These people begin to feel disenfranchised and disassociated from an unrepresentative political system, 'so voting for it is tacit complicité' (Brand, 2013) The recent Scottish independence referendum has shown us that when the electorate feel engaged with an issue they will come out to vote, according to organisers a record 3
6 million (Newsbeat, 2014) voted. 'A turnout of 86 per cent is one of the highest in the democratic world for any election or any referendum in history' (Salmond, 2014). A very simple question was asked, and Scotland spoke (86% of them anyway) they chose to stay part of the union. This can be seen as a good example of direct democracy as such a large number of the electorate came out to have their say. .
With party membership at an all-time low and a larger number than ever before turning to single issue pressure groups to have their voice heard, whether insider or outsider pressure groups are a lot more engaging with their demographics than any political party currently operating in the UK, for example the RSPB has over a million members (RSPB, 2013) in contrast with the three main political parties current paid membership of 270,000 combined (Keen, 2014), it is quite apparent from the figures that the people feel disassociated from party politics but are still willing to seek political participation elsewhere. This is where pressure groups really speak to the people as many are formed based on a single issue that a small group feel strongly about, Greenpeace now with a membership of 2.8 million worldwide (Greenpeace, 2012) is an example of one such group. This again illustrates, issues that are important to people are widely supported. .
Voter turnout figures show that 18-24 year olds are the demographic that feel most disassociated with the British political system, with only 44% exercising their right to vote compared with 76% of 65+ year olds.
