Boundary Commission proposals will see Labour ‘lose out’.

Seems that Labour, despite their apparent support for electoral reform and better democracy (yet failed to spend anything substantial on the AV Referendum in May) are complaining that Labour will be the worst hit because of  ”Westminster Government’s plans” to alter

Image via Wikipedia

constituency boundaries following the Boundary Commission‘s proposals.

Despite the fact that the Boundary Commission is a statutory committee for the Electoral Commission, which is an independent body, Labour are under the impression – or so Cardiff West Labour MP Kevin Brennan seems to be - that the proposals are attempts made by the Conservatives to secure an advantage for the party at the next election.  He also seems to think that Labour is still the party of the working class. But that’s another discussion.

However, I do agree that changing the law to remove penalties on people who do not register to vote would keep many people off the Electoral Register. But again, this argument by Labour is nothing more than a self-serving, selfish approach. Kevin Brennan even said himself;

“Most of the people who won’t register to vote will be poor people, who would be more likely to vote Labour.”

They also seem to be under the misguided impression that changing boundaries will change support. A Labour spokesperson claims that the Liberal Democrats could be wiped out in Wales;

“reconfigured constituencies [...] will be merged with neighbouring constituencies in one way or another [...] Whichever direction they go, there will be fewer Lib Dem supporters.”

They also seem to think that Plaid Cymru will be left with only one seat.

So why are Labour who were clearly elected by the people of Wales (or so they think) in the last Welsh Election worried about losing a few seats? (May be the minority government bit of it). Their argument isn’t concern for those who will not be registered to vote, or even encouragement for the proposals to equalise the number of voters in constituencies across the UK, this is Labour looking after their own.

Wales Online. 

 

No2AV’s lies surface.

It was no secret that No2AV spouted several lies about the Alternative Voting System on the run up to May’s Referendum on our voting system. The ‘No Camp’ lied about the AV system, scaring voters about minority parties, costs of changing the voting system during a period of economic upheaval and the unfairness of allowing 2nd and 3rd place candidates to win the seat.

Turns out that No2AV’s lie about the taxpayer forking out £250 million, was a way of covering up their own cost of £6.7m for their No2AV leaflets, paid for by the taxpayer.

Read the Lib Dem Voice article, here.

Should voting be compulsory?

Voting is a democratic right, and it’s a legal requirement to be registered to vote in the UK – everyone aged 18 or over, must be on the electoral roll, or electoral register. However, not everyone is registered to vote, and even those who are registered to vote, don’t exercise the right to a democratic vote.

Year on year voting turnout in the UK falls. In the last General Election the voter turnout was 65.1%, the highest turnout since 1997 when Labour won their landslide victory against the Conservatives. Even though voter turnout was 65.1 last year, the figure is low compared to other levels of voter turnout in previous elections. Here’s a few examples;

1950 – 83.9%
1974 (Feb) – 78.8%
1983 – 72.2%
2001 – 59.4

Figures from 1945-2010 here.

However, voter turnout for General Elections is generally higher than other elections because people see this certain election as more important than others. Turnout for Council Elections and European Parliament Elections is often very low, and even elections for the UKs devolved governments is often low. For example in this year’s Welsh Assembly Elections, voter turnout was 42.2%.

This has caused many to ask the question, should voting be compulsory? There are currently 32 countries with compulsory voting, of these, only 12 countries enforce it, including Australia, Brazil and Argentina. Some have argued that the UK needs compulsory voting to combat low voter turnout. Now, this means that it will be compulsory to put a mark on a ballot paper, whether to vote for a political party or candidate, spoil the ballot paper, or choose ‘none of the above’. Those who fail to vote, will receive a fine.

If, say, only 50% of the electorate is turning out to vote that means that the elected government does not reflect the view of the majority of the country. That government cannot then claim mandate over the people, and claim that they are ‘what the people voted for’.

People often complain about what the current government is doing, and many will say that if you haven’t voted you don’t have the right to complain. While I agree with saying that (to some extent – as much as it is a democratic right to vote, we live in a democracy and should have the choice as to whether we wish to vote), we need to encourage people to vote, even if it is so they spoil their ballot paper to show their discontent with the choices of government that are available to them (remembering that spoilt ballot papers are counted).

And if making voting compulsory in the UK is what’s needed to ‘save politics’ in the UK, then I fully agree with doing so.

Edit: (see comment below)
I do think – and I should have included this – that we need to educate young people about politics. Who the political parties are, what they stand for and the importance of politics in the UK, Europe and all over the world. We need to be educating them about the different types of voting, about devolution and what different departments and ministers do.