One last tactical voting chance
During the summer, innovative mechanisms were proposed were made either to replace the Johnson regime in parliament in favour of a new PM agreed via a Citizens’ Assembly, or to agree a progressive party process for tactical voting in a General Election based on the 1989 Coupon Election.
They came to naught, and we are faced with the prospect of a Johnson Regime committed not just to Hard Brexit but to a range of authoritarian steps which cast real doubt on the longevity of our democracy.
The failure to come up with progressive solution will live long in the memory of people who urged politicians to find a way forward to stop Johnson, but who had no access to the power structures themselves to make it happen.
But is all now lost? Is all we can now depend on a bunch of tactical voting websites of dubious provenance and motivation, which in reality are simply making a hard choice harder?
Or does Labour, as the senior (in numbers) party have one more card of generosity to play in the coming days? Where might be there a common interest at this late stage?
If there is an answer, it lies in the broadly linked progressive ideas of proportional representation and Citizens’ Assemblies/
Labour already has this manifesto commitment:
The renewal of our Parliament will be subject to recommendations made by a UK-wide Constitutional Convention, led by a citizens’ assembly…..(p.81)
What if this was firmed up in the next couple of days to include a specific commitment to that Citizens’ Assembly considering the introduction of proportional representation to parliament, probably at least initially via a top-up list system?
This would probably also require — shock, horror — a referendum in line with the 2011 precedent, and there are dangers of a repeat, but the attractions for the Lib Dems and the Greens are obvious enough: an opportunity for their supporters to swing behind Labour in this defining election and in the appropriate seats, when the stakes could not be higher but when party loyalty does (and should not) just disappear because of those high stakes, in return for a real crack at the PR whip through a properly informed Citizens’ Assembly process and (by consequence) a further referendum (assuming the CA recommends this).
And you know what? Maybe there is a glimmer of hope.
This is the new constituency level response from one Jeremy Corbyn to the PR-supporting campaign group Make Votes Matter, in which he restates the importance of the promised constitutional convention, and PR’s place within that:
[For the] House of Commons, retain the constituency link. But I’m prepared to consider top-up lists…we are going to set up a Constitutional Convention which will look at lists as well as the powers of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, English regions and devolved counties…
Unfortunately, his rival Nick the Flying Brick has not yet commented, but this surely offers some impetus for a short-notice ‘deal’ on the table.
It does not have to be agreed with other leaders (I am not sure Jo Swinson would know where to go with this) though the Greens might well assent; all it needs is for the idea to get out to the smaller party memberships, so that they can vote both with conscience and tactics.
