Let me introduce myself. My name is Andy, and I am a blogger with a passion for electoral and constitutional reform.
Many of you will take pride in being the parliamentary constituency of the sitting Foreign Secretary, not to mention Philip Hammond's Conservative majority in the Runnymede and Weybridge constituency increasing in May's general election 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 completely rule out voting for are fascists and non-democrats.
As much as you may take satisfaction in the local 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 Runnymede and Weybridge. Ever since the seat was created in 1997, it has always been a one horse race, with Mr Phil Hammond always the winner.
Considering the lowest majority that Phil has ever held the Runnymede and Weybridge seat by was a little over 8,000 votes in 2001, this shows that voters in this seat are amongst the least powerful voters in the UK. You are after all only voting for only the one House of Commons seat, which is unlikely to ever change hands between parties.
In fact, let's say PM Dave or any mid-term Conservative successor should decide to sack Phil from the Cabinet, then Phil always has the fallback of knowing that as MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, he has effectively got a job for life!
With the future of the House of Lords very much under the microscope more than ever before, jobs for life is very much a noticeable trend throughout our politics at the moment. As Phil's job for life as your local MP goes, that says much about the First Past The Post electoral system.
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 nearly a 37% share of the vote. Furthermore, the current electoral map shows that safe Tory seats like Runnymede and Weybridge (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 Foreign Secretary, not to mention Philip Hammond's Conservative majority in the Runnymede and Weybridge constituency increasing in May's general election 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 completely rule out voting for are fascists and non-democrats.
As much as you may take satisfaction in the local 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 Runnymede and Weybridge. Ever since the seat was created in 1997, it has always been a one horse race, with Mr Phil Hammond always the winner.
Considering the lowest majority that Phil has ever held the Runnymede and Weybridge seat by was a little over 8,000 votes in 2001, this shows that voters in this seat are amongst the least powerful voters in the UK. You are after all only voting for only the one House of Commons seat, which is unlikely to ever change hands between parties.
In fact, let's say PM Dave or any mid-term Conservative successor should decide to sack Phil from the Cabinet, then Phil always has the fallback of knowing that as MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, he has effectively got a job for life!
With the future of the House of Lords very much under the microscope more than ever before, jobs for life is very much a noticeable trend throughout our politics at the moment. As Phil's job for life as your local MP goes, that says much about the First Past The Post electoral system.
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 nearly a 37% share of the vote. Furthermore, the current electoral map shows that safe Tory seats like Runnymede and Weybridge (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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