An exciting year for reform buffs

As the dark days of January plunge us all into post Christmas doldrums do not despair! The year ahead promises a packed constitutional reform agenda and a fair few popular votes for those of us needing a democracy fix in between General Elections.

2012 will see voters in 131 English local authorities and all Scottish and Welsh councils head to the polls. Eleven English cities will decide whether or not to introduce elected mayors and in London the always entertaining mayoral elections will see Boris and Ken battle it out once again over bendy buses and congestion charging. If that’s missed any of you out – don’t forget that this year will also be the first time we will be asked to elect our Police Commissioners under the Supplementary Vote.

In the English local elections we can look forward to all the usual quirks – uncontested seats and unwon majorities, in Wales we’ll see whether the fickle First Past the Post system again locks Labour out of power in many local authorities, or grants the party a return to the disproportionate power it once wielded in its heartlands. In Scotland voters will elect their councillors under the Single Transferable Vote and we’ll have a chance to see if the SNP will further strengthen their hand as the debate on independence rumbles on.  We’ll be paying close attention to Scotland’s experience of fair votes and what implications this might have for local democracy for the rest of us.

But crucially our constitution itself will be in the spotlight again this year with a number of bills due to go through parliament that could change the shape and nature of our democracy for good.

The Joint Committee are due to report on the Draft House of Lords Reform Bill in March and there’s still all to play for. Doom mongers have long warned that the bill is destined to fail but the fact remains that all parties have committed to reforming the second chamber and there have been clear indications from the government that they are willing to invoke the Parliament Act to force the bill through if necessary. The Electoral Reform Society gave evidence to the committee in November and we have been lobbying hard to make sure that the bill, when it lands, fulfils the hopes of reformers who have spent the last 100 years trying to see this through. Click here to find out more about our work to reform the House of Lords.

The biggest change to the way we do elections since the Universal Franchise: Individual Electoral Registration (IER), will also be agreed this year. We welcome the move away from Household Registration but a recent report from the Electoral Commission showed that 6 million voters are already missing from the register and we’re concerned that the government’s proposals risk disenfranchising millions more. We’re demanding that the government a) drop the Opt-Out so that individuals cannot simply ‘opt out’ of their civic duty, b) Transfer over the threat of penalty as this is a vital tool that Electoral Registration Officers say acts as a drive for registration and c) Re-instate the 2014 Annual Canvas to guard against the 1% p/m deterioration in the completeness of the register so that it is as full as possible when the switch to IER takes place.

The year’s political hot potato; party funding, has been back in the news recently after the New Years Honours list once again brought to light how open the current system is open to misuse. In November, The Committee on Standards in Public Life produced a Review of Party Funding calling for a cap on political party donations and an increase in state funding. The recommendations were roundly rejected by all three major political parties but cross-party talks on capping donations will now start early this year.

And last but not least the huge beast of the boundary review will continue on its passage this year. The coalition government has pledged to reduce the number of MPs in Westminster from 650 to 600 and equalise the size of the constituencies. The rationale is that reducing the number of MPs will save the taxpayer money and equalising the size of the constituencies will ‘level the playing field’. The problem is that the boundaries will have been drawn up based on the government’s rigid rules that are bending our communities, our cities and our counties out of shape. The process has been based on the current electoral register (which as we’ve already noted is massively incomplete) so unregistered voters have not been considered in assessments of constituency size. As being unregistered does not disqualify you from receiving support from your MP, urban and socially deprived areas where registration is low are likely to be under-represented while affluent areas where registration is high will receive disproportionate representation. This is completely undemocratic and calls the validity of the entire exercise into question.

As if that all wasn’t enough to keep you on your toes we have presidential contests coming up to decide the new tenants of the Élysée Palace, the White House and the Kremlin, a continuing crisis throughout many European democracies, most recently Hungary, and the rise of new democracies across North Africa and the Middle East.
So if nothing else, 2012 certainly won’t be dull!

If you’re passionate about democracy and would like to help us shape ourwork on these and other important issues this year please take advantage of our free membership offer and join us in our fight to build a better democracy.

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