Can British democracy handle holding the European elections? It seems a strange question, when the traditional problem has been how to interest voters in electing MEPs. Yet these unusual, unanticipated elections are not just a contest between political parties but raise questions about the health of our democracy too. Part of the political polarisation around Brexit involves clashing accounts of what those dangers are.
Is it the failure of parliamentarians to enact the referendum result that risks destroying public trust in democracy? Or is it a backlash against MPs doing their jobs in our representative democracy that is stoking an illiberal authoritarianism? Has the post-referendum climate given expressions of racism and prejudice new oxygen? Or was the lesson of the referendum result that the political classes have been too quick to close down democratic debates about issues of identity and immigration? The questions are many, but the debate about the polarised political climate can conflate several distinct issues: trust in democracy; the drivers of extremism; and how the tone of political discourse influences social norms against prejudice, hate crime or political violence.
What are the limits?
When these issues are contested, it becomes more challenging to identify the essential boundaries for democratic politics – and how to practically protect them during an election campaign. So which boundaries are foundational? Civility towards opponents is valuable but cannot be mandatory. Anger has a place in democratic politics too: voters can vow never to trust a particular party ever again.
