PR and political representation on the Left

Posted by michaelcalderbank on July 23, 2008 | Comments (0)

Michael Prior of the Green Party raises some important tactical questions for the Left inside and outside the Labour Party, ahead of September's "Convention of the Left" in Manchester:

"This is really the heart of the problem facing the left ─ linking the formulation of a broad left policy with an electoral presence able to put this policy forward to the British people so that they can make a real choice rather than the largely cosmetic policy differences which currently divide Labour and the Conservatives. In fact that should really be amended to be the English people as the transformed electoral systems in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales do, to a degree, offer such possibilities. What these show is that recognisably left positions are popular particularly in Scotland.

One conclusion which can be drawn from this is that electoral reform providing some genuine form of proportional representation ought to be given a much higher policy priority on the left than, currently, it is. The suspicion accorded PR on the left is now a genuine historical relic rather than any basic principle".

Mike is pretty pessimistic about the chances of the main party's being persuaded to move on PR - but as he rightly says, it would be "a genuinely popular policy, one that might reverse the corrosive cynicism that engulfs the whole political process in Britain".

Clearly, people on the Left have different strategies in terms of how to begin rebuilding a meaningful sense of political representation on the Left. Some believe that PR encourages Labour to think much more about how to win votes in its core heartland constituencies. Others think that Labour is dead as a party of the Left, and that we need to back another party like the Greens or Respect. Still others want to create a new party altogether to fill the vacuum left by Labour.

Unlike most European countries, the Left in Britain has never really "done" coalition politics. But can it make itself relevant any more without a more pluralist approach? Instead of fighting like ferrets in a sack, is it not worth uniting around campaigns where objectives are shared in common? Since our electoral system is obstacle common across our different strategies, isn't the campaign for PR something that we can unite around?

UAF analysis on London elections

Posted by robrankin on July 21, 2008 | Comments (3)

In the London Assembly elections the BNP controversially gained one seat. They shared 5.33% of vote thus crossing the 5% threshold required to get elected.

Unite Against Facism's analysis of the LA elections states that "The BNP only got elected because such a small percentage (5%) is required in the top up list section". If this is the case then what is an appropriate threshold? If the BNP achieved 7.6% of the vote just narrowly surpassing a threshold of 7.5% would we have to raise the threshold again? If this wasnt the BNP but a less offensive, less extreme minority party would we be asking these questions? Probably not.

It is not the threshold we need to address but the reasons why 130,174 people voted for BNP?

Report of Aussie Rules meeting

Posted by malcolmclark on July 21, 2008 | Comments (0)

A full report and transcript of the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform 'Aussie Rules' meeting on AV will be published here shortly.

The meeting, on Tuesday 10 July, was a lively affair, discussing AV and the possibilities of progress on it. There seemed a reasonable consensus from the 50+ audience as well as the panellists that if there is any opportunity to go for AV for the Commons - whether in a manifesto commitment or even before the next election - that should be explored. Many people would prefer if that was the case to see AV included as part of an 'Aussie Rules'-style package of measures, along with PR for the Upper House and any of these weekend voting / voting incentives ideas the MoJ is thinking about. It just makes more sense that way. Even if AV was on offer, we'd still be pushing the case for some element of proportionality for the Commons, with AV only ever a pragmatic first step towards that route rather than a satisfactory goal in itself.

Below are a few photos from the event. Speakers were Peter Hain MP, Kevin Maguire (Mirror) and Paul Smith (Australian Labor Party). John Grogan MP chaired.

Continue reading "Report of Aussie Rules meeting"

Tolpuddle Festival

Posted by malcolmclark on July 21, 2008 | Comments (0)

MVC were at the Tolpuddle Festival, down in Dorset, this past weekend. A great event for its history, spirit, music and political conversations. Lots of interest at our stall from the range of people that come to such a festival: trade unionist, Labour, Greens, Lib Dems, left-aligned, non-aligned and everything else in between.

The American reality is currently only a dream for us

Posted by malcolmclark on July 16, 2008 | Comments (0)

A copy of 'America goes to the polls - a report on voter turnout in the 2008 Presidential Primary' from a US voter engagement org has just landed in my inbox and I couldn't wait til tomorrow to share some of the highlights with you.

1) More than one in four of all eligible voters participated in a primary or caucus. This is a rate not seen since 1972, when the voting age was lowered to 18.

2) Voter participation in Democratic primaries was up 112% and caucuses by 223% compared to 2004 - ie.the turnout in Democratic primaries doubled and tripled in the caucuses.

3) Youth participation rose at a faster rate than any other age group. Turnout by voters ages 18-29 went up for the third consecutive national election year (2004 and 2006).

But alongside these startling facts, there is a salient message: besides competitive elections (which are very important) or the date of the primary, a number of factors influenced voter turnout. Election Day Registration and Early Voting most likely contributed to higher turnout in many states.

"Election Day Registration (EDR): Allowing voters to register or fix their registration at the polls ensures that more voters can successfully participate. Of the states with some form of Election Day Registration, most held caucuses. The three states with primaries, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and North Carolina, had high participation. Voters in North Carolina, normally a lower turnout state, benefited from the state letting early voters to register and vote at the same time up until 3 days before the election."

"Early Voting: Allowing voters more and better opportunities to vote early can raise turnout in contests with traditionally lower turnout, like primaries3. Four of the ten states with the highest 2008 voter turnout - Oregon, Illinois, Florida and California - have broad early voting systems in place."

Maybe both are measures the Ministry of Justice should be more seriously considering within its Governance of Britain discussions and consultations, rather than just the tinkering round the edges that constitute its proposals on weekend voting and giveaways at polling stations.

And perhaps the main lesson to take away from the report is that:

"The 2008 election provides fresh evidence of the difference made by meaningful competition and a diverse field of candidates and the higher levels of voter mobilization and participation this engenders."

Meaningful competition. A diverse field of candidates. Those phrases are right out of the electoral reform playbook. To continue with the sports analogy, the MoJ really should be allowing these discussions onto the field of play; rather than leaving us - and logic - shouting from the sidelines.

No decisions made on Lords system

Posted by malcolmclark on July 14, 2008 | Comments (4)

Jack Straw has just made a Statement to the House on Lords reform, as the Government publishes its white paper on the subject. And the relevant news for us is:

The White paper presents detailed modelling of the following systems

FPTP / AV / STV / Open/Semi-Open lists

The choice of system open to discussion and submissions welcome. So still some work to be done there. Ruling nothing in or out is the official line. It would have been nice for the Government to have shown a bit of bite and boldness by challenging the Conservatives to support some form of PR for these elections. After all, a number of senior Tories, Ken Clarke at al, are on record of supporting STV for elections to the upper chamber.