UK Political System - Does it Need reform ?...An update

 

Two years ago I published a blog describing in detail some of the problems with our UK political system, as I saw it then.

 The recent General Election result has ‘set the seal’ on the unsuitability of our ‘First Past the Post’ (FPP) system, and reinforced the need for change. This will need to be radical if we are to maintain  our democracy in a healthy state, and ensure it continues to be fit for purpose in the 21^st century. A reappraisal is particularly important at a time when populism is eroding modern democratic institutions and the world as a whole is tending towards autocracies as the chosen method of government.

 Amongst other things, to achieve this we will need to exert more control on the UK government of the day, and this will involve some form of continuous assessment ‘with teeth’. We cannot afford to continue to give governments we elect with large working majorities 'carte blanche' to do whatever they want for the whole of their 5-year term.

Here are the arguments for change, based on the indisputable fact that governments are answerable to us as taxpayers. Starmer himself made the assertion on the steps of #10 Downing Street in July that his government was there to serve us…let’s see him ‘put his (i.e. our) money where his mouth is…..’

 

1.       As taxpayers, we pay the wages of both elected politicians and civil servants. They are all, therefore, technically our employees.

2.       As the electorate, we entrust them with the huge responsibility of running the country for us – since they are all error-prone like ourselves, it is our duty to monitor what they are doing, and ensure they don’t compromise our financial or physical security through their actions.

3.       As their employer, we also have the responsibility of assessing their progress and development, particularly when they are newly-elected. We should therefore have a mechanism for judging their performance at a formal review, which should be held at least annually. This is standard practice for all employees, both in the private and the public sectors of our industries.

4.       If they fail to meet their targets at the annual review, they should become liable for some form of disciplinary action. This could take various forms, from a formal warning all the way to dismissal of the government and a new election e.g. for gross mismanagement of the economy. It should also result in suspension of any applicable annual pay rises and bonuses for the individuals deemed responsible until remedial action had proven satisfactory.

5.       As employers it should be our responsibility to decide what day to day personal expenses are acceptable for our politicians, and inform them of the limits we set. In industrial employment settings, this is always strictly controlled and monitored by the employer, and for consistency this control should therefore extend to our elected politicians. We cannot continue to allow then to 'mark their own homework'.

6.       At a time when the new government is making a big deal of changing workers' T&Cs and rights, it should include itself in the reckoning by making itself more accountable from day to day to its paymasters, the electorate.  I have already proposed a number of measures which would address this in a previous blog – see link for details.

This could be summed up in a single question - "Who regulates the legislators ?".

Do I have any confidence that our new government will rise to the challenge and use its ‘super-majority’ to institute the necessary changes in its own working practices and accountability ?

Of course not….vested interests in keeping the system as it is  are simply too strong. Neither of the two main parties want to see any challenge to their current monopoly on power, so it simply won't happen….

Since we have already made the mistake of electing a government with a ridiculously large majority on a mere 20% of the eligible vote, and did so simply to punish its predecessor,  we will, I’m afraid, have to live with the consequences of our mistake…for the next 5 years at least.

Be careful what you wish for next time…..