How to really change Westminster

by Ed Bowsher on 03 June 2009  |  21 comments
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The UK’s political system needs radical change. Cabinet reshuffles aren’t enough.

This blog post was written and published before James Purnell resigned from the cabinet. So it's a bit out of date. But my basic argument still holds true.

Most British people aren't terribly interested in politics. That's fair enough. They've got better things to do with their time. And we don't normally write about politics at lovemoney.com.

But, right now, things are different. Ordinary people are thinking and talking about politics, and they're  angry. That anger presents an opportunity. Maybe we could push through a radical once-in-a-lifetime change that could revolutionise our politics. That change could also make it harder for future generations of MPs to fiddle their expenses.

In my view, this week's real political story is that opportunity for change, not a cabinet reshuffle. Fine, someone other than Hazel Blears is going to be the Communities Secretary for the next year. But, you know what, who cares? There are bigger fish to fry.

So what's the change?

I think we should change our voting system. We should introduce a form of proportional representation called the Single Transferable Vote (STV).

Under STV we'd have much larger constituencies with five to seven MPs each. The main political parties would probably run five or six candidates in each constituency. The voter then ranks the candidates in order of preference - 1,2,3,4 etc. He has a single vote that can then be 'transferred' to his second or third choice candidate.

Imagine you're basically a Tory. Just because you're a Tory doesn't mean you have to back all the Tory candidates. You could pick the Tory candidate you like the best and put a '1' by her. You might support her because you think she is the most honest candidate. Or because you agree with her views on pollution. Or because you enjoyed chatting to her in the supermarket one day.

This system takes power away from the parties and gives it to voters. As things stand, you have no choice over the Tory candidate in your seat unless you're a member of the local party. And once a candidate is elected MP, he/she is normally reselected by the party for future elections on the nod.

STV gives voters power over candidates. As long as voters also have enough information, no politician would dare do anything dodgy because the voters can easily eject that politician from parliament at the next election.

The other advantage

The other advantage of STV is fairness. Right now, I live in a safe Tory seat. I'm 99.9% certain that the Tory candidate will win this seat at the next election. So, in some ways, what's the point of me voting? But if I lived in a Labour/Tory marginal where the eventual winner is unclear, then my vote has some actual value.

With STV, all votes would have equal value.

I fear that, in the end, things will go on as before. But at least there's a chance of change.....

More: When should we have an election?