Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

Re-connecting Politics

As mid-October approaches politicians from every party all over the country breath a sigh of relief – conference season is over!

From what I can gather, it’s not just politicians who are relieved. People often tell me how the sight of MPs standing on podiums or delivering sound bites on the news every day for three weeks solid leaves them feeling more then a little disconnected from the political process.

Disconnected and disillusioned is exactly how people are feeling toward the political process and the statistics prove it. The turnout at the local elections in May and at the last general election was abysmal. In the recent by-election in Brent East the turnout was a mere 36.4% - and that was described as high. People have lost faith in politics.

So what’s the answer? How can people’s faith be restored?

For some people the answer is simple: the voting system needs to be changed. Instead of local areas (such as South West Devon) electing their own MP, people should just vote for a political party. These parties can then be awarded a number of MPs proportionate to the percentage of votes they secured. This every vote would really count.

In some ways the logic seems flawless. If a party receives 33% of the vote, they receive 33% of the seats in the House of Commons. That being said I don’t agree, for two reasons.

Firstly if people aren’t interested in politics then its probably because we politicians are doing something wrong. We should listen, learn and change – not play around with the voting systems.

Secondly I think it would be criminal to lose the link between a constituency and their local MP. Being an MP means a lot to me, but being MP for South West Devon means a great deal more. An MP is here to serve his or her community. I hope that you all feel that you can write to me at the House of Commons, phone my Devon office (335666) or come and see me at my surgery (you can make an appointment through my Plympton office).

Tinkering with the voting system won’t help – the malaise is deeper than that. Those of us who have the privilege of being elected to serve need to lead the recovery. We should lay off the nasty sideswipes, concentrate on real solutions to deep-seated problems and conduct ourselves with integrity. No there’s a recipe for reconnection.

posted by Nigel on Monday, October 20, 2003