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Holebender
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David Cameron proposes radical changesIn an article in today's Guardian David Cameron is proposing | Quote: | | a massive, sweeping, radical redistribution of power: from the state to citizens; from the government to parliament; from Whitehall to communities; from the EU to Britain; from judges to the people; from bureaucracy to democracy. |
It's interesting stuff, but I remember a Mr. Brown from Fife saying similar things while he was jockeying for his next door neighbour's job. If it appears in the Tory election manifesto I'll give it a lot more credence.
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Aventinian
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I guess we'll have to wait until the election to find out what that means.
Whilst policy ought to be thought through and considered properly, the Tories are running so many different policy forums that they can't present much solid policy at the moment. People want to know how they'll be different, and at best they're getting generalisations.
I don't think it's insincere, but it's certainly not providing a vision of an alternative Britain to the electorate.
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Holebender
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His complete refusal to even consider proportional representation shoots all his other platitudes about empowering the powerless clean out of the water, IMHO. As long as the electoral system remains unchanged those elected will also remain unchanged.
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Cruachan
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| Holebender wrote: | | His complete refusal to even consider proportional representation shoots all his other platitudes about empowering the powerless clean out of the water, IMHO. As long as the electoral system remains unchanged those elected will also remain unchanged. |
Cameron says that PR puts too much power in the hands of politicians (ie "backroom deals" to form coalitions after an election). But what PR does is make every candidate and every elected politician fight for every vote.
There is also a lot of talk (or at least blog chat) about a UK (or perhaps English) Constitutional Convention. But unlike the Scottish Constitutional Convention which was cross party and over a number of years of consensus building and civic involvement, a number of Conservatives and Labour spokesmen in the last few days seem to want to rush something through in a matter of months as part of the "something must be done" debate.
A reformed electoral system that sweeps away the "safe seat " mentality for Labour and Tory rotten boroughs would genuinely re-energise democracy and would radically modernise Westminster. But with a Referendum on Independence less than 18 months away, my own view is that events in Scotland are likely to overtake reform of the UK system.
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Aventinian
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| Cruachan wrote: | | unlike the Scottish Constitutional Convention which was cross party and over a number of years of consensus building and civic involvement |
It didn't build consensus though, and was only cross-party in a limited sense. The Conservative government had nothing to do with it, nor did the SNP. Only Labour, the Lib Dems and (if they're even worth mentioning) the Greens.
| Quote: | | But with a Referendum on Independence less than 18 months away, my own view is that events in Scotland are likely to overtake reform of the UK system. |
A referendum which is very, very unlikely to happen. Indeed, don't you think it's rather barmy to suggest a law will be enacted when it is questionably legal and has been actively condemned by the vast majority of members of the legislature? To suggest that there's going to be some major political calamity and that they will somehow completely reverse their position would really require some sort of justification, no?
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Dave Coull
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| Cruachan wrote: | | with a Referendum on Independence less than 18 months away |
| Aventinian wrote: | | A referendum which is very, very unlikely to happen. |
Wish-fullfillment thinking. | Aventinian wrote: | | To suggest that there's going to be some major political calamity and that they will somehow completely reverse their position would really require some sort of justification, no? |
Major political calamities are ten a penny nowadays, but, even if they weren't, the Labour Party has a track record of reversing its previous positions, on this and on other issues. Obviously, they would much prefer that the Referendum Bill should not be put to the Scottish Parliament. But that is just more wishfull thinking. It will be put. When it is, it's far from certain how the Labour MSPs will react. Like a great Labour leader once said, a week is a long time in politics. One prominent Labour MSP is on record as saying they will "not vote against a referendum". Abstention is a distinct possibility. As for how the Lib Dems will jump, it can be difficult enough to say what they will do next week, never mind next year. But whatever they do, I'm sure both the Labour MSPs and the LibDem MSPs will justify their actions or inactions.
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