Supply side deficiencies in our parties, parliament, and local government each contribute to our democratic malaise

Explanations for the decline in political disengagement often focus on what can be loosely termed the ‘demand side’, with the electorate seeming to foot the blame of not fully understanding the complexities and limitations of our democratic system, but is this right? Colin Talbot argues that more attention should be paid to the ‘supply side’, particularly the hollowing out of main political parties, our centralised parliamentary system, and the structural changes to local government since the abolition of the committee system.