BRITAIN is close to a democratic “tipping point” as election turnout plummets, a top think tank has warned.

The centrist Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), regarded as close to the Starmer government, issued a report pointing out that participation is falling fastest among working-class voters.

The IPPR’s analysis found that a turnout gap is growing along class lines.

The difference between the university-educated and the rest has grown to 11 per cent, while that between homeowners and renters is an enormous 19 per cent.

There is also an enormous age difference in voting, with over-60s’ turnout 21 per cent higher than among 18- to 24-year-olds.

The IPPR is proposing a new election law, including a cap on election donations at £1 million, a clampdown on foreign money, automatic voter registration and votes for 16-year-olds.

It is also urging a shift to weekend voting and scrapping Tory-introduced voter identification laws, and it suggests introducing a civic duty to run polling stations on election day.

But the IPPR declined to prioritise a shift to proportional representation, which would make all votes count, on the grounds that the Labour government has made clear it opposes electoral reform, perhaps unsurprisingly since it enjoys a huge Commons majority on barely a third of the vote.

This is despite a Commons vote in favour of proportional representation and it being agreed Labour conference policy.

The research further highlights gaps in voter registration. Eighty-one per cent of working-class households are registered to vote, as against 89 per cent of middle-class homes, while just 72 per cent of black or ethnic minority people are registered, as against 87 per cent of white people.

And it points out that around five million tax-paying adults resident in Britain do not have the right to vote at present, because they are not citizens. They should be considered for enfranchisement, it said.

Parth Patel, an associate director at IPPR, said: “We are close to the tipping point at which elections begin to lose legitimacy because the majority do not take part. That should be ringing more alarm bells than it is.”

And report co-author Ryan Swift said: “The widening turnout gaps between renters and homeowners, and graduates and non-graduates, highlight a glaring blind spot in tackling political inequality.”

The call for a change to funding rules comes as there are fears that US billionaire Elon Musk could be on the point of turbo-charging hard-right Reform UK with a mega-donation, permissible under current legislation.