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January 30, 2008
The Spin on the Review
STV Action's take on the government's review of electoral systems further emphasises what we have been saying all along: that the government’s conclusive reaction to the inconclusive findings of the review(particularly that of Michael Wills, who said, “We [have] the firm belief that the current voting system for UK general elections works well.”) reeks of political spin.
In the words of STV action:
The context is that the Government’s interpretation and conclusions are what we sadly have come to expect of our politicians – distorted, biassed and motivated by short-term political self-interest. First Past The Post put the present Government into power with only 35% of the votes, so why should the Government support reform?
The Report (by unbiassed civil servants) states: “One of the main benefits of PR, and in particular STV, is that voters have a greater degree of choice in elections and a greater chance of their vote counting in terms of who gets elected.” (Para 6.169).
This alone, even putting aside the greater efficiency and fairness of proportionality, is reason enough for us to demand STV. Despite this, the Minister of State, Michael Willis (who has a vested political interest in First Past The Post), had the nerve to say:
“The current voting system for UK general elections works well” and “At this point, it would be premature to seek to reform the electoral system for the Commons while the voting system for a reformed and substantially or fully elected House of Lords is still to be determined.”
“Why?”, we ask. Why would it be premature? Might it be that Labour still hopes to win another overall majority in the Commons at the next general election for a minority of votes in the country? Might reform suddenly become urgent if Labour fails to secure an overall majority and needs Lib Dem support?
Posted by joshloewenstein on January 30, 2008
