened in support and discrimination protections now exist for LGBT people in the Equality Act 2010 as well as legislation having been passed for same-sex marriage in England and Wales in July 2013. This demonstrates how the people's participation in a social movement has directly affected politics; they campaigned for and desired for more LGBT rights and were granted them. It can be said that just because people are not participating in politics in the most traditional of ways, the general election, that does not mean that they are not participating in politics. Citizens of the UK have recently chosen to take matters into their own hands and made movements on issues they think are important, even if the main parties are not addressing them. So they are still engaging in politics, in an albeit unconventional way, meaning that the UK is not suffering from a participation crisis to much of a great extent.
