A New Year brings with it new supporters of electoral reform including business leaders and The Economist.
Here are the top lines and stories from the UK, Parliament and trade unions.
How our voting system affects jobs, pay, and investment
Topping the list of things that trade unions tell us they want to talk about are ‘industrial issues’ such as jobs, pay and conditions.
Electoral reform may seem like an entirely separate issue but as a recent letter to the Financial Times shows, the two are inextricably linked. You can find the full text of the letter in Mike Wright’s article.
As you will see, business leaders want the certainty and ‘stable consensus politics’ that a proportional voting system can bring. They say that political uncertainty has damaged business confidence.
Over twenty business leaders have signed the letter which specifically states:
‘We consider that the electoral system no longer serves the interests of UK business in generating growth.’
The letter goes on to criticise the short-termist and unpredictable policies that are a consequence of the First Past the Post system, which also discourages inward investment and long-term planning.
Meanwhile, Mark E Thomas has taken a look across the pond and his blog Why we must act quickly to preserve our democracy and safeguard our social contract predicts how events playing out in the United States could be replicated in the UK unless our politicians read the warning signs and take action to remedy our flawed democracy.
Slot-machine politics and the need for change
Even a day is a long time in politics at the moment with the heat rising as we approach May’s local elections. These are widely expected to deliver chaotic and distorted results, once again exposing what we already know: that our voting system is not fit for purpose.
“Slot-machine politics” is how The Economist recently described what First Past the Post is doing to our democracy.
The upcoming Elections Bill could be our best opportunity to address this in decades.
But you will be shocked to learn there is no plan for the Bill to fix this broken system.
That’s why the APPG for Fair Elections organised a private briefing for MPs on 28th January with Britain’s leading elections expert: Professor John Curtice and constitutional expert, Dr David Klemperer.
The private session was designed to help them understand the negative impact that First Past the Post is having on elections and Britain’s politics, and what they can do to change that.
The APPG for Fair Elections is already the largest APPG in Parliament making it clear that electoral reform is now urgent.
Check to see if your MP is a member and if not, please drop them a line to encourage them to join.
Trade unions step up for electoral reform
Following CWU’s successful political forum ‘to consider and recommend its position on electoral reform’ in November, we sent a personal letter via Royal Mail to each of their National Executive Council Members.
We know that Exec members are busy people and that some may be coming to this issue for the first time so we wanted to summarise the main points made at the event and provide background information. We’re hoping that this might make for interesting reading on the train journey home from their next meeting.
Furthermore, we have also been working hard with members of the GMB to table motions for their conference, which takes place in Blackpool in June. We’ve been successful in getting motions passed in branches, some with unanimous support for electoral reform.
The next hurdle is to get those motions through the Regional meetings of delegates and onto the conference floor. Look out for an update in April.
Meanwhile, if you are in a union that doesn’t have policy on electoral reform, please consider tabling our motion at your next meeting. We can provide hard copy booklets for your members and help with background information, speeches or organising. Just drop us a line at [email protected] and tell us what you need.