I have felt very privileged over the past few months. I have had more visits from local Labour Party activists than I can remember from any group of politicians over my entire lifetime. The reason is I live in a safe Labour council ward, but in a swing parliamentary seat between Labour and the Conservatives as this year's General Election draws ever nearer.
A Boundary Commission change before the 2010 election saw me become a constituent of the marginal Warrington South constituency, as opposed to the safe Labour seat that is Warrington North. After 18 years of the seat being held by Labour, Conservative David Mowatt defeated Nick Bent, his Labour counterpart.
As those same two men go head to head again five years later, it seems that Labour are really going to town to get their vote out in an attempt to win the seat back. Whilst the attention I have received has been flattering, it does nothing to change my opposition to the First Past the Post electoral system.
Nobody's vote should be wasted, which is effectively what mine would be in the event of any future boundary change that would put me back in Warrington North! Nationally, there are effectively about 180 seats which have already been called for the Conservatives, about 150 which have been called for Labour, and a handful of other seats which have been called for smaller parties. That is clearly over half of all seats, and I really feel for the people who live in such constituencies, whose voices won't be heard.
I do have a soft preference in terms of who I would prefer to form the next government. However, that soft preference does not outweigh my desire to see the First Past the Post electoral system and it's merits seriously dented. This desire may see me tactically vote, and that is exactly what I have been telling the Labour activists who have had the honour of knocking on my door. A second consecutive hung parliament will go someway to undermine the result of the 2011 (AV) Alternative Vote Referendum.
I hope that one day the majority of mainstream politicians will accept the country belongs to the people, not them and their personal interests. To serve the people requires people to feel engaged. First Past the Post may have had it's moments of delivering strong and decisive government. But it's origins go back to a by-gone era when Britain was a nation of just two parties.
Today, too many Brits feel disenfranchised with politics. I personally don't have strong leanings to the left or the right. In fact, it is the cause of a fairer voting system which is right up there with my strongest political views.
Critics of a more proportional voting system will point to what they see as the weakness of almost permanent coalition. But First Past the Post still has a coalition element. The Labour Party and the Conservative Party are both broad churches anyway. Take aside the fact that former Labour Premier Tony Blair took the UK to war in Iraq, in a move which was opposed by prominent Conservative Ken Clarke, both men are otherwise probably closer ideologically on many issues than they are to many in their own respective parties.
Some opponents of more proportional systems will be quick to highlight how proportional systems will sometimes enable smaller parties to gain seats in Government, such as the right-wing Independent Greeks in the recent Greek election on just 4.8% of the vote. But you can also spin percentages another way, in that when Mrs Thatcher and Mr Blair both won 100 seat plus majorities, they did not even have 50% of the vote, let alone a percentage of the popular vote which was reflective of the number of seats their respective governments held.
No doubt some people will be reading this and think the 2011 AV Referendum should have been the final word on this matter, at least for many years. If the 2015 election was to be successful in terms of a high voter turnout and a strong majority for one party, then I may well have to keep quiet for a while on this issue. At this point, I consider that prospect to be highly unlikely.
A Boundary Commission change before the 2010 election saw me become a constituent of the marginal Warrington South constituency, as opposed to the safe Labour seat that is Warrington North. After 18 years of the seat being held by Labour, Conservative David Mowatt defeated Nick Bent, his Labour counterpart.
As those same two men go head to head again five years later, it seems that Labour are really going to town to get their vote out in an attempt to win the seat back. Whilst the attention I have received has been flattering, it does nothing to change my opposition to the First Past the Post electoral system.
Nobody's vote should be wasted, which is effectively what mine would be in the event of any future boundary change that would put me back in Warrington North! Nationally, there are effectively about 180 seats which have already been called for the Conservatives, about 150 which have been called for Labour, and a handful of other seats which have been called for smaller parties. That is clearly over half of all seats, and I really feel for the people who live in such constituencies, whose voices won't be heard.
I do have a soft preference in terms of who I would prefer to form the next government. However, that soft preference does not outweigh my desire to see the First Past the Post electoral system and it's merits seriously dented. This desire may see me tactically vote, and that is exactly what I have been telling the Labour activists who have had the honour of knocking on my door. A second consecutive hung parliament will go someway to undermine the result of the 2011 (AV) Alternative Vote Referendum.
I hope that one day the majority of mainstream politicians will accept the country belongs to the people, not them and their personal interests. To serve the people requires people to feel engaged. First Past the Post may have had it's moments of delivering strong and decisive government. But it's origins go back to a by-gone era when Britain was a nation of just two parties.
Today, too many Brits feel disenfranchised with politics. I personally don't have strong leanings to the left or the right. In fact, it is the cause of a fairer voting system which is right up there with my strongest political views.
Critics of a more proportional voting system will point to what they see as the weakness of almost permanent coalition. But First Past the Post still has a coalition element. The Labour Party and the Conservative Party are both broad churches anyway. Take aside the fact that former Labour Premier Tony Blair took the UK to war in Iraq, in a move which was opposed by prominent Conservative Ken Clarke, both men are otherwise probably closer ideologically on many issues than they are to many in their own respective parties.
Some opponents of more proportional systems will be quick to highlight how proportional systems will sometimes enable smaller parties to gain seats in Government, such as the right-wing Independent Greeks in the recent Greek election on just 4.8% of the vote. But you can also spin percentages another way, in that when Mrs Thatcher and Mr Blair both won 100 seat plus majorities, they did not even have 50% of the vote, let alone a percentage of the popular vote which was reflective of the number of seats their respective governments held.
No doubt some people will be reading this and think the 2011 AV Referendum should have been the final word on this matter, at least for many years. If the 2015 election was to be successful in terms of a high voter turnout and a strong majority for one party, then I may well have to keep quiet for a while on this issue. At this point, I consider that prospect to be highly unlikely.
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