Campaign for Democracy in the UK
Campaign Demands |
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On the 10th of February, I produced about 1,500 A4 leaflets, with the following provisional list of demands (shown in red below, with explanations in black) on one side, with the letter about Single Transferable Vote below the demands. I put details of my new Campaign for Sanity in the NHS on the back of some of them, and details about infiltration on the rest. [Note that I have changed the text here slightly from that on the leaflet, to include the Northern Ireland Assembly and to correct a mistake which I originally made (based on false information that I was given at Manchester Town Hall) which suggested that no prisoners can stand in elections, as pointed out on the home page. I have also added the text after the demand for the voting and standing age to be reduced to 16.]
- A fair form of Proportional Representation in all elections to Westminster, the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, councils throughout the UK, and to the European Parliament. Voters must have the right to indicate preferences, so that they can write “1” on the ballot paper for their preferred candidate, “2” for second best. Many working class people and youths are disillusioned with politics because they realise that New Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Tories are all parties of big business. Let those people demonstrate their hostility at the ballot box by placing them last if they want to, enabling new people and parties to come to the fore. This is often known as Single Transferable Vote (STV), but it could be used to allow voters to choose between either party lists or candidates.
- The reduction of the right to vote and stand for election to the age of 16. Whereas you can vote at the age of 18 at present, you must be 21 to stand for Parliament; this is blatant age discrimination. [Even worse, you need to be at least 35 to be President of the USA, presumably to try to prevent a radical President emerging.]
- The extension of the right to vote and stand for election to all people resident in the UK, irrespective of their nationality.
- The removal of the denial of the right to vote and stand for election if you are in prison for over 12 months. Tommy Sheridan, the leader of the Scottish Anti-Poll Tax Federation, got over 6,000 votes for Scottish Militant Labour in the 1992 general election and then won a council seat, while in jail for defying the poll tax. Fortunately, Tommy was only sentenced to six months, enabling him to stand.
- The right for the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly or Northern Ireland Assembly to decide a policy relevant to its area of the UK, if it votes to remove the policy from Westminster. This may include abolishing the council tax in their areas in favour of a local income tax, renationalising Scottish or Welsh rail companies without compensation (except for pension schemes which may have invested some money in them), or modifying income tax levels, for the rich or poor, by any amount.
- The abolition of the House of Lords and the monarchy. These are relics of feudalism!
- Annual elections at all levels of government. This was a key demand of the Chartists. It is obvious why it has never been granted - history would be massively speeded up if we could get rid of the politicians who promise one thing and do another in a matter of months not years.
- Opposition to Britain adopting the Euro. Obviously having a single currency for many countries has reduced the abilities of governments to affect their economies.
- Opposition to the proposed European constitution. The European President, chosen not by the people of Europe but the select few politicians who claim to represent us, would have a huge amount of power to meddle in British politics.
- Opposition to New Labour’s proposed introduction of ID cards. If introduced, they would give the state far more information about us, enabling organisations like MI5 and the CIA to increase their harassment and persecution of activists, using the tactic of infiltrating political groups in order to subvert them from within.
- Written constitutions for the Westminster and Scottish parliaments, with the right of those parliaments to introduce referendums to change them requiring over 50%. Take power out of the hands of unelected judges and the House of Lords. There needs to be a separate constitution for Scotland because Scottish law is different from law in the rest of the UK. 50% must be sufficient since it is undemocratic for a minority to overrule a majority – in South Africa, most of the wealth is still held by the white bosses who prospered under apartheid, and many black people still live in shanty towns. The ANC has used the excuse of not getting the two thirds of the vote required to change the constitution to limit real change.
The above list of demands is not definitive. If a local campaign wants to adopt a different list, then that is OK with me. I am planning to help set up a Welsh campaign based in Cardiff to organise a demonstration outside the Welsh Assembly, and that organisation will need to discuss what demands it wants to adopt in relation to that Assembly having more powers linked to more democracy in the UK as a whole (and I will try to get campaigns going in Manchester and Glasgow as well). For some points in relation to Wales, visit the Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland page. Later on, we should have a UK-wide conference to come up with a definitive list of demands and organise a national demonstration.
In support of Single Transferable Vote (STV) – letter to the Scottish Socialist Voice
STV, which was opposed by Gordon Morgan in issue 206 of the Voice, is not inherently less proportional than the current system used in Scotland – what would make it so would be having a small number of candidates elected per constituency.
I have looked at the Lib Dem proposal, and they suggest the abolition of party lists and constituencies electing between 4 and 7 candidates – which would mean that a party would need to gain of the order of between 100/7 and 100/4 per cent of the votes after transfers to get any seats (roughly between 14% and 25%!)
However, if the constituencies are bigger, STV could benefit the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP). This is because it would eliminate “tactical voting” – and people who would otherwise vote Labour, Lib Dem or SNP to keep the Tories or BNP out could vote according to their true views, and give their first preference to the SSP.
STV is inherently more democratic due to this (and the Lib Dems make a valid point that the abolition of party lists gives the electorate choice between a party’s candidates reducing the power of party machines; this is a big problem with New Labour particularly).