A revolution in the way Britain does politics has begun in Devon. Tory MPs should be afraid | George Monbiot
A revolution in the way Britain does politics has begun in Devon. Tory MPs should be afraid | George Monbiot
There’s an urgent need for a fairer electoral system – and if politicians won’t make it happen, the people will, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
I feel like the only way we're going to have electoral reform is to have a single issue party whose only mission would be to implement a form of PR. Their manifesto is literally just change the electoral process once in power and call a new election under the new system, with some time for parties to form.
A bit like how UKIP scared the Tories, a single issue party could scare Labour.
imho, the only way we'll see PR is if one of the parties in power wants it.
And as the current system favors the two parties who tend to get into power, neither wants it.
They'll only do it if they're forced to, possibly by a third party threatening to replace one of them.
Because at that point, PR would become a survival tactic.Exactly. UKIP have shown that a single issue party can sway an incumbent party.
I'm surprised there's not more vocal support for electoral reform from the more left-wing and right-wing elements of Labour and the Tories respectively.
I hate how electoral reform is always argued for purely as a way to "stop the Tories", rather than the actual benefit of having everyone's vote count for something.
I don't care who people vote for, as long as their vote actually means something. That's why I want electoral reform. Not to try and bar a particular party from ever taking office again. What's democratic about that?
That’s actually quite a good idea
First past the post system is designed to keep the liberal and neoliberal parties in power.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
This is what democracy looks like: hundreds of people queueing in the rain, seeking to take back control of a political system that treats voters like an afterthought.
A process that began here in South Devon and is now spreading to other constituencies has allowed voters to reclaim the initiative from centralised and self-interested political parties.
Whatever the results at the general election, this is already a victory of sorts: bringing people back into the political process, showing how democracy could become a living proposition, rather than a dry and curling parchment locked behind a portcullis with chains.
The spending (which is very small, as the primaries are created and run by volunteers) takes place before the champion is chosen, so, as the Electoral Commission has confirmed, doesn’t eat into the candidates’ capped election budgets.
The Isle of Wight East constituency, after the refusal of both Labour and the Lib Dems to play, is designing a new process that doesn’t rely on their involvement.
We’ll still be stuck with a centralised and coercive politics, unmatched to the needs of the complex system we call society, based on the illegitimate concepts of presumed consent and remote decision-making.
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This is a terrible summary that completely misses the entire point.
TDLR; They held a mock election to gain voting intentions so that everyone could vote in unison on the real day for the most popular alternative to the Tories.