I was a signatory to this letter in the Guardian today:
For all the divisions on display in this election campaign, there's one point nearly all voters agree on: the desperate need for reform in Westminster.
Yet despite many parties commenting on the need for change in their manifestos, the issue of political reform has been dangerously absent from the campaign trail.
This radio silence is indefensible when polling for the Electoral Reform Society shows 85% of people feel that politics isn't working, and 80% feel they have little or no influence on decision-making today. With public faith this low our politicians cannot afford to stay silent.
The signs of democratic decay are all around us — from an electoral system that wastes votes on an industrial scale, to the private members' club that is the unelected House of Lords. This year we've seen our parliament lunge from crisis to crisis.
This election is a watershed moment for our democracy — inaction is not an option. Today we are calling for leaders to make the issue of updating and transforming Westminster front and centre, as part of #DemocracyDay.
We are asking them all to commit to a constitutional convention involving citizens, to set out how to reform Westminster after the election.
There is a high degree of cross-party unity around issues like updating Britain's analogue-age campaign rules, spreading power outside of London and reining in our crumbling constitution.
With trust in politics at record lows, voters want to see parties open up about how to overhaul Westminster. Today is an opportunity to do just that. It is time for all parties to present their proposals with pride and passion.
This Democracy Day, let's start to build a better politics.
Willie Sullivan Electoral Reform Society
Ruth Lister Compass
Klina Jordan and Joe Sousek Make Votes Matter
Frances Foley Citizens Convention UK
Alexandra Runswick Unlock Democracy
Neal Lawson Up To Us
Anthony Barnett OpenDemocracy
Jennifer Nadel Compassion In Politics
Matteo Bergamini Shout Out UK
Tabitha Morton More United
Richard Murphy Professor of International Political Economy, City, University of London
Heidi Allen and Peter Dunphy Unite to Remain
Ed Dowker Represent.me
Mark Cridge mySociety
Richard Tunnicliffe and Sue Ellar Represent Us
Dimitri Scarlato the 3million
Paul Thistlethwaite XR Future Democracy Hub
Indra Adnan The Alternative
Andrew Pendleton New Economics Foundation
John Doolan and Paul Blomfield Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform
Keith Sharp Liberal Democrats for Electoral Reform
Frances Scott 50:50 Parliament
Jon Christensen Tax Justice Network
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Hear, hear!!
Richard, Sigh
“Self-regulation” NEVER WORKS. Asking party political Turkeys to vote for Xmas is a waste of everyone’s efforts!
The only solution is the wholesale replacement of the political establishment by new blood that does not subscribe to business as usual. TWO new parties ( Left and Right, or Up and Down, or Pink and Brown), are needed, both with a policy of not allowing any “legacy politicians” in what-so-ever.
Brexit Party could be one, especially as it has today suffered by the evil actions of cynical party politicians, who used classic Entryism to try to wreck the new party. I hope you will be able to form a non-aligned new party on the Left to balance it.)
If you think Westminster isn’t working, I cannot see how you can believe Brussels is better!!!
Revolution is needed, not evolution!
Peter
The so-called Brexit Party is anything but a political party
It is a private company
If anything is not the way to go forward the Brexit Party is it
Richard
Let’s not have another brown party, that didn’t work out so well last time.
And exactly that is the risk. Revolutionary circumstances slant towards extremes. Even if started by thoughtful people with the best of intentions, the history of revolutions is full of examples of those people being pushed aside by those willing to go further in suspending the rule of law and using violence – both on the side of those pushing for change and of those fighting to maintain the status quo.
The best counterexample of a peaceful revolution is so unusual that it is simply called The Peaceful Revolution, in East Germany 1989. That only worked because non-violence was at the heart of that movement from beginning to end. To their credit, that is what XR is espousing now.
What worries me about the idea of a constitutional convention (which presumably would involve some degree of sortition?) is that the citizens selected to sit on it would instantly become prime targets for lobbying and even more insidious forms of opinion manipulation. Even if they are somehow immune to outright corruption or revolving-door arrangements, why would random citizens be any less susceptible to dark money think-tanks, targeted facebook campaigns or a biased press than the general public or elected parliamentarians? At least parliamentarians have some experience with people trying to change their voting behaviour and had to defend their views in an election campaign. Maybe we need a citizens’ assembly – but there are risks that have not been thought through enough.
Does the UK need constitutional reform? Sure. Does this require citizen involvement beyond general elections? Yes. Is that enough reason to overthrow the current order through revolution? No. We have no idea what would end up filling that void.
FPTP is an abomination, leaving millions of voices unheard and driving political apathy. But saying there is no genuine choice in the upcoming elections is lazy and deceptive. The different parties are offering dramatically different visions for the country, responses to the climate emergency and attitudes to Brexit. No matter which way the election goes, there will be a departure from business as usual. We left that in the last decade.
Surely one of the most important priorities is to change the voting system to enable all voters, however ‘wayward’ they may be to have a voice and to feel that their opinion is, at least, heard even though it may not be agreed with.
First past the post has had its day and with Mr Johnson attempting to win a ‘majority’ through lies and dishonesty just proves that this method is no more than a busted flush.
Democracy can only flourish when those we elect to represent us reach a consensus that benefits as many as possible but does not disadvantage a minority through misrepresentation, spite and disregard,. The current electoral system appears to do the exact opposite.
“Surely one of the most important priorities is to change the voting system to enable all voters, however ‘wayward’ they may be to have a voice and to feel that their opinion is, at least, heard even though it may not be agreed with.”
Indeed. And maybe this election is the last chance we have to affect that change, just as it is to redress the climate emergency, keep a national free-at-the-point of use comprehensive, publically managed health service and, although hardly as important, not to fall into a defeatist regressive isolationism better known as ‘brexit’.
It really is later than we think. It’s now or never.
It is very courageous of you all to openly challenge the new regime (assuming Johnson wins and implements his manifesto’s constitutional changes to create a permanent single party government). I was struck by the diversity of the organisations listed and was comparing this with the apparent success of the organisations known as the Atlas Network explained in a Guardian Long Read (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/29/rightwing-thinktank-conservative-boris-johnson-brexit-atlas-network?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX1RoZUxvbmdSZWFkLTE5MTEzMA%3D%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=TheLongRead&CMP=longread_email). If your Resistance Movement is to succeed have you considered twinning your organisations with theirs with a view to exposing them one by one?
No!
That’s a challenge….
Thank you and all signatories for this action Richard.
You’ve all heard the urgent appeal to save a failing democracy.
The most obvious prooves it is failing are the 2016 vote, the emergence of the so-called Brexit Party, or faction, and the power of radical right-wing Think-Tanks.
To stop disengagement and disenfranchisement, we need a new representative system, together with a new electoral system.
I have been calling for more responsibilities to be devolved to Town Councils, to local authorities, to regions, with independent monitoring systems to be put in place to ensure corruption doesn’t take hold of local politics.
The UK electoral system is not fit for purpose, even if it once was.
The House of Lords is from another planet altogether.
Even the devolved Assemblies are far too centralised.
So good luck in your endeavour.
Democracy? Tories have nothing but contempt for democracy. What is not generally understood is that the 2011 voting referendum was designed to offer only two undemocratic choices, FPTP and AV, a silly, complex system giving the same distorted result as FPTP. Yet the Tories claim that the people didn’t want to change FPTP. A decent proportional choice wasn’t offered even though the Lib Dem’s could have demanded it. A spineless party appeasing a ruthless anti-democratic party
And now we see Boris’s manifesto planning to curb the power of the judiciary to stop them supporting parliament and democracy. Not much of that seen in the media!
Andrew, how I agree.
I’ve been a long-term supporter of PR. Indeed, I resigned from the Labour Party after helping Blair win his second election in 2001, on an issue of conscience, namely his kicking of the Jenkins Report into the long grass, an action I viewed as both pusillanimous (Blair was at the height of his powers, before the Iraq scandal, and would have easily won a referendum on Jenkins) and unconstitutional (NO Party, and certainly NO individual, not even a PM, has the right to brush aside such a proposal – only the electorate as a whole can do that).
Well, Jenkins’s AV+ had been roundly attacked since, but it would have been a valid compromise between full-blown PR, and our current, much vaunted single member constituency system.
AV alone, however, is not even a PR system, but a fiddling on the FPTP system to ensure all elected MP’s have at least 50% if the vote, even if made up of 2nd, 3rd and even further choices.
I was so disappointed with what was on offer, I nearly voted against it, and only finally voted for it on the basis that it was a foot (maybe only a big toe!) in the door to full PR. Instead, it was used to close the door completely!
Two final points: first, it is this country’s (the whole UK’s) misfortune that Charles Kennedy was a drunk, as he would have almost certainly not gone into Coalition with the Tories, and would surely have extracted a proper PR system from Cameron, as the price for a Confidence and Supply agreement, unlike airhead Clegg, who was after status and the limo, IMO.
Secondly, once Blair resigned, I rejoined the Labour Party, thinking Brown was more favourable to PR: alas no. I still think he would have done better in 2010, had he wholeheartedly supported PR. Maybe even won?
Hidden away in the Tory manifesto is the plan to change the balance of powers to prevent the Supreme Court ever again holding the government to account for illegal, anti-democratic, anti-parliamentary actions. This dangerous move needs much more exposure than it’s currently getting.
Agreed
Like people have said, the system needs changing but if Corbyn does not win on thursday it will not change. The result will be more apathy, more stagnation and the UK will become more ungovernable.This is why Boris is popular, he is a conman strongman. He is an action man and people who suffer from apathy love action men.
He speaks some people’s language until we come back here in two years time to find out we still have not left the EU transition period. Then also to finding out there is no deal being offered and still gabbing about brexit. Then Bojo or his successor will blame labour, or the fairies for not letting him do the job.
As for Scotland there is not way in hell will the tories ever agree to a scots referendum. They can scream all the want they will not get it. Also the SNP are not being honest with the scottish people about the price of independence. Not telling the people how they will have to impose an austerity program which make the tories’ one look like socialism.
Both the conservatives, the SNP and to some extent labour are not coming clean about Brexit with regards to the effects it will have on society and the economy. The sheer cowardice of our political class is astonishing. Last night’s debate drove me nuts as I got so fed up with “get brexit done”.
On Preston, Boris said at the end of january 2020, no one will be talking about brexit because it will be done. Even Preston shouted at Boris and said he was wrong, but of course the clown ignores it.
On positive note there was a article in the guardian about the youth vote being ignored by the pollsters. The author said everything is going the same way it did for the 2017 general election with regards the number young people signing up to vote . She argued around 1.8 million young registered to vote in 2017 and nearly 3 million have done the same for the 2019 GE.
All the pollsters have ignore this trend and it will cost them and bojo on thursday.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/06/tories-victory-stats-tell-different-story-labour-youthquake