In April 2011, the British public emphatically rejected the first offer of an alternative voting system to our current, undemocratic first-past-the-post system. Admittedly, the Alternative Vote was, in Nick Clegg's words, 'a horrible compromise', and was by no means an ideal alternative to FPtP. However, I fear that its defeat will be used as a propaganda tool to say that the British public has no interest in proportional representation, despite the fact that polls consistently show widespread support for it. However, this is the time when the country needs a fair voting system more than ever.
As I said in my last post, concerning cancelling my Labour party membership, the differences between the three major parties are so small as to be irrelevant. UK voters are faced with a choice of three ultimately centrist parties with a rightward-leaning view on economic policy, a more-or-less liberal view on gay rights and an authoritarian view on civil liberties. Granted, the Liberal Democrats still take a largely liberal stance on immigration and most civil liberties, and Labour and the Lib Dems are slightly more favourable for minority rights than the Tories, but this is not enough to maintain a pretence that the UK has a fully functioning democracy with a genuine choice for the average voter.
The fact is, if you see yourself as a socialist, communist, libertarian, fascist, or even just a genuine Left or Right-wing voter, you don't really have any say in how Britain is run. Now, I'm not saying it would be desirable to have fascist or communist ideology making a large imprint in British life - quite the contrary. However, for anyone who finds themself deviating from the centrist consensus of modern UK politics, their voice is lost amongst calls for electability. In the interests of genuine democracy, this should not continue, and an alternative system must be found in the form of PR.
