has told the Guardian that he would welcome a wider debate on the issue of electoral reform. This was one of new Labour's manifesto pledges in | 997 which was kicked into the long grass once they were in office and most likely to be re-elected under the current first-past-the-post (FPTP) system. ALAN Brown was commenting on the publication of the report of the Power Commission Inquiry into Britain's undemocratic voting procedures which has called for a shake up of the current system to prevent what it fears will be a meltdown in Britain's system of representation
The current way of doing things, the Commission says, "is killing politics" in Britain.
The Commission is right. Diminishing turnouts at elections are at least partially the result of this. In Westminster elections most people's votes don't count (other than in marginal constituencies).
And the outcome of the election is grossly undemocratic with the number of seats in Parliament for the various parties baring little relation to the votes cast for those parties.
According to the Electoral Reform Society in the general election last year 19 million people cast ineffective votes, i.e. 70 per cent of those who voted. Most of these are the same people every time: Tory voters in strong Labour seats or vice-versa.
It is worth remembering that in that election Labour only managed 35.2 per cent of the VOLES cast but were rewarded with 55.1 per cent of the seats in Parliament.
The Tories got 30.7 per cent of the vote and 32.3 per cent of the seats. The Lib Dems got 22.1 per cent of the vote and only 9.6 per cent of the seats.
Put another way it took 26,000 votes to elect a Labour war kicked in properly. building a real alternative to Blair and new