One of the sessions at the 2011 New Year Conference of the Fabian Society today, held at the Institute of Education, looked at the ‘Yes to AV’ referendum in the context of new progressive politics. The contributors made a number of very interesting contributions.
John Denham MP, Shadow Business Secretary, says that he ‘has settled more into the AV camp’ because it sits well with the achievable aim of a constitutional House of Lords within the next few months. He further added that, under the current electoral system, small parties can exert a disproportionate degree of political influence.
Anthony Barnett, Founder of openDemocracy, considers the AV referendum to be at the end of a cycle of electoral reform, which is part of the “new politics”. The recent anti-cuts movement including criticism of progressive marketization of education is considered by Anthony to be progressive, and to be part of the “new politics”. (John Denham instead proposed that there had been various ‘waves’ of new politics across the years, but that 2015 was unlikely to offer a profound ideological shift.) Anthony felt that an AV system might mobilize people to vote at all; parliamentary sovereignty lends itself to corporate media lobbying having undue influence on the executive, and an AV system makes a highly centralized state much more likely and more democratic state much more likely.
Jessica Assato, Director of the ‘Labour Yes to AV Campaign’, argued that the AV referendum must be decided upon the arguments presented of either sticking to the ‘status quo’ or a change to AV producing a better, progressive democracy. Jessica believes that it will represent a better style of politics, less dependence on the core voters and greater motivation to find voters further afield, allow individuals to vote for positively for people, and that it will minimize the chances of minority political parties including fascists being elected. Jessica felt that there is a case for more proportional representation at local level as well, giving members of the community more community involvement, for example through new technologies (such as “38 Degrees”). Finally, a new AV system would allow voters to indicate what sort of coalition partners they would prefer in the event of a hung parliament; Jessica argued that many voters were indeed dissatisfied with the outcome of the 2010 UK General Election.
Lord Michael Wills believes in the AV referendum passionately, for non-tribal politics to succeed, and hopes that the referendum will produce a ‘yes vote’.
