Tuesday 20 April 2010
Please get in touch if you want to speak to me ...
As you can imagine, things are pretty hectic right now. I'm endeavouring to have a minimum of 100 personal 'contacts' per day, ie, speaking to a local voter either in person or on the phone. If you're reading this blog and would like me to call you or stop by in person, please let me know - my contact details are on the right hand side of the blog.
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4 comments:
Hi, this is the first time I will be able to vote in a general election having only previously voted in the Euro elections last May. I voted Labour in that election and i will be this time, but in both cases i have been caused to stop and think what ist the point? In the EU elections Labour were never not going to be in the top 3 and in this general election as far as i can see the pattern is a growing Tory majority were the only way of a Labour or Liberal candidate having a chance of mounting a serious chalenge would be through extreem tactical voting. would you not agree that the system is totaly flawed that in areas up and down the country peoples votes count for little. As i say i suppour Labour and will be voting for you but no matter how much i want a Labour government recent polls showing that 3rd in the popular vote could still give us the most seats is not democratic at all. What are the commitments to changing this system because surely this is one of the things that has put people of politics so much.
Thanks for your support.
I support the Alternative Vote system, which ensures there is a strong MP/constituency link but also that every vote in the constituency counts, at least in the large majority of constituencies where the MP doesn't win the seat with an absolute majority (ie, over 50% of the vote). Clearly, the British political system needs major updating, and my view is that only Labour and the LibDems realise that.
As for Labour coming 3rd but getting the most seats, we're still it to win it, so you might want to ask me that question again after the election result is in.
Thanks for the quick reply and im in agreement with you. All the best for the 6th.
James highlights the issue that in most seats most votes don't count.
In Hexham, voting Tory will not elect more Tory MPs - we have already had one selected for us by the Conservative Selection Committee (thanks by the way - not!). (Similar considerations apply in the tribal Labour Seats and I guess a few Lib Dem seats)
In Hexham, voting Labour (or Lib Dem) will not elect anyone from that party (bar a complete melt down - which did not happen in 1997) - and it's not as if your support can be transferred to somewhere where it could make a difference.
The Alternative Vote is a fig-leaf (makes the current corrupt system marginally less naked); it preserves the "constituency link", but I wonder at how real this link is (particularly outside the political cognoscenti). I cannot claim to know my (single) Westminster constituency MP any better than my (multiple) Euro MEPs - in fact the opposite - I have met and spoken to Stephen Hughes.
The benefits of multiple MPs is you stand a greater chance of finding a representative who will fight your corner on a politically divisive issue. If you are, say anti-fox hunting, the new Tory MP-designate is not going to be supportive, but I cannot approach say Ronnie Campbell or Alan Beith to ask them to take up the case for better enforcement because they are not my constituency MP.
However with multi-member seats (and transferable voting - excuse the near-geekiness, but save us from Party Lists managed by the party hierarchies), not only might I find a supportive MP, but I could then vote for him or her ("better link"?), and if he or she had more support than required, the unused part of my vote could then be used to support my second choice. My vote would matter*. In say a four member Northumberland Seat, we would not have four safe seats; we would have a genuine contest for all four seats and that would make MPs accountable to us.
I would be wary of ruling out STV.
* Under STV in a 4 member constituency more than 80% of the votes would be used to elect someone; this compares to 50% plus under AV
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