This week MPs have voted in support of a Bill which would mean that next May the country would get to decide on whether they want to stick with FPTP (first past the post) or switch to AV (Alternative Vote). While this may not have been the choice many of us who support a more proportional system wanted we shouldn’t underestimate its significance.
This week MPs have voted in support of a Bill which would mean that next May the country would get to decide on whether they want to stick with FPTP (first past the post) or switch to AV (Alternative Vote). While this may not have been the choice many of us who support a more proportional system wanted we shouldn’t underestimate its significance. It is for this reason that on Wednesday Compass published a major report calling on Labour to back the Alternative Vote referendum and push for a more meaningful proportional voting system.
In Compass’ latest report, Socialism is Democracy, Neal Lawson argues that any renewal of Labour as a party of real power must be predicated on the alignment of socialism and democracy. Electoral reform, far from being an issue for the chattering classes is of central importance for any people or organizations that want to see a more equal society.
Lawson argues that:
“Democracy is the means by which the powerful are kept in check to stop them becoming more powerful. It transfers power from the wallet to the ballot box.”
By extension Lawson asserts that the Conservative Party are currently opposing electoral reform because they are happy for an elitist society to prevail.
What’s more, the report demonstrates why electoral reform makes greater equality more likely. As Lawson goes onto say:
“FPTP (first past the post), because its outcomes rely on the votes of a few swing voters in a few swing seats, tends to concentrate political power in the hands of the already powerful… PR, on the other hand, precisely because it makes every vote count, disperses power. The academic Arend Lijphart argues that consensus democracy produces ‘kindlier, gentler policy outcomes including greater redistribution from the wealthy to the poor.”
Indeed the pamphlet argues that democracy is, as such, both the means and the ends of a socialist society. It is now time, as Lawson puts it, to drop the myth of 1945 – that socialism is what Labour governments do – as strong Labour governments alone won’t get us there and instead embrace a more plural, more proportional system of government, recognizing that to create a more equal society we need to create a fairer electoral system.
Furthermore, Lawson explains why we have to accept that coalition government is here to stay and that a more proportional system is not only desirable but increasingly essential:
• First, the number of people voting for the two main parties has declined from around 97% in 1951 to 65% today;
• Turnout has fallen, down from 80% in the immediate post-war years, hitting 59% in 2005, before recovering slightly in 2010;
• A third of the electorate did not vote for the two main parties; and finally
• There has been a dramatic decline in marginal seats from 180 seats in 1970 around to only 86 seats.
The likelihood of securing big majorities and strong single party governments is being reduced by these decisive trends – the public are delivering coalition governments even under a FPTP system. It is now time for our electoral system to catch up with the public.
The AV is far from the perfect electoral system, but a yes vote at a referendum next year will show decisively that the way we elect officials, our democracy, is not monolithic – it can change and that such a change is both necessary and desirable.
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35 Responses to “Socialism is Democracy: Labour should accept AV”
MS
Socialism is Democracy: Labour should accept AV | Left Foot Forward http://bit.ly/aKDPkY — Keeping Watch
Shamik Das
Socialism is Democracy: Labour should accept AV: http://bit.ly/9ytGQ9 writes Zoe Gannon of @CompassOffice on @leftfootfwd
Andy White
@oldpolitics
1) the point is that PR best reflects a fragmented party system (where votes are not concentrated in the hands of one or two parties); but with no short-term possibility of PR, the proposed switch to AV would also better represent a fragmented vote than FPTP
2) in such a short opinion piece it might seem rhetorical, but it’s not as if the intellectual debate hasn’t been explored in depth. Very few academics support FPTP as an effective democratic system. There is more support for AV, in that it retains the features of FPTP which (some) commentators value — single-member constituencies, a tendency to deliver single-party governments (yes, usually) — while tightening up the way MPs are actually chosen in each constituency, and giving voters greater choice.
Another point which a lot of people have overlooked is just how significant ending tactical voting would be. At the moment, Labour actually stands dud candidates in some Lib-Con marginals, so as not to split the vote. Small parties like the Greens lose deposits and struggle to measure real levels of support because their natural supporters vote tactically for other parties. You cannot underestimate how bad this is for our party system, and in particular for CLPs and similar Labour networks in Conservative heartlands.
oldpolitics
I think you’re wrong, Andy. AV would disadvantage radical parties – it only “better represents a fragmented vote” if the currently underrepresented party is on the centre ground and good at picking up second preferences. It would further disadvantage a left-of-Labour party (possibly including the Greens), and UKIP.
Tactical voting would not end, nor would safe seats. Major parties’ safe seats would be a little reduced in number, and Lib Dem seats would become supersafe. I got a leaflet from my local Lib Dems telling me a Conservative vote was a wasted vote because the Tories hadn’t won locally since before the war (sort of true) – fine, had it not been for the Euro-election!
Anon E Mouse
Since the Labour Party was the only party to stand on this in the election in May this year it would be nice if they actually stopped playing politics and supported the change…