AS the country heads further down the political rabbit hole, we find ourselves, once again, faced with a general election.

There have already been all manner of reports of alliances and tactical voting arrangements to re-shape the Westminster landscape, with Boris Johnson ruling out a pact with Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, and the Lib Dems ruling out an alliance with anyone.

The question that comes to my mind though, is whether or not any of this will matter if nobody turns out to vote?

In Australia, they have compulsory voting, where it is compulsory for all eligible Australian citizens to enrol and vote in federal elections, by-elections and referendums.

Turnout in this year's federal election was nearly 92 per cent (91.89).

By comparison, the turnout for the UK general election in 2017 was 68 per cent.

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Surely compulsory voting gives a much better picture of what "the will of the people" actually is, since nearly all of the people have voted?

The argument for compulsory voting is that it gives a much greater legitimacy and a much clearer mandate to govern than in a country where voting is not compulsory.

If politicians knew that they had to convince the whole country of their message, rather than just a small, dedicated portion of the country, I would argue they would take it much more seriously and not just pitch to one group of voters while ignoring others.

If voters knew they had to vote for someone, we would have a much wider national debate than just Europe, immigration and the NHS.

We would be talking about wider issues and having a more worthwhile public discussion than we currently have, meaning we would have a much more engaged and informed electorate.

The other advantage to this is that political parties don't have to spend as much money on luring voters to the polls, meaning the role of money in politics substantially decreases, which can only be a good thing.

Taking the money out of politics would increase the quality of our politicians, and make it easier for voters to hold them to account.

It is radical, and will likely never happen in this country, but maybe it just might work.