Link: Electoral Reform Society hits out at democracy deserts in the UK
Posted: April 27, 2012 Filed under: Link | Tags: council elections, electoral reform, ers, local democracy, wales Leave a comment »Over at the Electoral Reform Society blog, Stephen Brooks (Director ERS Wales) attacks the undemocratic nature of our local elections, which allow people to be elected uncontested and for parties to win all the seats in some areas with only a minority share of the vote.
Next week voters across 21 of Wales’ 22 unitary authorities will head to the polls to decide the political make-up of their local councils. Voters will express a view on where they want to see their council head for the next five years. The direction of travel on a range of critical issues like council tax, social services, schools, transport and economic development will all be set.
But for nearly 140,000 the opportunity to express a view has been stolen from them by an unfair and outdated electoral system. For them, next Thursday won’t be Election Day.
Across Wales, 95 individuals have already been elected unopposed. The simple task of submitting nomination forms was all it took. No need especially to phone canvass, knock a single door, or attend a hustings. In one ward, no one submitted nomination forms. Residents there will go unrepresented until a by-election is organised.
Electoral Reform Society Wales research shows that across the country, 12 of the 21 councils up for election contain uncontested seats. The worst, Powys is home to an estimated 32,132 residents denied a vote. Gwynedd has approximately 22,861 residents robbed a voice; and in Pembrokeshire its 20,038.
This is not just a problem for rural Wales. Voting won’t interrupt the daily routine of 7,085 residents in Bridgend county borough next Thursday. Nor the 7,524 taxpayers who live in local government minister Carl Sargeant’s own constituency.
Is this a sign of a declining interest in politics? A sign that fewer and fewer people are interested in standing? Or is it an illustration of how our ‘winner takes it all’ First Past The Post system is crowding out competition, particularly in single-member wards?
Read the full post: 140,000 reasons for reform.
Links: NO to Mayors
Posted: April 3, 2012 Filed under: Link | Tags: elected mayors, local democracy, referendums, sheffield city council 1 Comment »As part of our coverage of the Mayoral Referendums across the country (especially Sheffield) I’m posting links to each of the local NO to Mayors campaigns (see here for YES to Mayors links). There isn’t a website for the Sheffield No campaign that I am aware of but hopefully Sheffield readers might find the information on the other sites useful even if it they may not be entirely relevant to Sheffield.
- National sites:No links available
- Birmingham:No links available
- Bradford: No links available
- Bristol: http://www.bristolsaysno.org/
- Coventry:No links available
- Leeds: http://www.noleedsmayor.net/
- Manchester: http://www.unisonmanchester.org/manchester-news/vote-no-to-an-elected-mayor
- Newcastle: http://www.nonewcastlemayor.org.uk/
- Nottingham: No links available
- Sheffield: No links available
- Wakefield: No links available
If you know about any other “No to Mayors” websites (especially Sheffield ones!) please get in touch with us via the comments section or email info@sheffieldfordemocracy.org.uk.
Links: YES to Mayors
Posted: April 3, 2012 Filed under: Link | Tags: elected mayors, local democracy, referendums, sheffield city council 2 Comments »
Yes to Mayors campaign logo
As part of our coverage of the Mayoral Referendums across the country (especially Sheffield) I’m posting links to each of the local YES to Mayors campaigns (see here for NO to Mayors links). There isn’t a website for the Sheffield Yes campaign that I am aware of but hopefully Sheffield readers might find the information on the other sites useful even if it they may not be entirely relevant to Sheffield.
- National sites: http://yes2mayors.com/
- Birmingham: http://yestobirminghammayor.com/
- Bradford: No links available
- Bristol: http://bristolmayor.org/
- Coventry: http://covyes.co.uk/
- Leeds: No links available
- Manchester: No links available
- Newcastle: http://www.newcastlemayor.org.uk/
- Nottingham: No links available
- Sheffield: No links available
- Wakefield: No links available
If you know about any other “Yes to Mayors” websites (especially Sheffield ones!) please get in touch with us via the comments section or email info@sheffieldfordemocracy.org.uk.
Link: Independent Local Government (Unlock Democracy)
Posted: March 4, 2012 Filed under: Consultation, Link | Tags: devolution, local democracy, unlock democracy Leave a comment »Graham Allen MP, Chair of the Parliamentary Select Committee for Political and Constitutional Reform, has posted an article on the Unlock Democracy blog about the importance of local authorities being independent enough of central government, having the freedom to act in the interests of those that elect them and codifying the relationship between local and central government. He says:
Localism which is gifted by central government is a sham. Pretending to give “freedoms” while deciding in Whitehall how many times your bin is emptied is not enough. Any localism worth the name has to be codified and protected by constitutional guarantee. For this to work in the UK would require not only powers to be devolved to local government but financial autonomy too.
Given the reduction of local government over recent decades to little more than an agent of central government, this proposal would amount to the largest denationalisation ever undertaken and the restoration to the public of their ownership of their own local government.
The Select Committee has issued an illustrative consultation document outlining example rights that a council might have. Their consultation runs until October 2012.
Sheffield for Democracy campaigns for the decentralisation of power and as such supports the view that local authorities are there to act as local government rather than merely local administrators, local agents of a centralised government.
Link: Independent Local Government
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