This election is set to be historic for many reasons but one
stands out. Every time I read a newspaper, listen to the radio or turn on the
TV, I hear something about the prospect of electoral reform. Could it be that
it is time to consider scrapping our first past the post system in favour of an
alternative?
Yesterday during interview Gus O’Donnell conceded that as
support for the mainstream parties dwindles, as it has over the term of the last
Government, the relationship between votes cast and the seats returned to
parliament inevitably becomes strained under our current system. Gus points out
an important point and one that the Greens have attempted to subvert in order
to capitalise on, by suggesting that the electorate put aside their logic when
entering the voting booth and vote with their hearts. I am in no doubt that Greens,
supposing they return a voice to Westminster, would back any move toward
electoral reform, especially after Natalie Bennett’s recent speech at the
Democratic Society on this very subject. However, is there appetite elsewhere,
across the evidently divided political spectrum?
UKIP MP Douglas Carswell only recently spoke out vehemently
in favour of proportional representation saying that, “just because Nick Clegg’s
AV (Alternative Vote) was a bad idea [this] doesn’t mean we can’t do better.”
And both Plaid Cymru and The SNP have recently spoken in favour voting reform as
well. The SNP have worked under a proportional system in Hollyrood which
returned them in minority, and ‘low and behold’ Scotland didn’t sink into the North
sea, contrary to what the Tories and Labour would like us to think (perhaps not
sink but burn then at least the Union would hold.) This being the case Alex
Salmond may well speak with some conviction at Westminster on the attributes of
PR and dispel any Whitehall rumours about unstable, catastrophic, even dystopic
alternate universes where an outright majority alone can save the feckless
electorate. Would this win over any Labour backbenchers? I would suspect so.
The Labour Campaign for Electoral reform currently has, ‘Ed
#Milifandom Band,’ as their poster boy captioned with the words, “politics isn’t
working. And trust is gone. Politics is broken…This generation has a chance to
change our politics. We must seize it and meet the challenge.” This is, if
nothing else, suggestive evidence that a party under Ed would offer support for
PR. The last labour government’s own review into the prospect of PR stated that
at the time they did not feel that PR would lead to greater democracy and a
range of obfuscations were expelled in defence of our first past the post
system. However as Owen Jones puts it, rather overstating the worry somewhat as
he does, “our system is disintegrating around us.” I don’t hold that view but I
will say this, it is time for a change.
That same labour report from 2007 left a caveat; In order
that the party would review their stance on reform there should be a change in
the political landscape in the form of, growing support for minor parties OR a
greater tendency for coalition governments. This is the situation we are in now
and I would think many MPs on both sides of the house would vote for the
prospect of offering the public a vote on PR.