Political

Davey and Moran on electoral reform: Lib Dem leadership contest

Both Ed Davey and Layla Moran have written for the Electoral Reform Society on the importance of electoral reform.

Ed Davey’s piece starts:

“The time has come” has been the mantra for electoral reform at each election held in my lifetime and no doubt many before it – yet our fight is not yet won.

Getting results will require placing reform into a wider context – a necessary part of a wider agenda that engages more people. When pursued alone, political reform falls into the reeds of inertia, the preserve of too few debating highly technical details which have too often led to debates that are long in length and short in influencing actual change.

Read his full piece here.

Layla Moran’s piece starts:

Our electoral system is in dire need of reform. At the moment, millions of voters are being left effectively voiceless as they live in safe seats where their vote is unlikely to have any influence on the outcome. We desperately need to build a democracy that is fit for the 21st century and in which every vote really counts.

As leader of the Liberal Democrats, I will make it a priority to work with other parties to establish a fair voting system, replace the House of Lords with an elected second chamber and give young people a voice and the right to vote at 16 years old.

Read her full piece here.

 

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3 responses to “Davey and Moran on electoral reform: Lib Dem leadership contest”

  1. Good to see electoral reform being taken up seriously, and not being just another sound-good mantra. But if we are to have an elected Lords, as we should, who is going to decide if they are to come from the regions, and if so just what those regions are to be? And are we agreed on STV for the Lords as opposed to the Commons? Does it matter if the same system is used for both? And where has regional devolution for England gone to? Not a word from either Ed or Layla. It is every bit as important as other constitutional reforms. There’s a lot of preliminary work to do, and it should start now.

    • R B-H.. it is often best to move forward one step at a time. I take it as a given that regionalism is part of our agenda. To thrust it into the same debate as Lords Reform would, for some. make the whole thing too difficult and we could lose the moment for another generation. If handled gently, it could come in via the backdoor as we negotiate the constituency basis for Lords elections..
      And what about ex-pat Brits having a vote, and non-Brits living here.?

  2. House of Lords reform has been on the political agenda since an unlikely alliance between Michael Foot and Enoch Powell defeated proposals by the Wilson government in the 1960’s to remove hereditary peerages. The recent appointments show that the current system of government patronage is as corrupt and venal as it was more than 50 years’ ago.
    Nick Clegg’s proposals when he was deputy PM might be a good basis for debate. The party shouldn’t enter into any future coalition without a commitment from the other party on the detail of reform, e.g. at least 75% elected by STV. The commitment should include a timetable for legislation and elections, along with a 3 line whip to ensure no backbench rebellion by the other side.

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