Government publishes ‘Strategy for Elections’
Today, the Government published its proposals for democratic reform and the Democracy Minister was quizzed by MPs in Parliament. There is much to welcome, but also a glaring lack of action on the voting system at the heart of British democracy.
The Strategy for Modern and Secure Elections aims to “restore trust in our democracy” and “make our elections fit for the future”. It’s proposals for achieving this include:
- Tackling dark money: closure of loopholes and strengthening of the regulator that the APPG for Fair Elections has campaigned for, cracking down on foreign interference through “shell companies,” requiring proper checks on donations over £500, and empowering the Electoral Commission to issue fines up to £500,000.
- Lowering the voting age: enfranchising 16 and 17 year olds to vote in UK general elections.
- Improvements to voter ID: with bank cards part of a widened list of permissible forms of ID.
- Improved voter registration: making it easier and simpler for people to register to vote.
- Protecting candidates: stronger measures to protect candidates from harassment or intimidation..
However, there is now firm recognition – both across Parliament and the wider public – that our elections will not be trustworthy or future proof until First Past the Post is replaced with a fair, proportional voting system. Indeed, it was this understanding that prompted the Government to scrap the system for mayoral and police & crime commissioner elections last week. As a first step toward a fair voting system for Westminster, Ministers should set up a National Commission on Electoral Reform to examine the issues and recommend a way forward.
The APPG for Fair Elections would also like to see more ambitious action to limit the influence of money in politics, including capping political donations and restoring the Electoral Commission to its full independence. Beyond the scope of the current proposals, we continue to campaign for regulation to combat the corrosive effect of disinformation on Britain’s democratic debate.
The breadth of support for fair elections was evident this morning in the House of Commons, where Minister Rushanara Ali fielded questions on the Government’s democratic reform agenda.
As well as welcoming Minster’s proposals, MPs from across the House encouraged the Government to face up to the flaws in Britain’s voting system and to look again at electoral reform, including Alex Sobel (Labour), Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat), Scott Arthur (Labour), Chris Law (SNP), Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat), Rachel Blake (Labour) and Shockat Adam (Independent).