UK Elections 11: PR and democracy

Listening to the BBC’s ‘Any Questions’ with a hopelessly biased audience (they cheered Labour Minister Jack Straw when he criticised the Conservatives for putting a limit on immigration and cheered him when he said immigration had gone down under the Labour administration – now that is what I call even handed) the subject of Proportional Representation came up, with a question on whether the parties supported ‘a fair voting system’. Someone replied that after the War the British Government had imposed it on Germany (implication: so it must be all right).

I thought this rather gave the game away. The system was imposed on Germany because it almost always fails to supply strong government, something which at the time we naturally didn’t want in Germany.

But the PR system is dangerously flawed, from a democratic perspective. You voted, say LibDem because you liked their policy on Europe. Or you voted Conservative because you liked their policy on schools. But in the coalition negotiations, which take place after you have voted, those policies disappear, one in return for the other. You can imagine the weasels in their herbal tea-filled rooms negotiating away, policy after policy, deciding on what’s best for them (not you), how much more of your money should buy a block of votes from another party just to keep the same weasels in power. You won't have a say: you might not vote again for five years. So of course the parties don't rule out a coalition.

This is real power: being able to decide on the future of the country without having to suffer the inconvenience of referring to the electorate.

Proportional Representation is a system whereby you, the electorate, hand over your choice to the political class, saying ‘decide for me’.

And it is not just anti-democratic; it breeds corruption. The pork barrel political corruption of the likes of ‘we could reverse our policy on nuclear weapons provided the submarines are built in my constituency’ and also the financial corruption.

Speaking of Germany, we should remember the story of Helmut Kohl. He had been caught with his hand in the till. Something like €300 million were discovered in a Swiss Bank account, proceeds of a deal selling tanks to Saudi Arabia and some murky oil licences with France. Money siphoned off to his political party from corruption.

Kohl was such a senior member of the political class that he declined even to discuss, much less deny, the accusations. It was not for the little people to criticise Helmut.

The constituency electorate, rightly, voted him out. But when they woke up again the following morning he was still an MP, put in by the party list system, whereby you vote for the party and they decide who gets into parliament.

This party list system occurs under the AV+ and the STV systems, both of which the Liberal Democrats endorse and might insist on for their co-operation after you have voted.

That is real power: retaining your seat in parliament, even when the voters have opted to get rid of you, sticking up two fingers to the little people.

Under PR, you could have another election with a different result and still find the same people running the country. That often happens in Germany and Italy.

If you want democracy, if you want your vote to count for something and not just be a bargaining counter for the political class, steer well clear of PR. Or hung parliaments.