Letter: Time for a cleaner more democratic form of local politics in Rochdale

Dear Editor,

Angela Smith is quite right to point out that: 'It really is depressing that local politics is so stale and predictable.'

'Letters: Depressing that local politics is so stale and predictable', (Rochdale Online, 26 April 2018).

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/129/letters-to-the-editor/118321/letter-depressing-that-local-politics-is-so-stale-and-predictable

The 'male, stale and pale' nature of politics is by no means a purely Rochdale phenomenon but we have surely had our fill of local politicians bringing our town into disrepute from the nineteen-sixties to the present day.

We have had more than our fair share of scandal and incompetence accompanied by an ever-present malodourous whiff.

What, many local people ask in despair, have we done to deserve such a succession of politically wayward and personally flawed individuals rising to the top of our local political parties decade after decade?

I would like to suggest that part of the solution to this question is root and branch reform of the voting system itself. Minority rule has no place in a democracy, yet in the UK minority rule is the norm. We have had governments the majority UK voters have rejected 86% of the time since 1945.

The party governing our country today were elected by 57% of the voters. The previous government was rejected by 63% of votes. This isn't democratic.

The 2015 General Election was the most disproportionate in British history and is a shocking example of how our voting system misrepresents the will of the people.

In 2015, 24% of votes cast were for UKIP, the Liberal Democrats or the Green Party. However, these parties now have only 10 MPs between them - just 1.5%. One party, the SNP, received 1.5m votes and won 56 seats in parliament whilst another, UKIP, received 4m votes but just 1 seat in parliament. This isn’t democratic.

Because of the distorting effect of First Past the Post, (FPTP), voting for a party that does not have concentrated support means your vote is worth less. 

Votes cast in 2015 for UKIP, the Green Party or the Liberal Democrats were worth far less than those cast for the Conservatives or SNP. In fact, a vote for the SNP was worth 150 times as much as vote for UKIP in 2015.

This isn’t democratic either.

The Electoral Reform Society calculated that 74% of votes cast in 2015 were wasted: cast either for losing candidates or for winning candidates above and beyond the amount needed to win in a particular constituency, they had no impact on the final result of the General Election. This means the majority of people are locked out of our political process and have no say in how the country is run. Many are forced to vote tactically to avoid wasting their vote. This is unhealthy for democracy.

Proportional Representation would mean every vote would matter; everyone would have a voice in how the country is run and see their choices reflected in parliament. It is no wonder that one thirdof eligible voters in 2015 did not turn out to vote, when so many felt that their votes would be wasted.

A voting system where every vote matters would increase political participation and encourage higher turnout.

Locally we need highly motivated, proactive and committed councillors not just more of the 'same old same old' that have failed this town and its inhabitants so badly over so many decades.

One definition of insanity is to keep repeating the same actions and expecting different results.

We get something of the measure of the dire crisis in local politics when lifelong Labour party voters feel torn between supporting the party locally when they would have no hesitation whatsoever in following their political beliefs in voting for Labour in a General Election.

Our local political class have strained voter’s loyalties to snapping point and are perhaps complacently taking local voters for granted - yet again.

Part of the process of a political renaissance in Rochdale clearly needs to be an examination of the selection processes for candidates as well as a change to our creaking and moribund electoral system.

There are also a number of added values from Electoral Reform which include:

• Cleaner Politics - Proportional Representation would mean politicians working together, co-operating and coming to a consensus.
• More Equal Society - Proportional Representation would mean everyone having an equal voice so politicians would act in the interests of the whole country, rather than a small minority. Countries with PR tend to have lower levels of income inequality.
• Fairer Distribution of Public Goods - By giving everyone equal access to political power, PR countries see lower levels of economic inequality and tend to garner higher scores on the United Nation’s Human Development Index.
• Gender Equality - Gender balance in parliaments elected by Proportional Representation tends to be much better than in countries using FPTP. Research has found the share of women elected under systems of PR to be 8% higher.
• Increased Political Participation - With a system of Proportional Representation in which every vote matters, more people would feel engaged by politics and want to participate. This would increase turnout at elections and encourage education around political issues. Research shows that turnout in countries with proportional systems is at least 5% higher on average - other research shows an even greater increase.
• Taking Environmental Action - Countries with proportional systems scored six points higher on the Yale Environmental Performance Index, which measures ten policy areas, including environmental health, air quality, resource management, biodiversity and habitat, forestry, fisheries, agriculture and climate change.

I think it's clear that many people from all shades of political opinion in Rochdale accept that the time for a 'deep clean' of local politics is long, long overdue.

As part of that local debate some of that narrative needs to be focused not just upon the calibre of politicians we get to elect and the candidates selection process but also on the voting systems we use to elect them to public office in the first place.

Yours,

Andrew Wastling