The UK: The evidence for radical electoral reform

A difficult poll

Even the mother of all parliaments and one of the world’s oldest democracies is fraught with problems, issues and irregularities.

Yesterday, the citizens of United Kingdom of Northern Ireland and Great Britain went to the polls to elect representatives for their parliament called the House of Commons, however, the people did not give a clear majority mandate to any one political party and with that comes what is know as a hung parliament.

Sadly, there are people who did not get to vote because of the poor logistics of not anticipating the possible turnout such that there were long queues and polls had to close at 22:00 hours leaving hundreds disenfranchised.

Certain councils catered for students quite differently from residents even though all were selecting representatives whose work would affect them locally and nationally – there is no doubt that the system is broken.

Change and reform required

Balloting has to move from papers but electronic ballots must have a paper trail for verification and confidence in the system and there should be more flexibility to extend times of the polls if voters have arrived at polling stations before the deadline.



The most disturbing part of this election is the discrepancy between votes cast and seats won – the leading party polled 36.1% of the votes and will take 47.2% of the seats whilst the third party which polled 23% of the votes 8.8% of the seats.

This is manifestly wrong and does not reflect the clear and express wishes of the electorate; it calls for a radical reform of how our votes are translated to representation with a proper correlation between votes and the acquisition of power.

An expired system

The first-past-the-post system might have worked for past but there is no way how this can be the system for the 21st Century.

Today the Liberal Democrats have the opportunity to demand a change that allows for the people have their wishes fully expressed when they form a coalition with whatever party can garner the support and will to run the country after this election.

Dividends of democracy

In the graphic that shows the rewards of proportional representation, the UK Independence Party and the British National Party weigh in with a possible 32 Members of Parliament between them.

Whilst they constitute a right-wing of almost unsavoury politics, the people who voted for them are part of our democracy and as I did say in comments I made on Facebook, having these parties with representation in the House of Commons is enough a price to pay to ensure that the voice of the majority is heard loud and clear.

All the dividends of a democracy cannot all be profitable but any other system that takes better account of the percentage of votes polled nationally must be better than what we have now – electoral reform is inevitable, the people must demand it and get it.

The UK: I endorse democratic reform

How does your vote count?

For the very first time in a very long time, the elections in the United Kingdom have been gripping, everyone has been offering a message of change but the real change required has not received the airing required.

The parliamentary system in the UK makes politics very local rather than national, you vote for a representative of your constituency who happens to be a member of one of the established political parties and the party with the most representatives has its leader crowned the Prime Minister.

There are ways in which the party leader is the charismatic face of your local representative who might not even be local but parachuted in to represent the party to the people – there, if any of the contestants has a track record in that locality, it is possible that a political upset might arise.

Change from ideology

However, it appears voting intentions might have moved on from political fastidiousness and ideology, personalities might matter and policies are interesting but the force of mandate sometimes allows for legislation that we would never have wanted if we had the choice.

The economy, immigration and public services have been given all sorts of glosses and opinions but no one party seems to have all the answers that would really work for the national as a whole – we need a system that allows for the best people to be called into the service in these tough times regardless of party affiliation.

You have to be a member of parliament (MP) to be a minister of the crown and thereby you are accountable to the House of Commons, however, if you are not an MP, you have to be bumped up to the House of Lords and in some ways, you are beyond accountability to the elected chamber.

The choices are not people

For the first time, there is a possibility that two men younger than I am will take the reins of government, the likelihood is that David Cameron of the Conservative Party will be Prime Minister – after 5 years as Leader of the Opposition, he is hardly representative of change – but he will be a change from 13 years of Labour government.

Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats the usually third party was an absolutely fresh face especially after the Leaders’ debates and I think he won 2 of those three debates – what was refreshing was he addressed the questions, engaged the people and spoke sensibly. He had not become a sloganeering beacon of clichéd sound bites that seemed to sound profound but had no substance.

Gordon Brown comes with baggage, much from the way Labour was swept to power in 1997 through the economic prosperity to the crisis and humongous deficit that the UK now has. He does have experience of leadership that others do not have, but one wonders if he holds the keys to a greater future for the UK.

Democratic reform is what I want

I have no man to endorse of the ones we have to choose from but I endorse radical electoral reform – one that allows for votes to count both locally and nationally, one that moves us from the silos of political ideology to better considerations for all options that might be presented for the good of the people and one that is centred on progress that allows the unity of all talents as war cabinet with representatives of all major parties.

This electoral reform can only come from forcing cooperation between the parties by the strength of the numbers that they poll, their popular support rather than their number of MPs, for instance the Labour Party took a parliamentary majority with just about 35% of the vote in the last election.

That was hardly representative of the 65% that did not vote for the Labour Party but they have held power with an assumedly strong mandate for 5 full years.

Change comes with the Liberal Democrats

Honestly, a strong turnout for the Liberal Democrats holds the key to better electoral representation because it would force reform where we need it in representation, in purpose and in accountability; it is that once in a lifetime for the people to demand and get change in democratic reform.

The Conservatives and the Labour Party benefit disproportionately from the status quo without carrying the full resolve of the majority and the real intentions of the people, for once, a hung parliament might well force the agenda in the direction of what is good for the people at home and abroad and this is why I endorse democratic reform – by consequence it comes by giving the Liberal Democrats your vote.

A class struggle disguised as news

The facts lost to the story

Having advised the newsagents on my way to work to have a copy of the Daily Telegraph available, I am still surprised that the tillers, two ladies and a gentleman still do not know the cover price of the paper which is 3 Euros and conveniently down from 3.60 Euros when I was a more regular reader of the paper, years ago.

I do like the way the paper is edited and the writing style, and though it is a paper that leans quite to the right; if not the organ of the Conservative Party in some ways.

Sometimes, it does take on a rather sensationalist tone as it delves into the kind of muck that tabloids wallow in, and when it appears to take up a cause, be assured that it is probably for the privileged or some interesting publicity seeking people pretending to be up with the Jones'.

One typical example comes to mind, years ago when a developer in London's Mayfair - a rather exclusive real estate location - wanted to redevelop some old property. They had persuaded, enticed or threatened all the occupying tenants off the property but one who stubbornly refused to play ball.

The Telegraph launched into a sob story of a old-aged pensioner being turfed out of her residence having stayed there for almost 25 years, she was 71.

Reading further, we find that she was once a stock broker, she drove a red Ferrari and had been offered quite generous alternatives which she stubbornly refused.

Old-aged she was, pensioner quite probably, but not your common pensioner once you peer into the detail.

Big, bluff and full of fun

So, today, a news story appears with a young happy family - husband, wife, 14-year daughter and toddler - typical happy family in the English countryside. Ah! There is a land dispute; in fact, a boundary dispute covering the whole expanse of 6 feet by 2 feet - 12 square feet - that equates to a humongous 1.11483 square metres.

There are greater disputes in the world, but this little piece of England has had the police interviewing the father-in-law of the Leader of the Opposition - David Cameron - for attempted assault as he tried to get the neighbour off his property.

The principal in this matter is Sir Reginald, 8th Baronet Sheffield (61) who sports a bow-tie with a most eccentric appearance - one record says he is big, bluff and full of fun - the archetypical English country baronet [I think that says just about enough in a very nuanced way] - he has had his press, no doubt.

The neighbour however is Mr. Kilmartin a 45-year old man with who has a pacemaker and serious blood pressure problems. He had his blood pressure taken the day after the event and it was through the roof - he should know to take things a bit easy and not get too worked up.

Too inferior, so inferior

Sir Reginald in his first encounter with the Mr. Kilmartin had advised him to speak to the Estate Manager and walked away, then later returned probably a bit annoyed that he was still chatting to the secretary, grabbed Mr. Kilmartin by the shoulder demanded that he get off the property.

Mr. Kilmartin recalls that he was in a state of shock, that is understandable if you also have a ticker, and then one thing Sir Reginald would not get away with was the fact that he made Mr. Kilmartin feel like an inferior citizen - in his words - "He was so degrading, that's what hurts the most".

It would appear Mr. Kilmartin was not aware of the baronet's eccentricity or how to approach an old school baronet - part of the intemperate exchange involved a retort by Mr. Kilmartin - "What's your problem?" - Hardly toff talk.

Now tell me class is not ingrained in the English society, not to talk of the fact that the baronetcy was created for the illegitimate son of the John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby in 1755 - such is the colourful, vibrant and interesting history of aristocracy - adultery, infidelity, illegitimate children and sometimes in-breeding - Shocking!

Even though Lady Diana Spencer was born into an aristocratic family, as HRH Princess of Wales she never really got into appreciating the aristocratic encumbrance of sharing your husband with courtesans - in this case, it was Camilla Parker-Bowles, then married and with children too, something Camilla's husband - Brigadier Andrew Parker-Bolwes handled with integrity (as an officer) and dignity (as a loyal subject) to the common saying - The man who gave life and wife to king and country.

Utter waste of resources and time

But how did the police get involved so much so that the Crown Prosecution Service had to expend taxpayers' money to come to the conclusion that no further action is required? Mr. Kilmartin must have felt all the more degraded that he had to make a public show of this; so a bit of an embarrassment is necessary to teach Sir Reginald a lesson - he is the father-in-law of the Leader of the Opposition who is busy having to wade through the storm of ditching the building of new grammar schools for the a more contemporary infrastructure spearheaded by Tony Blair's Labour Party.

Sneaky, surreptitious and unsportly

In fact, the Daily Telegraph has been giving so much oxygen to opponents of this new Conservative policy that this event in the English Countryside just presented another rotten opportunity to paint David Cameron and now his extended family in very bad light.

They might think it is newsworthy - come on - grown up men cannot resolve a dispute on a matter that is hardly half the size of my bed and this takes up over a quarter of a broadsheet newspaper page?

So, the Kilmartin family presents themselves for a photo opportunity to accompany a finely placed pique of a story that the Telegraph has surreptitiously exploited for ulterior purposes, even I cannot imagine rags like the Sun or the News of the World playing this kind of game. Suffice it to say; even the sophisticated can descend to the basest instincts.

One is definitely not impressed, no, not at all. Though this is not enough to ditch the Daily Telegraph, at least for now.