SOME VERY TEDIOUS THOUGHTS

The facts and figures of this blog will no doubt bore you to tears. Nonetheless it’s just something that has bothered me for a while. 

Of the various forms of government in the world, that which appears to be most favoured involves voting in some form. The idea that the citizen of the state has a right to choose who she/he wishes to have part in the governing body of the state. For the sake of efficiency, inclusion and compromise, a governing group is elected to serve the state. All manner of opinions can be expressed and the citizen is entitled to choose a representative who will look after her/his interests within the governing group. That governing group is usually made up of a head of state or executive in charge of the overall functions of government, a legislative group that creates and amends the rules and regulations of how we live and co-exist, and a judicial body that deals with the application of those rules and regulations. Most states will only have elections for the executive and the legislative groups, allowing the executive and legislative to appoint those thought to best represent the judicial requirements of the state.

The main choice, however, is who do the citizens choose to best represent them and how many representatives are required for the state to function in a comprehensive and efficient manner. How do we find people willing to take on the task of being part of organising the day to day functions of the state to keep us free and secure, in good health, able to work and find time to enjoy the fruits of our individual endeavours? In other words, how to best support and allow the individual citizen to realise their full potential. 

 

Some citizens put themselves forward and actively seek the support of others to give them the opportunity to be part of the governing body, to be their political representative in government. Others are chosen by groups of citizens who have formed parties with a particular point of view as to how best to run and organise the state. Depending on the size of the state and its geography, there will of necessity be various levels of governing groups, again for the sake of inclusion, efficiency and compromise. The size of the overall governing group will be dependent on the evolution of the state and the decisions of the legislator representatives of the citizen. 

In the United Kingdom, there is a Parliament, a Scottish Parliament, a Welsh Parliament, a Northern Ireland Assembly, 404 local authorities (including metropolitan districts) and some local parish councils. There are 20,224 elected representatives to local authorities, 650 elected members of Parliament, 129 members in the Scottish Parliament, 60 elected members in the Welsh Parliament, 90 elected members in the Northern Ireland Assembly, which makes some 21, 931 elected government representatives looking after the interests of a current population of 68,135,845 citizens. Each representative could be said to be responsible for 3106 citizens. (Note that there is a new census being conducted as of 21^st March 2021). 

The average size of the electorate in Constituencies in England is 72,200. In Scotland 67,200, in Northern Ireland 68,300 and in wales 56,000. Also, there will be overlaps in that each parliamentary constituency will contain a number of local authority wards, which will have its own local authority representatives. As an example, there are 8 Lambeth Local Authority wards within the Vauxhall Parliamentary Constituency. Giving the citizens 24 local representatives and 1 Member of Parliament. As of December 2019, there are 88,659 electors in the Vauxhall constituency. Which means some 3500 souls represented by each of the 25 elected representatives for the area.  So even a calculation at a local level comes to roughly the same numbers; some 3500, give or take, citizens are supposedly having their interest looked after by an elected representative of some kind. 

There is however a major distinction to be drawn between the various tiers of representation. Local Authority representatives tend to more closely reflect the citizens they represent and are much closer to the political thinking of their constituents. The larger the sphere of influence of an elected administrative body, the wider the lack of political connectivity. Much of that disconnect depends on the electoral system of the state. This is particularly evident in the United Kingdom, where the disconnect between the general population and the government is akin to the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

The upper tier of the British Government is Parliament. 650 members are elected. The government formed by the political party with the most seats does not reflect the true nature of the electorate. If we assume three candidates are seeking office, Candidate A gets 10 votes, B gets 9 votes and C gets 8 votes, Candidate A with 10 votes is elected, despite the fact that in the constituency 17 electors did not vote for A. As far as policy is concerned, will A support the wishes of the 17 which may be completely opposed by the 10, or will A simply ignore the 17. There is a continual conflict of interests at play.  This is the current situation. The Conservative party have 365 elected members, 40 more than the other parties combined. This is called a majority and the government claims that is a mandate to carry out conservative policy. Yet on the electoral figures only 29.3 % of the entire electorate actually voted for the conservative party. This means that only 20.7 % of the population have decided who should direct and decide the future of the country, and the fate of over 68 million people, 54 million of whom, are effectively unrepresented. That’s four fifths of the population who are left without any real voice in Parliament. There is something very wrong.

It clearly suits those in power to have a system whereby the candidate with the highest number of votes, no matter what the percentage, is declared the elected representative for that constituency. Too much is at stake to allow this state of affairs to continue, that allows power for the few to continue; but, that has been the case in the United Kingdom for centuries. To call oneself a British Subject is very much the case. There have been great philosophical strides and great principles of law established in the United Kingdom, but not without immense struggle. 

It has been 1122 years since Alfred the Great passed on the Crown to Edward the Elder. It is not far off being passed on again. Indeed, Prince Philip is not well, and I believe 2021 will be gearing up to a prolonged wake and hours of media devoted to his life and service. No doubt Harry and Meghan will attend to much ballyhoo and comment of all sorts. All of that will continue to mask the reality that any truly democratic representative government is a long way off.