The 'X' factor – how do we get voters back to the ballot box?

We haven't yet sunk to the level of putting political candidates up for prime-time eviction on TV; for now there appears to be no surefire way of improving on the Heath Robinson method of using a little pencil on a string to put our "X" in a box.

People vote for various reasons: some feel a certain satisfaction from biting back if they think an MP has been rubbish; a fair number say they use the vote to pronounce judgment on the Government or PM. Many simply feel it's their duty.

Around 39 per cent of UK voters didn't bother to turn out in 2005, and the downward trend in turnout is echoed in most rich countries. Why are people so turned off – as they have been increasingly inclined to be in this country since way before the recession and the expenses scandal? Do we increasingly ignore politics because we feel that it doesn't even nod hello to us, never mind stop for a chat?

Some argue that the major political parties now look too similar on too many issues, making the battle simply uninteresting. On closer inspection they'd find that isn't altogether true. However, it doesn't help that the fiery characters who once lent such colour to the debate appear to have largely been replaced by line-toeing clones too easily kept in check by party whips.

When British politics were polarised by Thatcher and Kinnock there was a good deal more meat in the knockabout to entertain us and stimulate discussion around the dinner table. Many disenchanted voters might question why we bother to broadcast proceedings in Parliament when many of the speakers are uninspiring, the chambers are often three-quarters empty and even the alleged theatrical high point of Prime Minister's Questions does little to satisfy because too often it descends into the kind of low level tit-for-tat that's typical of the playground of

a primary school.

Daniel Blythe, the Sheffield-based writer of 10 books as disparate as novels The Cut and This Is The Day, Doctor Who tie-in books, The Encyclopedia of Classic 80s Pop and a guide for new fathers called Dadlands, has felt a certain empathy with other disenchanted voters, having suffered the same disillusionment himself in the past.

With an election on the cards he decided the time was ripe to write a voters' guide – a colourfully written, user-friendly manual that would demystify British politics and perhaps enliven those who don't see politics as anything much to do with their lives. That book is X Marks The Box – How To Make Politics Work For You.

"I was eligible to vote in 1987," says Daniel, who is now 40 and lives with his wife and two young children in Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's constituency of Sheffield Hallam. "I was 18 and I proudly presented myself and my card to vote for the Liberal/SDP Alliance. When I went to university (he read modern languages at Oxford) I sat on committees and joined CND but I became very disillusioned with how people jockeyed for power through student politics.

"In 1992, I was working in Germany and I couldn't even be bothered to get a proxy vote, yet in the constituency where I was registered to vote, the Tories scraped in with a majority of only 21. A few people like me could have made a huge difference. After that I felt very guilty about my apathy."

The kindling of real political interest came about when he moved to South Yorkshire and started working as a writer and creative writing teacher.

Along the way he also became a homeowner, married man and father. "I began to realise that politics is so much more than putting an X in a box every few years.

"I've become involved in the local community forum, joined the (unsuccessful, sadly) campaign to save our local Post Office from closure and got to know local councillors and talked to them about schools and crime in the area. I've also been down to the House of Commons to hear Prime Minister's Questions – but it's wrong to think that politics is just about a bunch of sweaty men in ties arguing with each other.

"The book has come about through frustration with myself and others who say that politics has nothing to do with them. I'm much more

politically engaged now, and one of those annoying people who believe that political change is a good thing. One party coming back into power after a long period in the wilderness and the other party being forced into opposition is healthy for the country because they have to redefine who they are and what they stand for."

For anyone who feels they really don't know where to start or who has got out of the habit of voting after years of feeling powerless in the face of foregone conclusions, Blythe's book might persuade them out of their armchairs. In 181 crisp and humorously written pages he rounds up the essential facts of British politics in the last 20 years, including critical trends, handy facts and figures, summaries of key figures and their contribution, major turning points, and the nuts and bolts of how election campaigns are run.

It also distils the business of tactical voting, answers frequently asked questions and provides a glossary of terms, from "anarchy" to "silent majority", whom Blythe defines as a usually talkative bunch often to be found on radio phone-ins "foaming at the mouth about immigrants, cyclists, benefit scroungers or whatever else has rattled their cage that day..."

The key to getting out the vote is, in his view, the trick of showing voters that almost everything from potholes, education, street lighting, crime and transport to childcare, hospital waiting lists and pollution is political. Also important will be how badly we feel the urge to give the current 650-odd representatives a good spanking for their sins.

Until the day it's difficult to predict whether the expenses scandal has further alienated voters or made them determined to flush out politicians they perceive to have let them down, but pundits are predicting a closely-run race. That in itself, says Blythe, should stir up voters who have felt in previous years that elections were a done deal before polling day and their votes, cast, as most are, in safe constituencies, counted for nothing.

"We're not going to see some big national swing," he says. "I think turnout will go up, and what will hopefully excite people is that there really isn't a landslide on the cards. The Tories would have to be consistently polling 40 per cent to get an overall majority, but they aren't. There's a lot to play for, and the expenses scandal has, I think, really got people thinking again about politics. I like to think a lot more people will, this time, make the effort to look hard and find a party which reflects their views."

If Daniel Blythe has learned one thing about politics he'd share with us all it is this: "If you want politics to work for you, you should do something for politics..."

n X Marks The Box: How To Make Politics Work For You by Daniel Blythe is published on March 4 by Icon, 7.99. To order from the Yorkshire Post Bookshop call 0800 0153232 or online at www.york shirepost book shop. co.uk Postage costs 2.75.

Before the publication date the book can be downloaded in e-reader of pdf format for free from www.xmarksthebox.co.uk

The problem of turnout

The startling fact of the elections in the 2000s has been their low turnout – around 60 per cent, compared to a norm of 75 per cent for most of the post-war period. Labour won both elections with comfortable parliamentary majorities despite, in 2005, winning only 35 per cent of

the popular vote.

The most dramatic general trend has been the decline of the combined vote share of the Labour and Conservative parties from around 90 per cent for most elections between 1945 and 1970 to under 70 per cent in 2005. The proportion of MPs from other parties has risen, but not in line with the proportion of votes.

(Source: Electoral Reform Society

Age differences in turnout were evident in the last election. In general, people under 34 were less likely to vote than those in older groups. This may be linked to young people's attitudes. In 1998, the British Social Attitudes Survey found that a third of those aged 18 to 24 said everyone has an obligation to vote, compared with four-fifths of people aged 65+ . The Young People's Social Attitudes Survey showed political interest among young people was low in 1994 and even lower in 1998 when only one in three teenagers expressed an interest in politics. Teenagers were less likely than older adults to have formed an attachment to a particular political party, and any attachment was influenced by parental affiliations.

(Source: Office For National Statistics)