Electoral Reform

I’m foncused! I’m not sure what I want any more.
The country seems all topsy turvy at the moment which, in a way, is rather stimulating and exciting but at the same time it is unsettling, unnerving and full of trepidation.

My ideal politics and my perfect socially just scenarios were not available in this election. There was no manifesto that matched with my expectations for society but then again, there probably hasn’t been for many a year. There always has to be a compromise. There always has to be a ‘near match’. That is what the electorate have to do when they go into the polling booth and place their ‘x’ in the appropriate or inappropriate box. They tend to vote for the party that most closely matches their views, or sadly, matches the views that have been dripped into them by the Murdoch and Barclay papers.

There are very few people in this world who agree totally with every piece of legislation and every suggestion from the party that they vote for. In 1997, there were fundamental sections within the Labour Party proposals that I totally disagreed with but on the whole, the manifesto (which I did actually read) was in line with what I wanted. And of course, like many people, I had this overwhelming feeling of hope. I, like many people, thought that the first term of a Labour government would tread wearily but once a second mandate had been achieved, they would drive full throttle into the sort of social change that was expected of a Labour government.

There’s little point in reiterating the disappointment that has since ensued. People with far greater writing ability than me have commented over the last decade on this. It is a fact of history and it is time to move on.

What we have now is an absolute that our electoral system is laughable.
We have a situation, once more, where the majority of the population has voted against the party with the greatest amount of Commons seats, and that is without the additional 30, 40 or 50% of people who did not vote in their constituency. That, in itself, is not new. Even in 1997, when Labour won 43% of the popular vote, 31% voted Tory and 17% voted Liberal – and let us not forget this!

We have the paradox of a Liberal Democrat party who have fared far worse than some had predicted yet have more power in their hands for doing so.
It is time for Nick Clegg to make some fundamental decisions and stick to his principles on the reforms to the system that is so vitally required.

There is a hypocrisy from Labour that I find quite abhorrent. Whilst they were commanding huge majorities in the House of Commons, like the Tories before them, they did not want to meddle with this so-called democracy by offering proportional representation or even the watered down version of single transferable vote. It did not suit their needs. It would not keep them in power and they would have to consider the needs of the smaller parties with their views and their requirements.
To start banging on about PR now is painfully opportunist when they have had thirteen years in power to make the sort of amendments that the electorate seem to be demanding.

However, as I said before, that is history and whilst I would be the first to advocate the study of the subject (though not in the way that Michael Gove is suggesting), we have to move on. We can use the information from history to inform us of why there is a moral duty for all parties to look at the bleeding statistics and see how very wrong the first past the post system is.
We can look at the present to see how very wrong the system is. The current situation is hardly an advert for FPTP and strong government.

Whilst it is demonstrating something entirely different, it is an interesting analogy to look at the two electoral maps that the BBC used the other night. The first map showed an almost entirety of blue in England if you looked at geographical distribution. When it was transformed into the hexagonal evenness of equal size per constituency, it showed completely different colour coverage.
This would be even more colourful under PR. People need to look at the stark picture in front of them.

One of the key aspects of democracy for me is that an election should not be about a single issue. Another paradox from this election!
This time it really is about one issue. We need change. We need reform. In order to deal with the other important issues, this is the single issue that has to be altered. If real democracy is going to be the winner, there has to be a system for proper debate about the economy, about education, about society – big or small. The problem with strong government as advocates of FPTP continually bang on about is that on some occasions the largest party are invincible, which means that they can almost work in an autocracy. That’s what happened with Thatcher and that is what happened with Blair. Whatever the other side was opposing, there was an utter futility in even opening your mouth. Laws were going to be passed irrespective of proper debate. Maybe that is why Tony felt he had the right to drag us into an illegal war with all the hundreds and thousands of fatalities therewith.
That sort of absolutism cannot be good for the country; it cannot be good for debate and cannot be good for democracy.

I am now, having been a Labour party follower all of my life, thinking that I don’t want to “belong” any longer. I no longer “belong” anywhere other than holding a fundamental belief in the need for a more equal society. I want to get the Tories, Labour (notice I have deliberately dropped the Nu throughout this blog, pressing the point of hope!), the Liberals and anyone else who wants to join to debate around a table to talk about the issue, without the need for whips or media telling them what to think. Oh and it would be rather good to get some specialists there too. This is what a democracy should look like.

Take education for instance. There is sadly whole party consensus on testing, though I think branches of each party could have their supporters for progressive education. Only the Green Party had a statement in their manifesto about scrapping the tests. However, Scotland and Wales have opted for a more progressive form of assessment. Therefore, the round table should include all parties, experts from a range of educational establishments and not just the Institute of Education with additional educationalists from our Celtic siblings who can come and explain how and why it works. The same could be done for health, crime, the works.
An all party discussion on economics would mean that there would be strength in numbers, excuse the pun. Consensus or certainly majority could be agreed and with expert consultation, action could take place with all knowing they had had their say. Simple really.

Liberty, equality and fraternity are the new black; no need for red or blue or yellow or rainbows.

Politics is no different from anything else in society. Times are a-changing. The expected way of things is not now appropriate. Anachronistic systems are meaningless. Change is coming. 2012.

So where are we now on this cold Sunday morning at the start of May?
Essentially, we are reliant on a group of men leading a singular man on making a decision about how far he can be placated.
Maybe Clegg should do what the rest of us do each time we enter into the ballot booth. We consider, we think, we rationalise and hopefully, we go and vote for the party that we instinctually believe will bring the majority of what we believe in to fruition, even if there are slight compromises along the way. We can argue against those cases later but we cannot argue if we are not given the proper mandate or systems to enable us to do so.

I, like many, am now putting my faith in the resilience and determination of one man to stand resolutely for what he believes in. Any form of compromise on this vital issue will be nothing less than fatal.
If he chooses to compromise on Cameron’s promise for a referendum, he would be behaving hopelessly naively. Unless he gets a written contract from Cameron stating an absolute guarantee that there would not be another general election before electoral reform, referendum and implementation, he should not make any compromises at all. If he wants a further reminder, he should pick up the Observer today and see what William Hague has in line for foreign policy on Europe. It is an alien planet journey away from what the majority of Liberal Democrats and the hidden socialists believe is best for this country. If he still is unsure of whether he wants to get into bed with Cameron and crew, maybe he should really look at the mansion tax and why he wanted it there in the first place. The Tories will always want to protect the wealth of the few. That is a fact and it is a realm away from the type of democratic justice and equality that the Liberal Party has always stood for.
If he wants further support, he should look back in history to the Whigs and their commitment to the poor and impoverished of the land, and they were somewhat more purple than orange in those days. They were the elite with a conscience.

And if he is still undecided, he should just have a little chat with Michael Gove and George Osborne to see what he has in common with them other than a privileged and, in my opinion, deeply flawed education.

There are commentators throughout the land, professional and bloggers, who are making their comments. I profess to no great insight or thoughts. I may even be borrowing the thoughts of other unbeknown but I do feel that there is a real sense of hope. If Clegg is stupid enough to play along with the ambitions of NewCons, then I will be disappointed but will hold high hopes for an election in 2012 at the latest, when the Tory government has come forward in its true colours and pissed the nation off once more.

As for the Labour party – well, we shall see. Getting it back to the views of the mass of support within would be a good start. Maybe as disaffected followers, we should join the party to guide and direct the type of change that we want. But then again, maybe the time for party allegiance is over. Maybe, this is the time to consider themes and issues before towing a party line.
Gordon has to go. We do not want the Tories throwing the comment about an unelected Prime Minister once more, so this has got to be carefully managed.

If Clegg decides he cannot work with Cameron, then he should walk towards Millbank and have a chat with people there but one condition is going have to be the carefully placed comment from Clegg that he could not work with Gordon Brown. There has to be an immediate change or a promise of change from within Labour.
My suggestion has been echoed by many that Gordon should stay in charge for the next four to six months, remembering that much of this will be summer recess.
He should offer a summer referendum on PR with the view to their being a new election either in the autumn if that is feasible or early in 2011. In the meantime, he should remain where he is until a new leader of the party is elected democratically through conference. At that point, he should pack his bags and go, hopefully having done something successful and therefore prevented him from permanently carrying the label of the most useless Prime Minister ever, which is a little unfair when you consider all the Tory nightmares we have had over the years.

It makes you think also about fixed terms and the time between electing an American President and his (or her eventually) inauguration. Nobody questions the time between November and January as far as the markets are concerned. Perhaps we should be doing the same. We wouldn’t be in the position of trying to rush agreement through to satisfy the markets if there was a predetermined process whereby the departing PM remained in Downing Street for a month regardless of whether he lost the election or not. Perhaps this is not ideal but it is worth consideration.

So the foncused remains confused but probably not as much as she thought.
There’s still ideals, there’s still vision, there’s still values that hold as true today as they did last week. There is still a need for hope and a determination for change.

I, like others, sit and wait.