When it comes to politics, it seems people are voting with their feet and not at the ballot box.

It is striking that even when Labour swept to power in the 1997 general election, the turnout of 71.4% was a new post-war low. But no one could predict the extent to which it would slump further.

Turnout hit its nadir in 2001, when only 59.4% bothered to vote - the lowest since 1918, which was before women were given the vote.

In concrete terms, this meant that 5m fewer voters went to the polls in 2001 than four years previously. It also meant there were more non-Labour voters than Labour voters.

For instance, in the safe Labour constituency of Liverpool River, a mere 34.5% of the electorate, the lowest in the UK, exercised their right to vote.

The Electoral Commission, set up to oversee the elections in 2001, has said that voter abstention is the key challenge facing the UK's political system and leaders. Voter apathy raises questions of legitimacy at the heart of democracy.

Until now, the government has not traditionally run voter education campaigns designed simply to encourage voter turnout; their focus has mainly been registration and the wider availability of postal voting.

Foregone conclusion?

The Commission has listed reasons for the decline. These include the nature of the competition between the parties. Also, many voters feel that they cannot make a difference to the election outcome. Others say it is also partly down to a lessening feeling of civic duty.

The Commission says turnout is strongest when voters feel they can make a difference, not when the result seems a foregone conclusion. Statistically there is low turnout among younger people and ethnic minorities.

But could it be something more? The Hansard Society has suggested the low turnout was not just down to apathy but due to a widespread conscious decision not to vote. It added that people are not less interested in politics nowadays but feel less well informed and connected to the political process.

Devolution may have also been a factor. Turnout fell in Scotland, and Wales but increased in Northern Ireland, which had the highest turnout of the home countries, even though it had the lowest in 1997.

Voters were most apathetic in the North West and London with the North West and Scotland having the largest falls. Winchester at 72.3% was the constituency with the highest turnout.

Low voter turnout tends to occur in areas of above average unemployment, below-average incomes and higher levels of economic inactivity. These tend to be solid Labour seats but abstention tends to favour the party in power.

After the last election, Labour tried to spin it as the politics of contentment, pointing to the Tories' inability to mount an effective opposition. It still served as a painful reminder that there is a lack of engagement with voters and raising questions about Labour's mandate.