Proportional Representation

For many, Labour was seen as the only viable opposition because of our First Past the Post anti-democratic voting system. It distorts voting decisions as the majority vote against instead of for and/or they feel so disenfranchised by the absolute meaninglessness of our democracy their vote is not cast.

I do not feel that the Conservatives represent my interests. I do not feel Labour do, either. A future election will perhaps deny the two largest and most divided parties an automatic mandate due to their gravity. I hope they become honest with themselves and both split off their extremists and then adopt a fair electoral system.

Politics is not just about being in the EU or not. People are suffering as a consequence of this Government and the PM’s own historic track record as a promoter of bigotry and indifference to the needs of the broader population. Her snap election strategy was all about the population investing in Labour as a path to get rid of her.

She does not even have a voice, just soundbites and meaningless equations to justify the wounding of our democratic life.

But neither does the leader of the Opposition. What he said is naturally “holding the Government to account”. But his take on Brexit confuses and he seems to be now having to support a policy he finds difficult. Surrendering to the wiser corners of the Labour party.

The way forward is to have a voting system that creates Governments that are truly representative of the views of people. The Referendum would have been that, if only it has been run honestly, instead it appealed to prejudice and made dreadful false promises.

No, the answer is to represent all views that find a majority or that form a meaningful coalition. The ConLib coalition was not a coalition but a bullying take down of the Liberal Democrat identity. It was no different except Nick Clegg sometimes said “no” but not always at the right time. A coalition is a round table of mutual interest. The UK has not seen one, not yet.

New Zealand and Germany have MMP (mixed member proportional) that keeps the best and most talented MPs in parliament, but also gives more seats to parties that get the votes. It works rather better than AV which Nick Clegg was given a referendum by Cameron so PR could be killed off. Nick Clegg damaged the UK by his poor political judgment. I hope he does better at Facebook.

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