Posts Tagged ‘electoral reform’

Labour MPs, though they know  they cannot win the next general election under Gordon Brown, now seem almost resigned to this, lacking the will to take the action that they could take to lessen the likelihood of an outright Tory victory and to ensure that much of the real achievement of this Labour government is preserved in the years ahead.

Their indecision is not warranted. Material for a strategy for a course of action to save Labour’s legacy has, in effect, been set out for them through recent events. Beyond that strategy, a variant on could be used if turns out not to be able to be fully implemented before the election. Here are the main components.

A recent opinion poll indicates that Labour could win with a slim majority if it had Alan Johnson as its leader. Johnson has said that he favours electoral reform for the House of Commons on the model for proportional representation (PR) proposed by the commission led by the late Roy Jenkins.

The Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has also recently supported this form of PR. Clegg has proposed that PR could be set up before the end of this year as part of wider set of reforms.

Barry Shearman MP has pointed out that it would take simply a secret ballot of Labour MPs to bring about the vote of no-confidence in the Prime Minister that would leave the way clear for a leadership election. Experts on party rules have said that a new leader could be elected within a few weeks.

In any case, a vote by a majority of Labour MPs for a given candidate is on its own sufficient to choose a new Prime Minister, regardless of party rules – for there would be no point in Brown’s followers continuing to support him given that he would then no longer be in reality leader of Labour’s majority bloc in the House and therefore no longer command the support of the House.

By seizing upon the opportunity these circumstances offer, Labour could have a new Prime Minister in office within weeks, with a fair chance of both party and constitutional renewal.

A new leader would have to hold firmly to a determination not to hold a general election in the near future. This involves disarming the argument now being made that Labour could not legitimately change its leader a second time without that leader being endorsed by the voters. The fact is that, in Britain ’s unwritten constitution, there is no such rule. Moreover, the electorate in 2005 voted for a Labour government led by a cabinet with collective responsibility, one thing which is a firm rule of the constitution.

Postponing the general election till nearer the end of the maximum term will provide a new leader and their cabinet with space to unfold a programme which offers the sense of purposeful direction at present lacking, and also the opportunity for the basically well-judged measures already taken against the recession to show signs of yielding positive effects.

A wider constitutional reform agenda is certainly needed, but PR for the House of Commons is something that can done with relatively little delay. The detailed enquiry has already been carried out with the work of the Jenkins commission. Jenkins proposed a coherent, workable system. It employs the additional member system already used widely across continental Europe as well as in devolved authorities within Britain . It is a system that enables voters both to vote for a particular individual for their constituency and to elect minority parties that reflect most closely their policy preferences.

It is said that there would not be time for the Boundaries Commission to make the necessary changes in electoral divisions. This, however, where there’s a will there’s a way.  The government needs to insist upon a especially concerted effort by the Commission to ensure that it can do this quickly, if necessary backed up with additional resources.

All that is required is for Parliament to legislate for PR and then for a referendum to be held for it to get the voters’ endorsement. With Labour’s leadership supporting it and only the Tories of the other significant parties opposing PR it is very likely that this significant constitutional reform would be ratified in the referendum.

There is ample time to carry this out before the end of this year. It is crucial that PR should be in operation for the next general election, as this would prevent the Tories from winning an outright majority, just as it would for each other party. Coalition government would most likely follow. It is not inconceivable that a Labour- Lib Dem coalition could be formed, but a Tory government dependent upon non-Tory parties to remain in power would find it difficult to implement its full programme of cuts in public services and an economic policy focused away from reducing inequality.

However, there is a high potential for obstacles to arise to stymie this strategy. Fortunately,  there is a variant on it that would allow more time for it to surmount the obstacles. It is this:

The Liberal Democrats and Labour could form an electoral pact not to stand against each other in seats they respectively already hold. This would make it much harder for the Tories to win an outright majority.

This would be accompanied by the promise that, following the election, if they held a majority between them in parliament, the Lib Dems and Labour would co-operate to facilitate a full and open programme of constitutional reform, including first and foremost a balanced system of PR for the House of Commons. Referenda would be held on all key elements. Backing this up would be a firm promise that a further general election, using the new system, would be held within two years.

This plan could be legitimately presented to the electorate as a well structured process of reform directed towards building a healthier democracy.

The Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for PR. Labour has traditionally been opposed to it on the grounds that present system allows them their turn in office unhindered by the demands of other parties. Such a period is now coming to an end, however, with the risk that much of its work will be undone by a Tory government, just as it was under Thatcher and Major. Most of our continental partners with the least economic inequality have some form of PR. PR inevitably blunts initiatives from the outer ends of the political spectrum, both right and left. If Labour really wants to create the best conditions for the preservation of the advances in social solidarity that it has brought about then ensuring that the mandates of future governments depend upon PR looks like a major contribution to that end.