The extent of non-participation in the recent general election should worry us. Almost half the electorate chose not to vote. But as Nesrine Malik says (Hidden behind the celebration of Labour’s ‘landslide’ win is a depressing disfranchisement, 15 July), what must surely be most concerning is that participation has become increasingly concentrated among the middle classes and higher‑income brackets, whereas non-participation was highest in areas with high ethnic minority populations.
She describes an emerging political caste system: “One with a policy base fashioned in the interests of the members of a certain cohort, their votes efficiently distributed, their economic investment in the system connecting them to politics in a way that only increases their ability to shape it in their interests.”
