Three reasons why it’s in Labour interests to support vote reform
The date for a referendum on vote reform was barely announced yesterday and people on the left started spitting blood at each other. I don’t want to get into a debate about whether AV is better than the status quo; instead I’ll focus on why supporting AV would be strategically good for the Labour Party.
I’m not surprised by John Prescott’s reaction: “This is a poisonous package and Labour must fight against every single part of it.” — and I disagree for various reasons, the first of which is that the AV referendum is not part of any package.
It will stand on its own while the other pieces of legislation will be pushed through by Cameron and Clegg despite Labour and Tory-backbench opposition. Vote reform is the only area Labour will have a significant influence on.
And here are three reasons to support AV:
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Conclusions of the upcoming torture inquiry may have already been agreed
Today the government is expected to make an announcement about a judge-led commission or inquiry into whether the UK was complicit in the use of torture.
Patrick Wintour on the Guardian blog says the test for the Coalition will come in the details. He asks:
Nick Clegg, Edward Davey and Hague have demanded an inquiry so much in Opposition, they would look ridiculous if they rejected one today. But much will depend on the details. Is the inquiry to be held in public, what evidence will be published, what witnesses will be called, will the civil court cases being taken against the government be stopped, how will compensation, if any, be distributed to victims of torture? And, finally, how will the American security services be involved and how will torture be defined?
But the answers to several of these questions were already set out last week in a well informed Telegraph column by political editor Ben Brogan.
It bore all the hallmarks of several authoritative insider briefings.
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Scientists threatened after climate emails
Climate scientists in the US say police inaction has left them defenceless by in the face of a torrent of death threats and hate mail, leaving them fearing for their lives and one to contemplate arming himself with a handgun.
The scientists say the threats have increased since the furore over leaked emails from the University of East Anglia began last November, and a sample of the hate mail sent in recent months and seen by the Guardian reveals the scale and vitriolic tone of the abuse.
The scientists revealed they have been told to “go gargle razor blades” and have been described as “Nazi climate murderers”.
Some emails have been sent to them without any attempt by the sender to disguise their identity. Even though the scientists have received advice from the FBI, the local police say they are not able to act due to the near-total tolerance of “freedom of speech” in the US.
The problem appears less severe in the UK but, Professor Phil Jones, the UEA scientist at the centre of the hacked email controversy, revealed in February he had been receiving two death threats a week and had contemplated suicide.
Govt. announces big constitutional changes
The government today made these announcements:
1. The government is increasing the threshold required to dissolve Parliament from 55% to 2/3rds of all MPs.
2. 5th of May 2011 is confirmed as date for referendum of vote reform.
3. The numbers of MPs will be reduced by 50 to 600 in total, to save £12m annually in expenses.
4. Constituency sizes will be made roughly equal in number, with two exceptions.
5. There was no announcement that there will be a referendum on changing constituency sizes or reducing the number of MPs. This means the referendum will most likely be on AV reform alone.
Updates
6. Frank Dobson made the Labour case by saying this wasn’t just about constituency sizes, but also of number of people on electoral register. Nick Clegg hit back by saying Labour itself did nothing to increase the number of people on the electoral register either.
7. Nick Clegg explicitly confirms that a review of constituency boundaries will not be subject to referendum and will not be part of the question on AV.
PR should be offered in referendum says ippr
As plans for a proposed referendum on the Alternative Vote vs the current First-Past-the-Post system for the UK Parliament at Westminster are announced, independent think-tank ippr calls for the government to be bolder and offer the electorate the chance to opt for a fair, proportional voting system.
Electoral reform is a significant missed opportunity of the New Labour era and ippr welcomes the referendum announcement as recognition of the need for change to the electoral system.
However ippr does not believe AV is the right option for the UK.
ippr calls instead for the referendum to offer a choice between the existing First-Past-the-Post system and the Additional Member System (AMS).
Ippr recently published a report on electoral reform in which it argues that Alternative Vote is not the answer because:
- it is not a proportional system;
- it can actually distort things to a greater extent than the existing system;
- it does not address the many problems of the current system.
The report instead argues that AMS is the best option for elections to the UK Parliament because it combines a treasured part of the current system – the constituency link – with genuine proportionality.
Co-director of ippr Lisa Harker said:
The outcome of the election showed that the current voting system is past its sell-by-date. First-past-the-Post is unfair and distorts the electoral outcome – and this time it didn’t even deliver its proudest boast: a clear majority for one party.
We warmly welcome the decision of the new coalition government to hold a referendum on electoral reform, but if the people are only offered the chance to reject one unfair system and replace it with another it will be tragic missed opportunity. In the era of new politics, the electorate must be offered the chance to opt for real change.
To date AMS has not been discussed as part of the current debate, even though it is used successfully for elections to the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the London Assembly.
From a press release
What would it take to make Middle England militant?
The coalition is on a collision course with Middle England, and just how Mondeo Man, Worcester Woman, the C2s and the Dinkies are going to respond remains to be seen.
I’m taking it as read that the turn to the small state unveiled in the emergency budget will hurt the poor. But the poor are, by definition, suffering anyway.
The long term unemployed will continue to be long term unemployed; pensioners subsisting on the basic state pension will remain pensioners subsisting on the basic state pension. Their deprivation will be ratcheted up a notch or three.
But like the legendary frog gradually boiled to death in a saucepan, they may not particularly notice.
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Why is this government against families?
Iain Duncan Smith loves families. Nice families, of course, with a mum and a dad – not any old rag-tag childrearing unit.
His Centre For Social Justice believes that “married two-parent families produce the best outcomes for both adults and children”, and in government, he’s contributed to the policy of removing the dubious “couples penalty” from the benefits system.
Why dubious?
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A crisis of capitalism – in simple animation
The left should be in the ascendancy following a crisis of capitalism, but it is not. The right is leading for a number of reasons but just one of the problems for the left is that the narratives and explanations it offers tend to be more complicated than those offered by the right.
When David Cameron describes the UK’s debt as an overdraft it doesn’t matter that he’s wrong, it is easy to understand.
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Bill launched to restore right to strike
This from a Labour Representation Committee press release
John McDonnell, supported by the Trade Union Co-ordinating Group, presented his Private Members’ Bill to parliament last week.
If adopted, the Bill would significantly improve unions’ ability to defend their members and would be the first step towards the full restoration of trade union rights.
After coming first in the Private Members’ Ballot and in consultation with the trade union movement and leading trade union lawyers, John McDonnell MP is sponsoring the “Lawful Industrial Action (Minor Errors) Bill” to tackle the increasing practice by employers of using minor technical errors in the balloting process – which have no material effect on the outcome – to take unions to court in order to prevent them from taking industrial action.
Commenting on the Bill, John McDonnell MP said:
We have seen in the current BA Cabin Crew dispute and many other recent disputes, employers have been able to exploit loopholes in the existing law by using minor technical errors in a trade union ballot to thwart trade unionists from taking strike action.
This resort to the courts by some ruthless employers is bringing current employment law into disrepute and undermining industrial relations in this country. This cannot be right and in the interests of good industrial relations needs to be addressed.
Steve Gillan, General Secretary of the POA, said:
The POA supports the Private Members Bill entitled Lawful Industrial Action as employers are using the anti trade union legislation to stop legitimate industrial action from taking place, by getting the Courts to rule on minor technical errors. You only have to look at the disgraceful cases taken against Unite and RMT Unions. This is a small step in the right direction but the anti trade union legislation needs to go to protect all workers.
Jeremy Dear, General Secretary of the NUJ, said:
The NUJ supports the Lawful Industrial Action Private Members’ Bill because we suffer from some of the worst trade union laws in Europe. Employers should not be allowed to use the courts as a way to clamp down on democratic votes in the workplace. The heavily one-sided nature of the law does not respect basic civic rights and freedoms and therefore needs to change.
John McDonnell MP is sponsoring the Lawful Industrial Action (Minor Errors) Bill to amend section 232B of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (c. 52) to extend the circumstances in which, by virtue of that section, industrial action is not to be treated as excluded from the protection of section 219 of that Act.
The Bill has been co-signed by Kate Hoey MP, Tony Lloyd MP, Dave Anderson MP, Michael Connarty MP, Austin Mitchell MP, Frank Doran MP, Kelvin Hopkins MP, Jim Sheridan MP, David Crausby MP, Ian Lavery MP and John Cryer MP.
Second Reading of the Bill will be 22nd October 2010.
There will be a mass rally and lobby of parliament on the 13th October 2010.
Nuclear power is more unpopular than we’re led to believe
contribution by Leo
New polling sheds some light both on where the public stand in terms of different power options, and on the impact of arguments that make nuclear seem more attractive.
The polls are useful for understanding public attitudes towards nuclear power in two ways: they indicate how people regard nuclear at the moment, and they also help show the impact of arguments for nuclear power.
At a basic level, nuclear power is currently pretty much the least popular form of power generation in the UK.
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