Andy Burnham's first week as prime minister has been marked by a flurry of early announcements — but the fledgling administration is already being pressed on a question that could reshape British democracy: should voting be compulsory?
Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister who returned to cabinet this week as housing secretary, set the tone on Friday, telling the BBC's Today programme: "We are on borrowed time if we don't get a move on."
“Compulsory voting amendments loom as Burnham's first week sees electoral reform bill postponed.”
Burnham's team has been seeking to find its feet while making a decent first impression. An early pattern emerged: daily nuggets of policy from No 10. On Tuesday, a VAT cut on electricity bills; on Wednesday, bus fares in England; on Thursday, business rates. But the prime minister's broader ambition — a "10-year plan for Britain" — has been promised for later this year.
Meanwhile, the third reading of the Representation of the People Bill, which would lower the voting age to 16 and tighten campaign finance rules, has been postponed until after parliament's summer recess. That has prompted speculation that Burnham might push the legislation further. Top of the amendment list is a call for a national commission on electoral reform, backed by nearly a third of MPs. Less popular but more intriguing are two amendments from Labour MPs Antonia Bance and Bell Ribeiro-Addy on introducing a "compulsory duty to vote."
The case for compulsion draws on international comparisons. Around 20 countries have some form of compulsory voting; Australia, which introduced the rule in 1924, now enjoys turnout rates of 90 per cent. In contrast, turnout for the 2024 UK general election was below 60 per cent — the Institute for Public Policy Research estimates it falls to 53 per cent when people who are eligible but not registered are included.
Those staying away are not distributed evenly. According to the Constitutional Society's 2025 report "Universal Suffrage?", turnout in 2024 was significantly higher among voters who were white (by 13 percentage points), wealthy (22), older (34) and outright homeowners (36), compared with their ethnic minority, poor, younger and renting counterparts. As the report puts it, low and unequal turnout "warps the incentives of the political class, and contributes to skewed, inequitable and ineffectual policymaking… undermining political trust."
This is a particular issue for the left, because progressive agendas require higher turnout. The Australian budget in May introduced tax changes to make property less attractive to investors and to cool the housing market — the kind of policy that only flies politically if wealthy homeowners don't dominate the electorate. Even some on the right accept the arguments, including the former Tory chancellor Jeremy H... (the text cuts off).
Burnham himself has been more focused on how he governs. He claims his new base in Manchester, No 10 North, represents the beginning of "the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen" and will bring "the biggest changes in the last 40 years." His early announcements have been considerably more piecemeal than that, but he has created an Office of Prime Minister and made clear that the arteries of power flow to and from him. His opponents are recalibrating: the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch gave an al fresco speech on a rooftop in central London on Thursday, teasing Burnham's informal style.
Whether Burnham will take up the compulsory voting question remains unclear. But with electoral reform back on the agenda and his administration still finding its feet, the pressure is mounting to answer Churchill's old challenge about the little man walking into the polling booth — or not.