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Turnout for Britain’s general election next week is predicted to be spectacularly low. Would online voting change that? Stephan Shakespeare thinks so. He reckons that the Internet could revolutionise politics. Shakespeare stood as a Conservative candidate in the election four years ago and ran Lord Archer’s abortive campaign for London mayor last year, but he insists his campaign is non-partisan. His website, YouGov.com, is the first in Britain to promote political debate between voters and government. And as he told Michael Bond, it also makes a tidy profit.

Surely Britain’s political system is designed to empower people. How can the…

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