Clare Short's call for Democracy

Clare Short MP, has been threatened with expulsion from the Labour Party for the following statement:

"My conclusion is that the key to the change we need is a hung parliament which will bring in electoral reform. Then we would have a second election. Labour - with existing levels of support - would have one-third of the seats in the Commons, the Tories something similar, and we would be likely to see some Greens and others added, creating a plurality of voices and power centres in the Commons. British politics would then change profoundly. Parliament, and in turn the people, would have to be listened to, Cabinet government would return, the error-prone arrogance of Number 10 would end, and we would have a chance of creating a new politics, a more civilised country and a more honourable role in the world."

Just so that there is no doubt, what she is advocating is democratic reform. For Tony Blair was not elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland nor was her Majesty's Government democratically elected.

The Labour party, was invited to form the government by the Queen, it was not elected to do so. Constituency elections are just that, Members of Parliament are elected to represent a constituency, nothing more. Of course, the majority of voters vote for the political party not the candidate, since we are denied any legal mechanism for us to elect the Head of State, the Prime Minister or the government.

However it is palpable nonsense to suggest that this is democratic: our constituencies are not equal in population or land mass; and have they been manufactured to give an electoral advantage to the incumbent Labour government. This is not democracy; it is election rigging. The Labour Party has a majority in Parliament, yet failed to win the support of even a quarter of the electorate. They achieved a third of cast votes, less than the number of abstentions.

Whatever one thinks of Clare Short and her motives; any political party that would expel a member for urging democratic reform, is itself undemocratic.