Like so many other UK residents I awoke yesterday morning to a new Government headed by Sir Kier Starmer. With 650 seats on offer in the House of Commons the result was as follows;
Labour won with 412 seats (+214)
Conservatives 121 seats (-252)
Liberal Democrats 71 seats (+63)
Reform 5 seats (+5)
Green Party 4 seats (+3)
Others (some country specific) 27 seats (-33)
“Will this really be the dawn of a new era?”
I’m not so sure. During my lifetime I have seen the pendalum swing from side to side between Labour and Conservative Governments on six separate occasions.
It feels like each turn of the coin just produces another switch of power which undoes much of what the previous Government did and if we are lucky we actually move the status quo forward as a country.
I’m personally no longer convinced that two party politics actually works for the benefit of the people. I don’t believe that all those people who voted for Labour believe in what Starmer was standing for or took the trouble to read the key promises. Even less actually consulted the manifesto.
I feel a lot of people just voted against the Conservatives and for a change of Government knowing that a vote for any other party, in a two party political system is a wasted vote!
Should we even be still operating on a First Past The Post System?
FPTP is one of the simplest electoral systems, and has been used to elect the House of Commons here since the Middle Ages. Its use extends to former British colonies, most notably the USA, Canada and India. It is now only used as the primary form of allocating seats for legislative elections in less than 50 countries worldwide. A definitive minority globally.
The fact that this system has been in place since the Middle Ages (500-1500 AD) doesn’t make it right and certainly not relevant in the modern world
The alternative is Proportional Representation which neither of the two main political parties will ever advocate for because it is unlikely to benefit them. Doesn’t this show, therefore, that the parties who have run our country since immemorial are not actually concerned about how to best represent the peoples’ choices?
PR is based upon the simple idea that the strength of each party in parliament should closely match their popularity in the country e.g. if the party gains 25% of the national vote then they should have 25% of the seats.
For many people, this is what living in a democracy means. It is the most popular form of democracy for countries in the world today with over 100 countries using PR or similar to elect and thereby establish their Governments.
This is what yesterday’s results would look like under a PR system
Labour would have 220 seats
Conservatives 153
Reform 93
Liberal Democrats 79
Green Party 44
Others 61
By continuing to use the FPTP system are we even a full democracy?
The definition of a Democracy is a system of government in which state power is vested in the people or the general population of a state.
If the amount of seats in the House of Commons doesn’t represent the proportion of votes cast by the general population of the country I would suggest this means we no longer actually live in a democracy?
The Human Freedom Index 2022, is an index which measures 83 different indicators of personal and economic freedom. If you have never looked at this before it makes interesting reading and clearly shows that the top ten democratic countries worldwide are countries which use a form of PR for their elections:
Switzerland, New Zealand, Estonia, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
Based upon this measurement and I feel not surprisingly the UK sits at 20th and USA at 23rd, both operate a two party system of politics.
The Democracy Index 2020 also analyses the levels of democracy worldwide. According to their measurements of democracy, only about half (49.4%) of the world’s population live in a democracy of some sort, and even fewer (8.4%) reside in a “full democracy”. The top ten looked like this:
Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Australia, Netherlands
The UK came in at number 16 and the USA at 25 and even falls into the “flawed democracy” part of the table.
When are we ever going to move forward?
If this wasn’t enough evidence for us to realise that our political system is flawed taking into account that America has long been considered the leader of the free world, just take a look at the debate from the USA this week.
Stuck in two party politics and a FPTP system of elections the world watched whilst a felon (with currently 34 convictions to his name) debated the future of the USA with a gentleman who quite honestly came across infirm and unable to even string together a complete sentence. Is that the best you can offer America?
Is this the future of the Western World?
I honestly despair if it is.
I sit on the cusp of a Baby Boomer and Gen X and for me the future has to be about our children and grandchildren and the world they will inherit.
The Centre for the Future of Democracy at the University of Cambridge conducted analysis into how the younger generations feel about democracy. According to the report produced from their findings, in almost every global region it is among 18-34 year olds that satisfaction with democracy is in steepest decline.
Young people’s faith in democratic politics is lower than any other age group, and millennials across the world are more disillusioned with democracy than Generation X or baby boomers were at the same stage of life.
Before you scoff these findings please take into account that they come from the largest-ever global dataset of democratic legitimacy. Cambridge researchers collaborated with the HUMAN Surveys Project to combine data from close to five million respondents in over 160 countries between 1973 and 2020 who were asked about their degree of satisfaction with democracy in their country.
“This is the first generation in living memory to have a global majority who are dissatisfied with the way democracy works while in their twenties and thirties,” said Dr Roberto Foa, lead author of the report from Cambridge’s Department of Politics and International Studies.
Furthermore Millennials and Gen Xers have grown steadily less satisfied with democracy as they have advanced in life.
Researchers argue that, in developed democracies, the biggest contributor to this trend is “economic exclusion” caused by high youth unemployment and wealth inequality: the strongest predictors of the satisfaction age gap. Nations where wealth distribution is relatively flat, such as Iceland or Austria, see only minor generation gaps in attitudes to democracy, while those with persistent wealth inequality – such as the USA – have large and growing divides.
“Higher debt burdens, lower odds of owning a home, greater challenges in starting a family, and reliance upon inherited wealth rather than hard work and talent to succeed are all contributors to youth discontent,” said Dr. Foa.
“Right across the world, we are seeing an ever widening gap between youth and older generations on how they perceive the functioning of democracy,” she said.
In my opinion Democracy should surely be at the centre of any election.
I am not your usual midlifer. I believe in change if it benefits the majority. I feel as a country the UK has a tendency to live in the past and hang onto traditions whether they serve the majority of people or not. I struggle with the ideology that doing what we have always done makes it right.
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” John F. Kennedy
What Does The Future Hold?
We have another five years until the next election which today feels like a lifetime but midlife teaches you that time flies.
I look forward to a time when those in power actually represent the views of the majority of people of all ages.
At the same time I challenge those 18-34 year olds in democracies around the world if you want change then make it happen.
You are the social media kings and queens. Start to use it for the good of the world and ensure the future continues to be a democratic world that represents all ages!
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world.In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead
A Midlife Adventure 