I forgot to mention in my previous post on the pending British elections that another aspect of potential fun out the of those elections is increased talk of electoral reform in the UK.
Along those lines is a piece from the Telegraph: Jack Straw: new House of Lords to be elected by proportional representation:
But Mr Straw ruled out introducing PR for the House of Commons, saying that while the first past the post system for electing MPs was outdated, it was crucial for a link between voters and constituencies to be maintained.
[…]
In a speech at the Magna Carter Institute, Mr Straw said that electoral reform would help restore public faith in Parliament following the expenses scandal.
He added: “Crucially the Alternative Vote would enable us to retain the single member constituency link, which is one of the central merits of the current system – both because it delivers effective representation and allows MPs to be held directly to account.
“But AV would also ensure that every MP is elected with the support of over half of the voters in their constituency. In an age of multiparty politics, it could both enhance the legitimacy of MPs and enable the public to express a greater range of preferences.”
Of course, reform for the Commons would only be on the table if Labour wins in May (which isn’t likely). And Labour favors AV over PR less, I suspect, for reasons of linkages of MPs to constituencies than the fact that they think that AV will benefit them more than would PR.
The Conservatives are also committed to an elected Lords, although David Cameron is unlikely to find time in the busy Parliamentary programme during his first term in office, but are opposed to electoral reform.
Of course, while an elected yet largely useless upper house is better than an unelected yet largely useless upper house, one wonders why there isn’t more talk of simply abolishing the thing.
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November 25th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
It’s really hard to predict how AV (or what Americans often call IRV) would work when introduced into an existing multiparty system. No real precedent.
As for second chambers, I am all for abolishing them.
November 25th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
It is an interesting question, and certainly it would be fun to see what would happen! Although one does suspect that they assume it will help them vice other changes. Of course, if they really wanted reform, prior to now probably would have been the time to do it.