It all adds up to making every vote counts

Published: Friday, April 13th 2007

I believe that Labour would only benefit in the long term from a system under which it was obliged to contest meaningful elections in every area.  It would reward the party for making a truly national appeal, a give Labour members in traditionally hostile territory a reason to play an active role in the party.   It would make Labour fight once again for votes in seats we have traditionally taken for granted, and help us to re-engage disaffected voters who presently feel ignored.  But above all it would help to rebalance the whole character of political debate.  What currently angers voters is not such much the existence of political disagreements, but the fact that so much political confrontation seems contrived out of all proportion to the substantive differences at stake.  Manufactured antagonisms disguise a more fundamental political convergence, and politicians vying for ownership of the same predictable focus-group derived language (rewarding “hard-working families”, encouraging “choice” in public services, being “tough” on yobs etc.).   As Liberal Democrat Vince Cable told The Observer after Gordon Brown’s budget, ‘the three parties will be huddled on a very small patch of political ground by the time of the next election: “The interesting thing is that all three parties are now operating within tax-neutral budgets: we're all saying the same thing…”’ This is all the result of chasing after a narrowly defined ‘target’, something which the present electoral system encourages. 

By contrast, we have every reason to believe that voters want an honest culture of debate where parties are not obliged to say the same thing, but where they are encouraged to set out clearly both genuine differences and points where they concur.   This would enable a more productive, consensual approach which respects genuine differences of view whilst enabling parties to work together when appropriate.  In Scotland, for example, whilst Labour might not have had an outright majority under the more proportional system, it has nevertheless been able to work in coalition to promote policies on Higher Education funding and care for the elderly which are far more in keeping with mainstream Labour opinion than has been the case south of the border under FPTP.  Having an outright majority is no guarantee that Labour voters get what they want from a Labour government.  And ironically, of course, many of the activists expected to help with the ‘precision bombing’ of marginals are precisely the members most likely to be completely disaffected at a policy direction which has been delivering.  This is proving especially debilitating to Labour, and will only impede our chances at future elections.  

If reforming our damaging electoral system must be a priority for the next Labour leader, this does not mean it is in itself sufficient to cure the present political malaise.   Voters are hardly likely to turn out if they feel the outcome can be determined by unscrupulous fraudsters.  Therefore whilst we might legitimately look at ways in which voting might be made more convenient, measures need to be in place to ensure that methods such as postal balloting or e-voting are not open to abuse.   And we not only need to be confident that elections are fair, but also that they have some meaningful purchase on the decisions which shape our lives.  We do not care about elections to bodies which are effectively toothless.  With the powers of local government increasingly either circumscribed by centrally-imposed caps and targets or transferred bag-and-baggage into the private sector, the electorate is entitled to ask how much difference their local councilors can really make.  The situation is similar with respect to Europe, where EU Commissioners are insufficiently accountable whilst the Parliament seems to be remote and lacking in transparency.  We must have the confidence that the executive and legislature is accountable to the electorate, and that representatives are given a mandate from the public rather than being able to ‘buy’ their positions through channels of cronyism and patronage.   Equally, the composition of elected bodies needs to reflect more adequately society as a whole, which means taking active steps to ensure we have more women and black/ethnic minority candidates.  Research suggests that having single-member FPTP constituencies is a barrier to this.  But we must re-open the whole area of internal party democracy and the processes of candidate selection to prevent the culture of party machines parachuting ‘on-message’ candidates into safe seats.  

Labour’s next leader must switch from a culture in which voters are there to be manipulated and wooed with spin and soundbites once every 4-5 years, and instead have the political confidence and imagination to give every a voter a meaningful say in the way we are governed.  In order to make voting worthwhile, politicians have to demonstrate that they are not simply there to serve the interests of big business interests but that they have instead the power and the will to intervene to protect the public good from profiteering and exploitation.    In short, Labour has an opportunity to make good on its claim to be a “democratic socialist party”, and not only to renew its short-term popularity, but to regain its sense of mission and rebuild the public’s trust in politics.  

Recommendations

• Introduce a fairer voting system which makes all elections competitive, and gives all electors an incentive to campaign in all parts of the country.  This should give parties representation according to their share of the vote, and allowing voters to more accurately express their view by ranking candidates in order of preference.
• Impose rigorous national and local limits on election spending to end the arms-race in political funding.
• Sever the link between the honours system and the revising chamber to help end the culture of cronyism and patronage.   
• Lower the voting age to 16 to give young people a greater stake in local communities and society as a whole
• Re-empower local democracy by freeing local governments from centralized targets and capping, and keeping local service provision in the public sector.  End the democratic deficit in the EU by ensuring that the Commission is adequately accountable to the Parliament.
• Ensure that all prospective parliamentary candidates (PPCs) enjoy the confidence of the party as a whole, and end the culture of ‘parachuting’ in favoured candidates from the centre.