this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2023
60 points (98.4% liked)

United Kingdom

4113 readers
206 users here now

General community for news/discussion in the UK.

Less serious posts should go in !casualuk@feddit.uk or !andfinally@feddit.uk
More serious politics should go in !uk_politics@feddit.uk.

Try not to spam the same link to multiple feddit.uk communities.
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric news, and should be either a link to a reputable source, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread.

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] echo64@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago (4 children)

It's hard to imagine a world where voting reform happens. We all know what we need. Scrapped or massively widened voter ID and proportional representation. But everyone who has the power to change these things will have gotten their job from the current state. They don't want to change what worked for them.

[–] byroon@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

Most steps toward democracy in the UK have come after massive nationwide civil disobedience

[–] Nudding@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] TheMongoose@kbin.social 3 points 11 months ago

We had a chance for that, but the electorate was too stupid to vote for it anyway.

Referendums. Huh. What are they good for? Fucking over the rest of us, that's what.

[–] andthenthreemore@startrek.website 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The only way I can see it is with lib dems as a coalition partner. For a time a while ago it looked like that might be possible. But then the Tories kept shitting the bed the the point it looks like a labour landslide is incoming.

[–] byroon@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The problem is the LibDems already had their chance at this and completely screwed it up, ruining their credibility

[–] andthenthreemore@startrek.website 2 points 11 months ago

Yeah sadly so. It's still the only long shot I can see. Unless labour actually manages to remember that the current system only seems to let them in once every twenty odd years.

[–] jabjoe 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Mixed Member PR is a way to go. Like New Zealand and Germany. Then there is still local MPs.

[–] HumanPenguin 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Do you actually feel any benifit from local MPs under fptp.

Seems party whips make them of no real value locall

[–] jabjoe 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's someone you can go see, or write to, to help you with issues. A point of contact.

But I do think party whips need to go. If parties can't hold together without the whips, maybe they shouldn't be held together.

[–] HumanPenguin 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

As long as your issue fits the party line. If not its someone who will go out of their way to avoid answering the question. Or just send out form letters that are of no value.

Unfortunatly with the current system. If your MPs is tory nothing is done about anything because 99% of issues are austerity related.

As for labour. Currently they dont seem to have a party line beyond being competent non corrupt tories.

Seriously in 50 plus years. I have never known anyone who had a positive result from seeking an MPs help. Just the same crap answers you hear from national figures.

Local politicians are more help. Or at least were before austerity hit them so hard.

[–] jabjoe 1 points 11 months ago

My local MP got an unjust parking ticket cancelled for me, and my family and me, with a distinctive last name, write to her often upset with her party and her voting with them. Every. Single. Time.

Others have similiar with her. Lots of MPs are like this and it's often stuff that doesn't fit into party lines.

MPs who aren't there for their constituency need kicking out. We need better systems for that.

[–] byroon@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I don't but it is the argument that people always make against introducing PR

[–] wewbull 3 points 11 months ago

...and there's multiple ways of achieving it. It's a valid criticism of a number of PR systems, so I don't see why you wouldn't choose a PR system that doesn't have the issue.

I like STV with multi-member constituencies. You merge a number of existing neighbouring constituencies together (Say 5) and vote to elect 5 representatives for that new large constituency based on people's ranked preferences. There's a few things I like about it:

  • It avoids the "Party List" concept, which is just the ultimate safe seat.
  • It still allows for independent candidates, as party affiliation is not a material concern in any aspect of the election.
  • It gives people a choice of representatives. Ever lived in a constituency where your MP doesn't share your values? Well, now you have a much better chance of at least one of them being on your side of an argument.
  • People can vote for candidates who have "no chance" of winning, safe in the knowledge that their 2nd/3rd/4th preference will still get their support if their first preference is eliminated.