Let me introduce myself. My name is Andy, and I am a blogger with a passion for electoral reform.
Many of you will take pride in being the parliamentary constituency of the sitting Prime Minister, not to mention David Cameron's Conservative majority in the Witney constituency increasing from five years ago.
My politics are very much on the centre ground. Of the five general elections I have been eligible to vote in, I have voted Conservative on the one occasion. That was my first general election in 1997, when Tony Blair came to power in a landslide victory for Labour.
I have my reasons for not voting Conservative since the late nineties. I will add that I consider it unlikely that I will vote for the Tories again in the foreseeable future. However, for as long as I remain officially unattached to any political party, the only people I will ever rule out voting for are fascists and non-democrats.
As much as you may take satisfaction in the Tory majority increasing, I do believe you also need to take a look at the future of democracy in the UK, and the role of safe Conservative seats like Witney. Ever since the seat was created, it has always been a one horse race. Douglas Hurd, Mr Cameron, and some turncoat called Shaun Woodward (who later defected to Labour) have all been able to win without any major challenge from non-conservative forces.
The two Tony Blair Labour landslides of 1997 and 2001 have shown that Witney will always be true blue Tory territory. When Blair swept to power in 1997, Shaun Woodward was still able to win the seat with a majority in excess of 7,000. Following his defection to Labour in 1999, turncoat Woodward probably didn't think twice about seeking a safe Labour seat in the north.
This one horse race in Witney makes voters in this seat amongst the least powerful voters in the UK. Let's take a look at the neighbouring constituency of Oxford West and Abingdon, which has seen a change of winning party twice over the last eighteen years. Why should those voters be more powerful than you?
First Past The Post is now a flawed electoral system, in an era which now sees less people vote for either of the two main parties. Of all democratic systems, First Past The Post provides the least representative government. The 2015 General Election has seen a single party gain a parliamentary majority on a 36% share of the vote. Furthermore, the current electoral map shows that safe Tory seats like Witney (as well as safe Labour seats) are playing their part in dividing Britain!
Do you have the courage to challenge this discredited electoral system? If you wish to engage with myself, you can do so on twitter, @AndyWatson75.
Best wishes
Andy J Watson
Many of you will take pride in being the parliamentary constituency of the sitting Prime Minister, not to mention David Cameron's Conservative majority in the Witney constituency increasing from five years ago.
My politics are very much on the centre ground. Of the five general elections I have been eligible to vote in, I have voted Conservative on the one occasion. That was my first general election in 1997, when Tony Blair came to power in a landslide victory for Labour.
I have my reasons for not voting Conservative since the late nineties. I will add that I consider it unlikely that I will vote for the Tories again in the foreseeable future. However, for as long as I remain officially unattached to any political party, the only people I will ever rule out voting for are fascists and non-democrats.
As much as you may take satisfaction in the Tory majority increasing, I do believe you also need to take a look at the future of democracy in the UK, and the role of safe Conservative seats like Witney. Ever since the seat was created, it has always been a one horse race. Douglas Hurd, Mr Cameron, and some turncoat called Shaun Woodward (who later defected to Labour) have all been able to win without any major challenge from non-conservative forces.
The two Tony Blair Labour landslides of 1997 and 2001 have shown that Witney will always be true blue Tory territory. When Blair swept to power in 1997, Shaun Woodward was still able to win the seat with a majority in excess of 7,000. Following his defection to Labour in 1999, turncoat Woodward probably didn't think twice about seeking a safe Labour seat in the north.
This one horse race in Witney makes voters in this seat amongst the least powerful voters in the UK. Let's take a look at the neighbouring constituency of Oxford West and Abingdon, which has seen a change of winning party twice over the last eighteen years. Why should those voters be more powerful than you?
First Past The Post is now a flawed electoral system, in an era which now sees less people vote for either of the two main parties. Of all democratic systems, First Past The Post provides the least representative government. The 2015 General Election has seen a single party gain a parliamentary majority on a 36% share of the vote. Furthermore, the current electoral map shows that safe Tory seats like Witney (as well as safe Labour seats) are playing their part in dividing Britain!
Do you have the courage to challenge this discredited electoral system? If you wish to engage with myself, you can do so on twitter, @AndyWatson75.
Best wishes
Andy J Watson
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