Britain's Political System

[Yacob]

The British political system is in a dreadful state, every party is too similar to give anybody a choice on who to vote for. They all take us further into the s***, which has been seen with the current cabinet. As a nation we only get to vote every four years, and there is nothing that we can do if the government go back on their policies or make bad decisions while in power. It's getting to the point that is needs a major restructuring, and there is no way that the people can force such a change. The only significant impact we can make is if very little vote at the next general election, if only >20% of the population vote, we may finally see something as surely that would be a concern.

Your views?

[Dr. Bishop]

My views? Everyone vote Green


It might actually give the kick up the arse the major parties need.

[KingoStarr]

My views? Everyone vote Green


It might actually give the kick up the arse the major parties need.

I voted green in the last local elections

[Dr. Bishop]

My views? Everyone vote Green


It might actually give the kick up the arse the major parties need.

I voted green in the last local elections

Me too .

[TJR]

I agree that there is no choice. Cameron has been dreadful, Miliband will be the worst prime minister of all time if he gets in (and I normally favour labour). Clegg is worse than them, but there is no chance of him winning anyway. Anyone who votes BNP should be put down. That leaves UKIP and the Green party. Both of which have no chance of getting in. I'll vote for the Green Party as I agree with a lot of there policies but it's pointless as they will never get in. I can't stand people who don't vote, if you don't vote you loose your right to complain or protest about anything in my opinion.

The conservative and labour party are becoming to much like one another. It would be great if someone like the Green Party got a large chunk of the votes but sadly it won't happen.

[skalpel]

One party gets 10m votes, giving it 297 seats. Another gets 7m votes, giving it 191 seats. And a third gets 6m votes, giving it 43 seats - even losing seats despite getting more votes than last time.

... What the hell is this?

It's a weed grown from rotten roots. Seriously in need of major electoral change, republicanism and secularism. It's completely outdated and even looked ridiculous when it was formed. Most of the population don't agree with me though.

[TheLittleGeordie]

I have no plans on ever voting if it stays like this. No party is interested in doing whats best for the country because no one would vote for them if they said they were going to do what needs to be done. Added to that there's the probem that they're all too s*** at being poititians to do any good even if they wanted to

[KingoStarr]

I have no plans on ever voting if it stays like this. No party is interested in doing whats best for the country because no one would vote for them if they said they were going to do what needs to be done. Added to that there's the probem that they're all too s*** at being poititians to do any good even if they wanted to

If you don't vote you're not allowed to complain though cause you haven't done anything to change it

[skalpel]

I have no plans on ever voting if it stays like this. No party is interested in doing whats best for the country because no one would vote for them if they said they were going to do what needs to be done. Added to that there's the probem that they're all too s*** at being poititians to do any good even if they wanted to

If you don't vote you're not allowed to complain though cause you haven't done anything to change it

Vote anything other than Labour in South Tyneside and then try tell me you did something to change things. There is literally no point in voting for many parts of Britain. A system that breeds safe seats is a rotten one.

[KingoStarr]

If you don't vote you're not allowed to complain though cause you haven't done anything to change it

Vote anything other than Labour in South Tyneside and then try tell me you did something to change things. There is literally no point in voting for many parts of Britain. A system that breeds safe seats is a rotten one.

In Coventry we swap between labour and conservative every election
I agree about the voting system being radically changed though at the moment its an absolute joke!

[skalpel]

Vote anything other than Labour in South Tyneside and then try tell me you did something to change things. There is literally no point in voting for many parts of Britain. A system that breeds safe seats is a rotten one.

In Coventry we swap between labour and conservative every election
I agree about the voting system being radically changed though at the moment its an absolute joke!

Sadly it always has been a joke .

[KingoStarr]

In Coventry we swap between labour and conservative every election
I agree about the voting system being radically changed though at the moment its an absolute joke!

Sadly it always has been a joke .

What system would you use Skalps? I am intrigued.

[Paco]

I was tempted to make a similar thread about this, instead focussing on what people thought would be a better system

EDIT: Oh and my view is that the system is poor but won't change because it favours the major parties and it would be suicidal to change it for them

[skalpel]

Sadly it always has been a joke .

What system would you use Skalps? I am intrigued.

A proportional system. I'm also pro a certain degree of direct democracy being integrated too. Rather than have a bunch of squabblers waste time scoring points over one another, it'd serve the people better to more often allow public voting on policy change and implementation. I say a certain degree because it's not wise to leave every single major decision in the hands of the public.

[Paco]

A proportional system. I'm also pro a certain degree of direct democracy being integrated too. Rather than have a bunch of squabblers waste time scoring points over one another, it'd serve the people better to more often allow public voting on policy change and implementation. I say a certain degree because it's not wise to leave every single major decision in the hands of the public.

IMO, direct democracy has many more flaws than in does benefits

[skalpel]

A proportional system. I'm also pro a certain degree of direct democracy being integrated too. Rather than have a bunch of squabblers waste time scoring points over one another, it'd serve the people better to more often allow public voting on policy change and implementation. I say a certain degree because it's not wise to leave every single major decision in the hands of the public.

IMO, direct democracy has many more flaws than in does benefits

Such as? I'm not proposing all out direct democracy here as I say. It'd be governed carefully, think more along the lines of regular referendums. More input from the general public would revive faith and interest in politics and give the country what it wanted.

[Blue & Maroon]

The main problem with proportional systems is the amount of coalitions it forms, in Belgium or The Netherlands (I think) It took nearly a year to form a government which is a joke Coalitions are also something which nobody has voted for and you could therefore argue they are extremely undemocratic. For example I vote for the Lib Dems because they will abolish tuition fees but to form a government they then have to join with a party which wants to keep them, thus my vote is wasted anyway, you end up with a mismatch of policies which nobody really voted for.

The voting system/governmental system doesn't need changing they all have massive flaws, peoples views need changing they need to be aware they have choices to vote for a million and one different parties ultimately things will then change at the top.

[Paco]

Such as? I'm not proposing all out direct democracy here as I say - governed carefully, think more along the lines of regular referendums. More input from the general public would revive faith and interest in politics and give the country what it wanted.

Well it is obviously the "purest" form of democracy, and as such advocates of democracy will always ask for more of it.

However, the flaws are such:

Regular referendums will probably not be have a high enough turnout to be considered the populations view (e.g. the AV referendum received only 48% turnout, and the general election had only 65% turnout)
It would also cause voter apathy, shown by very low turnout for council elections which happen 3 times in every 4 years.
Would most likely reflect the "current mood" rather than people's actual opinions, if there was a very public case over, for example a burglary case , then the public would vote with their heart and not head, potentially leading to laws the public may not actually want.
Also, the media would have way too much influence, as many people rely on the media for information, which could lead to the media effectively deciding the result.
Finally, it would nullify the job of a politicians, which should be to make decisions based on evidence for the benefit of their constituency (obviously this doesn't happen, but you get the gist)

Also, it's simply impractical and too expensive to keep having to roll out votes every 6 months

[Blue & Maroon]

IMO, direct democracy has many more flaws than in does benefits

Such as? I'm not proposing all out direct democracy here as I say. It'd be governed carefully, think more along the lines of regular referendums. More input from the general public would revive faith and interest in politics and give the country what it wanted.

Voter turnout is poor at general elections, if we are voting for something directly even twice a year interest will plummet in my opinion, people get bored and just don't care. It has the same problem as the separation of powers in the US, yes it looks like a brilliant idea on paper and much more democratic but it will take an age for anything do get done.

[skalpel]

The main problem with proportional systems is the amount of coalitions it forms, in Belgium or The Netherlands (I think) It took nearly a year to form a government which is a joke Coalitions are also something which nobody has voted for and you could therefore argue they are extremely undemocratic. For example I vote for the Lib Dems because they will abolish tuition fees but to form a government they then have to join with a party which wants to keep them, thus my vote is wasted anyway, you end up with a mismatch of policies which nobody really voted for.

You voting system/governmental system doesn't need changing they all have massive flaws, peoples views need changing they need to be aware they have choices to vote for a million and one different parties ultimately things will then change at the top.

Not sure if you can use Belgium as an example as failing proportional system, the country is a political nightmare. Nobody even wanted to be PM, the king had to force a guy into doing it and he resigned shortly after.

Your point about coalitions and not getting what you want is pretty much why I mentioned more direct democracy at the same time. Public get more say and its not a case of two conjoined parties pissing around scoring points off each other.