If Brown or Labour really want a legacy or a totemic issue to...
change public opinion then proportional representation is the answer. Robin Cook stated that if Labour fail to change the electoral system while they have the chance that would be it's biggest failure. Andrew Carmichael writes in the Guardian -
"Surely Gordon Brown has only one choice now after the disaster in Crewe and Nantwich. A rapid espousal of a good system of proportional representation can save us from the flimsy conservatism of David Cameron and his cronies. Please do it now before it is too late".
While I agree with this, I just cannot see Brown or Straw having the courage or morality to follow it through. I also think Labour need a change of leader and to restore some dignity to the polls first for any talk about PR not to sound like a desperate attempt to save their electoral skins.
While Labour may be heading for defeat and are clearly not the choice of the electorate to rule alone, neither really is there any real enthusiasm for the Tories. Do people really want a Tory government with a massive majority when only about 25% of the electorate will vote for them (around 40% of the vote)?
If the Tories want more than 50% of the seats in parliament then they should have to win more than 50% of the vote. Labour has the power to do this. What could be more just and moral than for Labour to honour their promise of a referendum on this issue. Labour could not ask for a bigger legacy than this and the people would thank them for it.
With John Denham (anti-war and pro-PR) at the helm, it would signal a believable change of direction with a leader with a true moral purpose. I notice that amongst Labour party members, Denham is now in position to run for leader - while Brown is right at the bottom with chancellor Darling.
Neil,
ReplyDeleteJohann Hari makes a similar point in todays Independent Brown could choose some radical policies to push through before 2010 that the Tories wold have problms reversing.
Give us a bell sometime your phone nos have changed !!
John Denham? Perhaps you'd better check out his voting record first:
ReplyDeleteVoted strongly for introducing ID cards
Voted very strongly for introducing foundation hospitals
Voted strongly for introducing student top-up fees
Voted very strongly for Labour's anti-terrorism laws
Voted very strongly against an investigation into the Iraq war
Voted very strongly for replacing Trident
So he has supported some of the most reactionary right wing policies of this government. The only positive thing in his record is that he opposed the Iraq War. Not nearly good enough, I am afraid.
It would be immoral for Labour to change the elecotral system just as they are about to be kicked out for at least a generation.
ReplyDeleteThey have had no moral authority to be in power in England since losing the popular vote in 2005.
Now that they have given power to the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales, just where is Labour's powerbase!?! It never had one in England!
It would be immoral for Labour to change the elecotral system just as they are about to be kicked out for at least a generation
ReplyDeleteTwo years isn't enough time to change the election system, whether Labour wanted to do it or not. Such things have to be done with the cooperation of the other parties otherwise there would be a constitutional crisis. It's not going to happen.
They have had no moral authority to be in power in England since losing the popular vote in 2005
They won the election. That's all the authority they need. Moral authority doesn't mean shit.
Now that they have given power to the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales
Strange, I thought that there were elections in Scotland and Wales and that it was the people who gave those parties power.
just where is Labour's powerbase!?! It never had one in England!
The North and Midlands, of course. Though thanks to a decade of neglecting their core vote, that constituency is fast disappearing. Labour has attempted never to allow itself be outflanked on the right, so have ended up neglecting many of their natural supporters, thinking wrongly that we have nowhere else to go. But we do have somewhere to go. We can stay at home or vote Tory.
If you outst Brown, you won't get Denham, you'll get Miliband - a piece of trash who makes Blair look sincere.
ReplyDeleteIf Robin Cook hadn't died, he'd probably be leader now, if his presence hadn't kept Blair from resigning.
Snafu: "It would be immoral for Labour to change the elecotral system just as they are about to be kicked out for at least a generation."
ReplyDeleteWhat would be immoral is not delivering on the promise they made over 10 years ago to reform the electoral system.
If you outst Brown, you won't get Denham, you'll get Miliband - a piece of trash who makes Blair look sincere
ReplyDeleteChanging leader at this stage would be profoundly dangerous for Labour. If it chooses an open contest then there will be a debate about policy and the future direction of the party. It will take more than two years for the dust to settle from any such leadership campaign. If it chooses another 'behind closed doors' appointment there is a real risk that elements of the party will be so pissed off with yet another leadership stitch up that the party becomes even more disunited.
I feel the best course for Labour would be stick with Brown. The alternatives are worse at this stage of the game.
I'd forgotten about Denham, who seems perfectly acceptable to me. Is he your fave? Not that he stands an earthly, of course. Neither is there an earthly that Nulab will enact PR, that is just pie-in-the-sky (altho' it'd be a boost for UKIP!!! Hurray!!!)
ReplyDeleteLee Griffin, I'm still waiting for Labour to improve education in the UK...
ReplyDelete"Education, education, education" was the mantra..
PS Whatever happened to being "tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime"!?!
Yes Pr is the right way forward. It was pointed out both within and outside the labour party 10 years ago that if Labour changed our voting system to PR we would be unlikely have a right wing Tory gvt in control in this country for the forseeable future.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately the Labour Party chose to ignore this so in two years time now we seem likely to have an ostensibly Leftish Tory gvt in charge with right wing freaks like John Redwood lurking in the background.
The truly terrible thing is that many of us are no longer prepared to prop up this rotten labour gvt in order to keep the Tories out. If Labour has to spend some time in the wilderness in order to really consider what it is for , so be it. Leftish Tory Toffs or Rightish Labour Toffs ? Not much choice there really .
You remind of a pathetic, frustrated child playing a game. Having seen that you can no longer win you want to change the rules.
ReplyDeleteWhatever the merits of changing the electoral system, Labour has no authority to alter the current set up. It's a sour, dreadful and cuntish attept to keep the Conservatives from power.
Grow up, you've lost, we get a different set of shits in power in two years time.
I agree that Brown is now looking pathetic but I'm not sure that replacing him with somebody else at this stage will do much good. Can't really see Denham as the man.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about the need for electoral reform, but I agree with stephen that it has to be done on an all-party basis.
I have now drawn up a list of 14 things Gordon Brown should do now, at http://peezedtee.blogspot.com/2008/06/14-things-gordon-brown-should-do-now.html .