General
election 2015
Only 24% of
the electorate or 11.3 million people voted Conservative, yet we have a majority
Conservative government. UKIP got 3.8 million votes, while the Green party got
1.1 million votes, but both ended up with only one MP each. Compare that with
SNP who received 1.5 million votes and have 56 MPs. The Liberal Democrats
received 2.4 million votes, yet returned eight MPs.
Then we have
the roughly 35% of the electorate who did not cast a vote. Are they really
apathetic about what way they are governed, or is it they feel disillusioned
with British politics and that none of the parties represent what they stand
for or believe in? I suggest it is the latter and they in fact did cast a vote
on 7th May not to endorse the policies of any of the political parties. Surely
all of these facts tell us that our first past the post voting system is unfit
for a 21st century democracy.
House of
Commons
There are
650 MP's in the House of Commons. Roughly 380 of those are from what is known
as "safe seats" meaning that a the same party will get elected
regardless of who the candidate is. Therefore the number of candidates that
meaningfully go through a general election every five years is 270 and the
number of people who actually decide those results is less than half a
million.
House of
Lords
There are
790 members of the House of Lords and not a single one of them is
democratically elected. There are 92 heriditary Lords who are appointed by
birth. A further 26 Lords are appointed because of their role in the
established Church of England. The remainder are normally appointed by the
Prime Minister, often from major party donors. Since 2000 there has been a tokenistic House of
Lords Appointments Committee, which seems to merely demonstrate that no-one
really knows what is going on when it comes to appointments to the House of
Lords.
The
Crown/State
When we
speak of the Crown in relation to British politics we often think of the Queen.
However in actuality the Queen has very little if any involvement in British
politics. The state is the permanent body of British politics that is the
supreme power and overruling body. Its various institutions together have the
power to rule over us, whether there is a government or not. While governments
are elected every five years, the state remains intact and it is the British
state that rules supreme, not parliament. If we want to achieve real democracy,
we have to address the issue of the state and its power to rule over us.
Voting in
the House of Commons
Once elected
our MPs are expected to represent us in parliament and when voting, do so as
they believe their constituents would expect them to. However in reality it is
not only in elections that our voting system is broken. MPs are free to vote as
they choose once elected and have no obligation to consider their constituents
at all when voting. In actuality if they even bother to turn up for a vote at
all, the majority of MPs vote not on behalf of their constituents, but how
their party leader expects them to vote. At present, both government and
opposition chief whips who receive additional salaries from the taxpayer, are
creatures of the political party rather than an aide to democracy. They
have too much power and too much say over what happens to MPs, from the
appointment of people to select committees through to MPs' accommodation and
they use these powers to either reward or punish MPs according to their loyalty
to the respective party. The power of the whip, though unrecognised as a
parliamentary post, still rules supreme and inhibits rather than enhances
democracy in the House of Commons.
Lobbying
There are
many professional lobbyists operating within parliament. Their job is to
pressure government ministers into enacting legislation that is in favour of
the private companies they represent, regardless of what is best for the people
or the country as a whole and are a complete corruption of the political
process. They are often helped by MPs who take payments in exchange for
influence. The most recent examples are former foreign secretaries Malcolm
Rifkind and Jack Straw were caught by channel 4 Dispatches investigators,
offering to use their political influence in return for payments of up to
£5,000 per day.
Just before
the 2010 general election David Cameron said that lobbying was "the next
big scandal waiting to happen. It’s an issue that crosses party lines and has
tainted our politics for too long, an issue that exposes the far-too-cosy
relationship between politics, government, business and money." yet when
he became Prime Minister Cameron did nothing to stop it. In fact since then
Cameron has hired corporate lobbyist Lynton Crosby, as a full-time
£500,000/year personal adviser. Shortly after Crosby’s arrival at No 10,
the government shelved its planned policy of introducing plain packaging on
cigarettes. Lynton Crosby also represents the tobacco giant Phillip Morris
in a £6m contract.
Political
party funding
The majority
of Tory party funding comes from wealthy individuals and big business. This is
funding that comes with the price. Donors expect government legislation to be
enacted in their favour, or a lucrative government contract. The Labour Party
are little better, as they too receive donations from many rich
businessmen. Since 2010 the Labour Party has received an estimated
£600,000 worth of free services from Price Waterhouse Coopers, the
accountancy firm. PWC admits that it ‘cultivates relationships with parties to
further the interests of the firm and its clients.’ and were severely
reprimanded by the Parliamentary Accounts Committee earlier this year for their
role in industrial scale tax avoidance. The Tories have received over £10m
in donations from private health companies while pursuing a policy of
privatising the NHS, returning the favour by awarding £1.5bn of contracts to
companies that have donated to their party.
Westminster
scandals
There have
been a number of scandals in the past six years since the MPs expenses in 2009.
These have included cash for questions, cash for access (twice), cash for
honours, cash for influence (twice), Jowellgate, Peter Watt, Michael Brown,
Bernie Ecclestone, Werrittygate, Hunt, Rifkind and Straw. Then we have the MPs
gaining directorships at private corporations and the revolving door, allowing
corporate representatives to obtain roles at Westminster as special advisors.
Also the alleged 14 cases where the Metropolitan police terminated
investigations that were implicating MPs and establishment figures and the 46
instances where similar cover-ups took place, including allegations of
politicians being involved in what is now commonly known as the Westminster
paedophile ring and the murder of two young boys.
Conclusion
As the
examples above show, Britain has surrendered its position as a democratic
society, in favour of a corporate and financial domination of the state and
political process. The freedom of the trade and financial industries to operate
uninterrupted and unregulated in creating vast amounts of wealth for the few,
while the many struggle to make ends meet and the poorest are unable to provide
for themselves and their family, has taken precedence over a fair and
democratic society in Britain. Our entire political system is in urgent need of
reform. In order to achieve both legitimacy and strength in credibility any
political reform must be by the people and for the people.
Assemblies for Democracy have
already held assemblies in London, Glasgow & Manchester, with a further
three being planned in Ireland, Wales & Yorkshire, have already laid some
of the groundwork. An Agreement
of the People has also made some great achievements including having
produced a draft Agreement for editing & discussion. In my opinion these
two groups should combine their resources and work together to finalise an
agreement of the people document, before moving on to write, debate and produce
a written British constitution that will formalise the will of the British
people.
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