Do you live in a Rotten Borough?

With this year’s county council elections only a few weeks away, we’ve undertaken new analysis that has revealed the parlous state of local democracy in England and Wales.

Evidence shows 21 million people are now living in the local government equivalent of ‘One Party States’ – with single parties holding undeserved supermajorities, and other parties incapable of providing viable opposition.

One hundred and four councils in England and Wales now have a single party holding in excess of 75% of council seats. In every case this is wholly out of proportion to the support the governing parties enjoy locally – and has given these administrations carte blanche on official business.

Of course all three major parties have ‘One Party States’ – which include both urban and rural authorities. ??ERS has defined ‘One Party States’ as authorities with a single party holding over 75% of council seats, leaving opposition incapable of providing any checks of council decision making. With a 2/3 alone majority parties have the ability to overturn standing orders, and change the way the councils are run. We’ve allowed the possibility of some party rebels offering pseudo-opposition to the one party state in their area.

Any decent democracy requires a viable opposition. But the 21 million living in local One Party States don’t have that luxury. These authorities enjoy power without real accountability – and council taxpayers deserve better.

We can’t rely on governing parties to keep themselves in check. Our councils need a critical mass of opposition for basic scrutiny to work – it’s what the public keep voting for. But our broken voting system is handing out fake supermajorities to parties out of all proportion to their real support.
 

The coming elections will barely make a dent on these One Party States, and it’s why they breed complacency. When councillors in Slough and Tunbridge Wells voted themselves pay increases they knew they were untouchable.

Quite simply no councillor and no council should be beyond the reach of voters.

It’s time for England and Wales to follow the lead of Scotland, and abandon First Past the Post for a fair voting system in local elections. Since they made the move in 2007 most of Scotland is still run by single party governments – but all councils now have vibrant opposition.

Fair votes have made Scotland’s One Party fiefdoms a thing of the past. There are lessons here for anyone who believes local democracy in England and Wales should be better.

It’s time to make the change: the solution is right in front of us. Fair votes in Scotland has worked. The same single transferable vote (STV) system the Scots use could offer Welsh and English voters so much more.

If you’ve been failed by local democracy we want to hear from you. Visit our Rotten Boroughs page and tell us your story…
The One Party States of England and Wales

Full data by region and party is available for download here…

The Lib Dems One Party States

Labour’s One Party States

Conservative One Party States