General Election Boycott

The AV referendum affected me even more than I thought yesterday, as I didn’t sleep much last night until I made a decision that gave me some hope for the future. This may seem a bit strange, but the decision is never to vote in a UK General Election again until there is some change in the system. Effectively I am going to boycott General Elections. The reason this gives me hope is that if enough people do the same, so few people will be voting for the government that the system will not be able to survive, though this may not happen in my lifetime.

There has been talk of voter ‘apathy’ in the past in terms of falling election turnout. I prefer to think of it as abstention, in that people do not vote as there is nothing they see worth voting for. Turnout in my council ward this week was 33% (actually up from 25% last time), so those who abstained were by far the majority, which makes the whole thing a bit of a joke really. The majority also abstained from the AV Referendum, which got 42%, I think. This is not currently the case in General Elections where in 2010 overall turnout was 65%, though this was down from around 85% in 1950, and actually up from 60% in 2001.

I will continue to vote in other elections, particularly European ones that have the fairer Proportional Representation (PR) system, and I would vote for either the Welsh, Scottish or London Assemblies, which I think also use PR, though where I live none of these are relevant.

I suspect this will not make the slightest bit of difference, but strangely it makes me feel a lot better.

No more AV, No more Hope

I am more disappointed than I probably should be about that loss of the AV Referendum. It was a fairly minor change, and I would really want to change to a more proportional system, but in a way it is the end of an era for me.

I have wanted change in our voting system probably for around 20 years, simply I think it is wrong that a ‘landslide’ majority can be won in parliament with a minority of the vote. AV would have addressed this somewhat, though probably not much. The depressing thing is that it is probably all that we will be offered in my lifetime, so I have effectively now lost all hope of any meaningful change in the UK.

I am British by birth, but have never waved a Union Jack and sung Rule Britannia, and probably never will. I don’t particularly want to hark back to the times when Britain ‘ruled the waves’, if we ever did, as I think we did a lot of things with our empire that I don’t think we can be proud of. I never watched the royal wedding, I wish them well, and I think the Royals are good for the tourists, but otherwise I am not interested.

What I would like is to live in a country that is democratic, and I don’t think our current system is particularly democratic when our governments are not normally based on anywhere near the majority of the votes. The political parties are quite happy with this of course, which is why Labour never did anything to change the voting system when they promised to in 1997, and this was only done now due the Lib-Dems insisting on it for the coalition.

I see Britain often as in a time-warp, pretending that we still have an empire and are more important in the world than we really are. I don’t see much future for the UK, we have little industry left and beyond private companies raking profits in off government contracts, and the continued extraction from the banks, there seems little prospect for future growth, especially with the public sector being cut so violently. Perhaps I should leave the UK and move somewhere else I would be happier with, but unfortunately I am not in a position to do so.

Will I ever vote again? Possibly, but I think we have lost a chance to bring Britain into the 20th century in one way, even if there was never a chance of entering the 21st.

The Alternative Vote

I heard David Cameron today stated that with the Alternative Vote (AV) that someone could ‘win an election because they were the least unliked’ (see the video about 2m 20 secs in). Sorry, David but I though that was mainly what has been happening under First Past the Post, where voters often do not vote for who they would like, but for who they least unlike with a chance of getting in.

I would have liked to vote Lib Dem in the last election, but I didn’t as they have traditionally been a distant third in my constituency, so I voted Labour, not because I particularly wanted Labour back in, but because I definitely did not want a Conservative in. My vote was in the majority that did not elect my Conservative MP, he only got 38.5% of the vote

So in summary the choices in May are

First Past the Post (FPTP)

Continue to vote of the person you least unlike with a chance of getting in, or vote for who you like, and probably ‘waste’ your vote (and your time), as I did in the last election anyway.

Alternative Vote (AV)

Vote for who you like as the first choice and then who you unlike less with further choices. Yes the person elected may be elected on third, fourth or lower choices, and your second choice actually may need to be the one you least unlike with a chance of getting in, but at least you could register a vote for who you really liked.

Not the most resounding argument in favour of AV, but its good enough for me.

What I would like from the new UK coalition government

1. Fairer Votes

It cannot be right that a large majority of seats in the House of Commons can be obtained with a minority of the vote, though I understand why Labour and Conservatives would like to keep this situation out of self-interest. The UK always votes for a hung parliament, they just don’t normally get it. Alternative Vote (AV) is a step in the right direction, but I would prefer a proportional system such as Single Transferable Vote (STV). This would end tactical voting, and may encourage the third that didn’t vote in this election to do so. I am a long term supporter of several organisations involved in taking back parliament, including Unlock Democracy and the New Economics Foundation.

2. The Deficit

I would urge some caution  in cutting the deficit too quickly. The UK economy is complex and difficult to predict, but I can see that increasing taxes on spending (e.g. VAT) or on jobs (e.g. National Insurance) could lead to a double dip recession, as could further loss of jobs. I don’t think anybody really knows what will happen,  but what the markets think isn’t the only factor, though it seems to be more important in the new government’s eyes.

3. Banking

I think that retail and investment banking should be split, in order that the productive part can be kept separate from what I believe Adair Turner called the ‘Socially Useless’ part. Banking to support the ‘real’ economy should be encouraged and protected. The more gambling side of investment banking should be split, Bank of England guarantees removed, and this left to fend for itself. I can see that a Banking Levy is  an easy way for governments to raise some cash at this time, but I think it will do little to change the behaviour.

4. Identity Cards and Privacy

I have been supporting NO2ID to get rid of identity cards. mainly because I think they are a colossal waste of money, but neither am I keen to see all sorts of my data centralised. It is good to see that the new coalition is planning to scrap these, so we will see what happens with this.

5. Lobbying

I am under the impression that the relationship between corporations and government has become a bit too cosy over the last few years, with government largely doing what companies want. I think the proposed lobbying register may help with this. Corporations only have obligation to their shareholders, governments have much wider obligations that they should be strong in keeping.

6. Environment

I am a long time supporter of both Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, and have long been concerned about our impact on the environment. I am pleased that the new government has signed up to 10:10, which I have as well, and also that the third runway at Heathrow is to be scrapped. I am bit concerned about Nuclear Power stations, which apart from any waste, are not economically viable as far as I see, though at least no public money seems to be promised for this.

7. Trident

I think that we should scrap Trident. What is the point of spending almost £100 billion pounds on something we will never use? Perhaps it keeps us in some nice exclusive club, but I don’t see the point. This is why I have been supporting CND for a fair few years now.

Why the UK Election System is stupid and must change

My vote did not count last night, then again neither did the votes of 61.5% of those who voted in my constituency. This doesn’t include the 33.9% of voters who didn’t bother to vote, or abstained as I prefer to think of it. This is a stupid situation, and seems to be reflected nationally. I should be used to this as I have lived with this system all my life, but it still annoys me. Last time my vote did count, so perhaps I was less annoyed but it is still a stupid system. Previous UK governments have won ‘landslides’ on a minority of the vote. In the UK system it is not really how many votes you get but where you get them that count. The only difference this time is that some votes are in the ‘wrong’ places, and so it seems there will be no overall majority of seats.

I am not afraid of a ‘hung parliament’ (a horrible phrase) as I think parliament should reflect the votes cast, rather than being the usual ‘elected dictatorship’ based on a minority of the votes cast. There have been all sorts of nonsense talked about back room dealings and the like, but I think it is healthy that parties have to consult to get legislation through, that’s what I call democracy. Being able to do what you like on a minority of the vote I do not call democracy.

I will do what I can to get this stupid system changed. I will continue to support organisations that are trying to do this such as Vote For a Change, Unlock Democracy (formerly Charter 88) and the New Economics Foundation, the latter two of which I have supported for many years. Perhaps this just needs to be stepped up now.

http://www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/