Zoe Dixon
Zoe Dixon

The state of politics in the UK is bad, the level of public trust and respect of politicians has perhaps reached an all time low. One might argue that feelings of disengagement and apathy have grown into active hostility and anger. This level of public outcry is without doubt largely due to the behaviour of many MPs (although certainly not as many as vilified by the Telegraph), and the expenses that they have claimed over recent years.

It is 10 months since the Telegraph made its shocking discovery and the furore surrounding the issues rumbles on. The question is, what can be done to reform politics? In the immediate wake of the revelations it was suggested that a change of the rules was needed - that is the guidelines for claiming expenses and allowances - but is that enough or do we need wholesale electoral reform?

Since the end of the Second World War, 29% of parliamentary seats in England, Wales and Scotland have never changed parties. That means that since the 1945 election and during the subsequent 16, those constituencies have been resilient to Labour and Tory landslides as well as individual scandals. The figure is even more striking since 1970; 49% of seats have remained the same colour, which means that nearly 50% of the electorate who are under 40 years of age have never known a time when their constituency was represented by another party. This is an unhealthy state for our democracy.

Infact large majorities are bad for democracy as it breeds a sense of entitlement and complacency. People frequently ask the question, 'Why do Lib Dem MPs often work harder for their constituents?'. The answer, because they have smaller majorities that they have to work twice as hard to get! You will not find a Lib Dem MP this election who is resting on their laurels, even Nick Clegg, our Leader will be spending as much time as is possible pounding the streets of Sheffield Hallam.

The Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill is currently passing through the House of Commons. The scope of the bill is vast, but one important aspect relates to reform of the electoral system by which MPs are voted into the House of Commons.

The current system, First Past the Post (FPTP) is very simple; each individual has one vote which they allocate to one candidate. The candidate with the most votes wins and they become the MP for that area. Unfortunately this means that all other votes are wasted. It also means that MPs can be appointed with a very small share of the vote, this can be seen from the case of George Galloway in 2005, he was elected with the support of only 18.4% of his constituents! Whatsmore, in the 2005 election only three MPs managed to secure the votes of more than 40% of their constituents. I might add that in 2005 Lib Dems got 22% of the national vote but only 9% of seats - surely that isn't fair! We want to make every vote count.

On the 9th February, MPs voted in favour of holding a nationwide referendum to choose between FPTP and the Alternative Vote (AV) system. AV is similar to FPTP but voters rank the candidates in order of preference, the rank order is taken into account and no candidate is appointed until they have at least 50% of the votes. A referendum on the voting system and (hopefully) the introduction of AV would not only create a way for voters to feel more in touch with the electoral system but it would also create a much fairer way of appointing our MPs.

The introduction of AV may also guard against the landslide victories that we have seen in recent governments, which have resulted in some legislation being railroaded through parliament because of the overwhelming majorities of the party in power. In a recent address in Parliament, Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, commented on this very subject. He said:

"Ever since the massive majorities of Margaret Thatcher, for most of the last generation we have had governments that could, and did effectively ignore parliamentary process, with very small numbers of people, sometimes only one, taking key decisions which nobody dared to oppose and which were rammed through Parliament with scant regard for proper debate."

The destination of the bill is not known; it is unlikely to get royal assent before the election is called. This means that the decision made to hold a referendum on the voting system may yet be lost, and whatever the outcome it would not happen before the coming election. Therefore, can I urge you to consider who will be the best representative for you locally. Please ensure that you think about your vote, and that you make it count! CR

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.