Written evidence submitted by Rt Hon Denis
MacShane MP (PVSCB 09)
I hope your Committee will come out decisively
against AV which taken with the proposal to reduce the number
of MPs means that citizens will have fewer representatives and
rights in relationship to the centralised state system. Britain
has no intermediary levels of government other than the Scottish
and Welsh systems. There are no provincial, regional or state
governments as in Australia, Canada, the US or most European countries.
Citizens come straight to MPs with a host of problems as they
have no other representatives to speak for them in terms of their
relationship with the state. The idea that there should be fewer
MPs serving ever-more citizens is a serious assault on democracy.
If anything there may be a case for more MPs given that there
is little possibility of bringing in more devolved levels of government.
I would support four-year fixed terms, the norm
in America, Germany and other (not all) EU member states.
On electoral reform, the 1929-31 Labour government
proposed AV but it was shot down in the Commons with Winston Churchill
pointing out that the least popular candidate can overtake the
most popular candidate on the basis of transfer votes from every
other political faction that failed to win support. How ironic
if the second or third preferences of BNP or UKIP voters decided
who was elected as an MP.
There is no perfect electoral system. Full PR
gives the nightmare of Israel's government but equally the relative
stability of a Swedish administration. There was once a fashionable
view that coalitions in and of themselves produce good government.
Yet Britain's electoral system has produced both good and bad
governments. There are plenty of example of coalition governments
being complete disasters. Italy and Germany today are hardly happy,
well-governed nations under their respective coalition. AV has
produced good, bad and sometimes terrible governments in Australia.
The Guardian's Martin Kettle points out that social democracy
lacks a majority in most European countries. But "twas always
thus". The last time the Danish Social Democrats had a majority
was in 1909. In the 1950s and 1960s France, Italy and Germany
were ruled by enduring centre-right dominated party coalitions.
In Britain since 1945, Labour has ruled for
30 out of 65 years. This is as good if not a better record of
longevity in power than all European left parties outside of Scandinavia
and better than Australia or Ireland where electoral systems are
closer to AV than Britain's first past the post system. Of course
your Committee is not allowed to make its recommendations on the
basis of party advantage. But if one of the key desired goals
of democratic politics is a regular alternance of power then the
evidence suggest that FPTP has delivered that better in the UK
since 1945, than AV or other electoral systems used elsewhere.
This suggests that electoral reform may not
be the Koh-i-Nor of democratic politics. It is policy and, yes,
personality that decide how people vote. This is not to argue
that electoral reform should be resisted but to set the debate
over AV or other systems of voting in a broader context as part
of a wider programme of policy.
15 July 2010
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