Technology | 2009.06.18
My rethink on voting reform | Tom Watson
I used to fight to retain our electoral system. Now I see it is central to our democratic rupture
Parliamentary democracy is on its knees. Lachrymose MPs haunt the corridors of power in a collective despondency that disables us from agreeing the comprehensive changes that are necessary. The rupture at the core of British democracy can only be healed with a radical programme of constitutional reform, reinforced by the authority of the people in a referendum.
This is the moment for sweeping, radical change – an elected House of Lords, weekend voting and devolution of power out of Whitehall and into local communities. But there is one change that would make perhaps the most difference: how we actually vote and send people to parliament. I believe the alternative vote system will help rebuild the trust and authority given to our elected representatives. And if the European election results show mainstream parties one thing, it is that the democratic status quo is no longer an option.
During the first parliament of this government, I ran the campaign for first past the post from the offices of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union . Our campaign was based on a passionate belief that a new voting system would lead to more control over the candidate selection process by political elites – harming the prospect for working class representatives.
Labour\'s first term in office was characterised by a paradoxical approach to political power. On one hand there was the biggest redistribution of power for a century through devolution and a bill of rights. Yet there was also a huge consolidation of political control of the Labour party machine tothe centre. Many believed the party was run from 10 Downing Street. Intoxicated by the euphoria of Labour in power, different strands of representation in the party – my union included – let this happen.
The more I became a willing participant in Labour\'s efforts to prove the iron law of oligarchy, the more trenchant I became in the view that if working people were to retain a voice in parliament, the current system of first past the post should be defended. It was the one issue on which my union completely disagreed with the then prime minister, Tony Blair. The vehemence with which we held our views led, in part, to proposals for electoral reform being held up for a decade.
Yet for the current system there is now a more important challenge, one that has led me to fundamentally reassess my views. Vast swaths of working people in Britain now think parliament is irrelevant to them and their families. MP Jon Cruddas is right when he says that this is as much about policy as it is our democratic framework. But he is also right to say that we can no longer ignore the institutions of representation when it comes to re-engaging working people.
Our voting system is the source code of the power wielded by MPs. It bestows the authority of the people on their representatives. Yet few MPs can claim support from more than 50% of their electors. AV enables preference (ranked) voting, ensuring an MP can claim authority of a majority of their voters. AV also allows voters to protest – through the support of small and single-issue groups, while also choosing to support a larger party, if they so wish. Unlike some other voting systems, it allows the retention of a geographic link between MP and electors.
Though Westminster watchers often overlook this relationship, most MPs believe that the responsibility to be a local area advocate is what keeps a system rooted in common sense. Many MPs who currently support first past the post do so because they want to retain a local link. I believe that when they explore the merits of AV more fully, they will reassured that this important element of our democracy will be preserved.
Changing the voting system is not the only solution to parliament\'s waning authority. I recently left the daily grind of ministerial life having had 18 months immersed in conversation with the UK\'s digital pioneers. I\'m convinced that our economic future is dependent on developing a set of economic and regulatory arrangements to hothouse our digital natives – the under-30s for whom the internet is not a new technology.I hope to spend my time on the backbenches arguing for a digitally enabled democracy. There are technologies that did not exist when Labour was elected in 1997, that if adopted, will allow a new Speaker to lead parliament into a new age of transparency and accountability.
This will pose a huge threat to the vested interests in the political parties, civil service and government. But it will also offer opportunities. The recent blitzkrieg attack on the PM, by the loudest liberal voices around the editorial table of the Guardian, will have less significance when our elected representatives can make their case using their own publishing platform, be it blogs, message boards or even Twitter.
But the centrepiece of a new reform act should be a change in voting system and a move to elect our second chamber. And legitimacy should be conferred on these changes through a plebiscite.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/[...]democracy-electoral-reform-mps
