democracy

Democracy. Democracy. Where are Art Thou? Parliament needs levelling up

UK often boasts of its commitment to fair play. Fair play has become a claim of our national psyche.  Democracy and the election process seems far removed from fair play. Parliament stands as one of our oldest institutions.

Like other institutions, Parliament prefers living in the past rather than the present.

What’s fair about living under the control of a two-party state?

  • The Conservative Party received 13.9 million votes with 365 seats in the 2019 general election.
  • The Liberal-Democrat Party received 3.7 million votes and have 13 seats.
  • This means that the Conservative Party has 28 times as many seats as the Liberal Democrats while only getting four times as many votes.
  • The Labour Party received 10.2 million votes with 202 seats.
  • The Green Party received 860,000 votes in the last general election and have a single seat in Parliament.
  • This means the Labour received 12 times as many votes as the Green Party but have 202 times as many seats.
  • Green Party devotes its policies in its manifesto to a sustainable world for people, creatures and the environment.
  • The Green Party MP needs to be in the Cabinet and have an important voice in Parliament.

 Information on the British Parliamentary System for those who live outside the UK

The Prime Minister is the leader of the Government. He or she is the leader of the party that wins the most seats at a general election. After a general election, the Queen calls upon the leader of the largest party to form the Government. The Prime Minister, whose residence and offices at 10 Downing Street, chooses 22 Ministers from his Party to run the Government.

The Party Leader achieves his office as head of the government after winning most seats at the general election out of the 650 Parliamentary seats available.

British politics lives under the control of two parties with other parties in the British Parliament marginalised. This system of control takes place through the refusal of the two main Parties to reject proportional representation of number of MPs roughly parallel to the number of votes given to a party with a minimum of 5% votes from the electorate to win a seat.

Will the system change?

Odds are 200-1 against change.

Democracy. Democracy. Where are Art Thou? Parliament needs levelling up Read More »

I feel some small measure of Empathy for the Non-Violent Protesters on Capitol Hill, Washington DC last week

Updated 17 January 2021

Last Wednesday evening ( 6 January 2021), I clicked on the CNN channel giving unbroken news coverage to the protests at Capitol Hill, which had the unqualified support of President Trump. For the next hour, I watched the drama unfold and then switched off the TV. Tens of thousands of Trump supporters stayed outside the government building  while a few hundred enraged supporters stormed into the corridors and centres of power.

I feel some small measure of Empathy for the Non-Violent Protesters on Capitol Hill, Washington DC last week Read More »

BREXIT or EU? The Real Issue is not Leave or Remain….

An Appreciation

The European Union has established a union of 28 member states. The EU states it has built a “community of peace, freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.” …

BREXIT or EU? The Real Issue is not Leave or Remain…. Read More »

Totnes, Devon, England has declared itself an independent city state. It has issued the Declaration of the Reformation of Brexit

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/totnes-brexit-independent-city-state-uk-eu-remain-second-referendum-final-say-peoples-vote-a8464151.html

We, citizens (not all!), of Totnes, Devon, England, have declared ourselves as an independent city state.
We take an oath of allegiance to the EU.
We have issued the Totnes passport.

The Declaration of the Reformation of Brexit has been nailed (well, blue tack) to the 17th century Guiildhall door.
Totnes invites other towns and cities around the UK to follow Totnes.
The Totnes Oath states: “Compassion, endeavour, ingenuity, altruism, diligence, daring and a peace-loving commitment to the dignity of all sentient beings”).”

PS. Big thanks to Jonathan Cooper and others in Totnes for this initiative.

 

 

 

Totnes, Devon, England has declared itself an independent city state. It has issued the Declaration of the Reformation of Brexit Read More »

Democracy needs Proportional Representation. We are still waiting in Britain

If Britain had a democracy in proportion to the votes, the election on 8the June 2017 would have produced a dramatically different result.

A comprehensive democracy is not coming to the UK. Essentially, we have a  two party state instead.

Democracy needs Proportional Representation. We are still waiting in Britain Read More »

Scroll to Top