Britons are giving up on the ballot box, with fewer than one-third as many young people registering to vote as this time last year.

It might be said that this is because the May elections are just locals, which always attract a lower turnout, but it could be an indicator of a worse malaise.

Data has revealed that voter registration among under-25s is a fraction of what it was in April 2024: according to pressure group Unlock Democracy, just over 50,000 young people have applied to register to vote for the 2025 local elections – a sharp decline from nearly 160,000 applications in the same period last year.

And the under-25s aren’t alone—registration figures have dropped across all age groups. Total daily applications are down by more than half, pointing to a broader disengagement.

Some of this could be attributed to the elections being held in fewer areas this year, but campaigners believe there’s more at play – we may be witnessing the slow erosion of our democratic infrastructure.

Young people—often transient, often dealing with housing insecurity, and increasingly disillusioned—are disproportionately affected.

And with the added hurdle of mandatory voter ID, those already on the margins are being pushed out further.

The Electoral Commission has acknowledged that those most likely to lack valid ID include the poor, the young, disabled people, people of colour, and LGBTQ+ individuals.

Is this just an administrative oversight? Or is it the deliberate narrowing of the democratic field?

A silent retreat from enfranchisement

It’s hard not to see this as a betrayal of the Labour tradition.

The party that once stood as a bulwark for working-class rights, for broad enfranchisement, for progress, now appears to be watching silently—or even complicitly—as participation in democracy falters.

Where is the plan to repeal voter ID laws? Where is the rallying cry to restore access to the ballot box?

Keir Hardie, who fought tirelessly to bring working people into the democratic fold, would no doubt be dismayed at today’s Labour Party.

The Hardie-era Labour movement was about giving voice to the voiceless. In contrast, today’s leadership seems increasingly comfortable with the quiet disenfranchisement of those who might challenge the status quo.

When fewer people vote, it’s those already in power who benefit.

The disengaged are often those who might vote for change, while those most likely to approve of the current system remain active. This suits a Labour Party more focused on stability – or at least on hanging onto power – than transformation.

What needs to change?

Unlock Democracy is calling for automatic voter registration – a simple reform that could make a profound difference.

Using existing government data, eligible voters could be enrolled without the burden of individual applications. It already happens in other democracies, and it works.

But there also needs to be a political will to restore trust in democracy.

That means scrapping voter ID laws.

That means a serious national conversation about voter engagement.

And it means a Labour Party that remembers its roots—not just as a party of government, but as a movement for democratic empowerment.

Because if young people are giving up on democracy, it’s not because they don’t care.

It’s because they feel democracy has given up on them.

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