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December 22, 2005
Another call for Cameron to consider electoral reform
Lightning does strike twice. Michael Brown's article in today's Independent is not the only piece in the national press to make the point about the Tories needing to reconsider their hostile position towards PR. In a cogently argued 'letter to Dave' in The Guardian, Lib Dem MP Chris Huhne also asks why electoral reform is not on Cameron's agenda, especially as a way of reinvigorating local democracy and increasing the accountability / responsiveness of local services.
"If local people are to be trusted running public services, as they must, they need to be able to boot out those responsible when they do not like the results. Competition is useful in economics - but even more crucial to democratic politics. Yet council after local council elects an entrenched majority with less than half the vote, and it can prove agonisingly slow to get rid of abject failures."
And then he throws Dave a curve-ball:
"Where are your proposals to bring political choice back to Britain's town halls? That means electoral reform locally and nationally, and you have not even mentioned the words. We need to remake our democratic system from the ground up if it is once again to inspire trust. Everyone's vote needs to count equally, wherever people live."
Who's next in joining this eminently sensible gang?
Posted by malcolmclark on December 22, 2005
