Robert Buckland Weblog

I was interested to read the views of Health Secretary Alan Johnson about Proportional Representation as a means of getting the public to re-engage with politics.  Interesting, but wrong, however.  There is no evidence to suggest a greater involvement in elective politics in countries that use PR.  If anything,  PR serves to undermine the election process.  In the UK, we almost always know who the next Government are going to be by early Friday morning.   When you have PR, the election itself is merely round one in a grim and often tawdry series of negotiations in what used to be called “smoke-filled rooms” before a Government, often with an entirely different set of policies from those set out before the electorate, emerges.  It is often more akin to the election of a Pope or a Tory leadership contest from the 1950s than it is to democratic politics.  PR would be a blind alley.

Contrary to much political opinion, I believe that it is events, not processes, that have the greater effect when it comes to catching the attention of the public.  The events of the last twelve months have served to make people more interested in politics, not less.  The baleful effects of the recession on families and the daily discussion about the shortcomings of those who are supposed to govern properly are bringing people out to public meetings, petition signings and comments on blogs and websites.  The common theme is that our current crop of politicians and policies are just not good enough, and that real change is needed.

David Cameron has hit the headlines for all the right reasons in the last two weeks.  I am particularly glad to note that he has committed the next Conservative Government to restoring more freedom to the House of Commons.  The most important power an MP should possess is his or her vote, which should never be taken for granted.  Being an effective constituency MP should not be seen as detrimental to the interests of their Party.   I agree that politics has to be a “team game” if changes are to be made.  A series of independent MPs cannot speak with coherence and soon, self interest takes over.  By this, I do not mean greed or selfishness, but a natural tendency for independents to look at things narrowly.  Having served for several years on a County Council that was (supposedly) controlled by Independents, all I saw was pork barrel politics and full control by the officers.

Rather than fiddling with the process, we must look at the outcomes of our politics.  Freer and more powerful Select Committees, a reduction in the number of MPs and an equalisation of constituency numbers are measures that will have far greater effect upon the quality of our democracy.  David Cameron has the chance to make some of the most far reaching changes in a generation.  From what I have seen in the past couple of weeks, I think that he will grasp the nettle.