If there is a big story from the local elections, it will be a collapse of turnout. With councils having been amalgamated into regional authorities, and councillors having no real powers to speak of, democracy at local level has ceased to be. Most people are fully aware that it is a waste of time, especially if you live in a “multicultural” area, where in all likelihood you get an ethnic minority candidate who will only serve the commercial interests of their tribe. Diversity and inclusion doesn’t extend to white working class people.

In that respect there you can see why central government has dismantled local democracy. If it only works in the interests of ethnic “minority” property cartels then it can’t be trusted with power – and if the public can’t be bothered to shape local politics by way of their own participation, then the model is obsolete.

That, though, is a backwards step. Local engagement has declined over decades precisely because local governments have been robbed of their powers. The position of councillor carriers no real gravitas or influence and local government is closer to a regional development quango with strict controls on how they can spend their own money. It’s barely worth anyone’s time to become a councillor. Overpaid council CEOs are making the big decisions.

If our democracy were functioning as it should the real power in politics would be local. Turnouts would be lower for national elections. But Britain has long since stopped being a democracy. We go through the motions of our legacy voting rituals but it doesn’t mean anything. This is especially true of general elections where Brexit has been the only issue in forty years the public have been allowed to influence. Now that Brexit is notionally “done”, politics is back to being a closed shop.

Above all the immigration issue demonstrates the futility of democratic participation. This government was elected with an unequivocal mandate to act on immigration yet it refuses to do so. The Home Office is a dysfunctional mess and the numbers of illegal immigrants removed are falling each year. Immigration is out of control and we are losing our cities to alien cultures.

We were told that mass immigration would make a for a “melting pot” of different cultures and ideas. But that hasn’t happened. Local urban politics is ethnic tribes competing for dominance over state handouts and subsidies. It’s already the case in Labour areas that a parliamentary candidate’s views on “Palestine” and Kashmir are more likely to swing a vote than their views on local health, education or policing.

The Tories are no better on that score. Having seen how effective ethnic minority pandering is for urban marginal seats, the Tories are now increasing immigration from India to tip the balance back in their favour. The Tory party is more answerable to Indian businessmen than it is to its own members.

When it comes to matters of major local concern, nothing better illustrates the total absence of democracy than the proposed asylum reception centre at Linton on Ouse. Absolutely nobody wants it and parents are frightened for their children, for whom it will no longer be safe even to walk home from school. Local residents were the last to find out about the facility and have been told that the site will go a

head despite local objections. Our voices don’t matter. Our votes are useless.

The same is true of Net Zero, where the government intends to force us to abandon our petrol cars and gas boilers at our own expense. Households that refuse to install heat pumps could see their properties fall in value under a Government review. A “root and branch” review of how Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are calculated will boost the scores of households that use heat pumps, remote-controlled thermostats and other eco inventions backed by ministers. Those who do not adopt “green” technology in their homes will receive a lower score, which can reduce the value of a property or make it more difficult to rent out – further exacerbating the housing crisis.

This, in effect, is an administrative fine, without going through due process, the “penalty” being imposed for non-compliance with government policy.

The real question is how long this country can withstand the absence of democracy. For the moment there is a high level of tolerance, though god knows why. But people’s tolerance will be replaced by apathy and anger, and slowly there’ll be an incremental increase in violence and civil disobedience.

This will be largely ignored by the media, and completely by the political classes, except where it directly impinges on their personal safety. Hence, nothing will change in the short-to medium-term. But years down the line we will drift into a low-grade civil war than no-one admits to existing. Rival ethnic gangs will openly fight each other in the streets and the police, hamstrung by political agendas and wokery, will be unable to restore order. This is already the case in Sweden.

In recent years the brakes have been taken off and all of our immigration controls have gradually been dismantled. Integration isn’t happening and we already have two tier policing. One law for the natives, another for immigrant communities. The notion that we are all equal in the eyes of the law has been replaced by an hierarchy of identities – and one that is intrinsically racist as migrants are held to a lower standard.

I don’t know if Britain can be saved from its fate. With a demoralised and disengaged electorate and a voting system that stacks the deck in favour of the establishment, and personal consequences for speaking frankly, it looks like things have to get far worse before they get better. Brits will do anything for a quiet life, and don’t want the hassle of confrontation and arguments. It’s why we put up with more than we should. But a time is coming when silence and inaction isn’t an option. But will it be too late?

Just lately, in the wake of David Amess’s murder, politicians have climbed aboard the online safety bandwagon. They concluded that the threat to their safety comes from hurty tweets and not feral Islamist immigrants. When it comes to it, politicians think the problem is people talking about the problem. They don’t have the guts to take on the central problem so they instead look to insulate themselves from the consequences of mass immigration, and distance themselves from their constituents who might have something to say about it.

Consequently politicians are even less likely to understand what is happening on their own patch. They don’t know what’s going on and they don’t want to – thus parliament spends more time talking about itself than the issues that matter to the public. This week the newspapers have had more to say about Angela Rayner’s minge than the looming threat of nuclear war. The lecherous and drunken behaviour of our politicians takes precedence over a mass invasion of illegal immigrants, while the PM diverts attention by fire-hosing Ukraine with our money.

Now that summer is setting in, we have a short reprieve from skyrocketing energy bills, but the calmer weather will expose the Tory asylum plan for the utter fraud it is and by winter, the mood of the country will darken. The Tories can no longer shrug and say “at least we’re not Labour” because there is no longer any meaningful difference. If you thought Brexit was divisive, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Politics is going to get nasty.