Change the Government not the Voting System

You couldn't make it up! Our unelected Prime Minister Gordon Brown is now pushing for a change to the voting system by which we elected our MPs.
He wants to tinker with the electoral system but he won't call a General Election. Nor will he honour his promise to have a public vote on the Treaty of Lisbon, which proposes transferring even more power from Britain to Brussels.

During the many weeks I spent knocking doors for the European Elections, not once did anyone say to me that they wanted a change to the voting system. Time after time however people said they want a General Election, to have their say on Gordon Brown's leadership and the performance of this Government.

Call me a cynic but I cannot for one minute believe that Gordon Brown would opt for Proportional Representation for any other reason than to try and cling on to power at the next election. He wants to change the rules because he thinks he will lose. Democracy and the country come last with this Prime Minister. His self interest is all that matters.

Having just gone through a European Election we have seen first hand what a confusing system Proportional Representation is. It gives more power to political parties and their whips and it distances politicians from their voters by breaking or loosening the constituency link that exists in the First Past the Post system. What we want now is more accountability from our politicians, not less. We have also seen the scandal of the first BNP MEPs elected under the Proportional Representation system.

If Gordon Brown wants to reinvigorate democracy in this country I have a few suggestions. Give us the referendum he promised on the European Constitution, scrap the quangos and re-establish the importance of Parliament, transfer powers to local government so that decisions are taken closer to the people, stop the briefing against Ministers and MPs who disagree with him, have an elected House of Lords to replace the appointment of cronies and party donors to the upper house, introduce recall elections for MPs where they have lost the faith and trust of their constituents and most importantly of all have the General Election that the public are demanding to bring new blood and a new culture to Westminster.

Time To Shift power To Local People And Rein In Whitehall bureaucrats

Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party for Cities, Tariq Ahmad, meets local Conservatives to talk about revitalising Britain's cities.

Local residents will have the power to instigate local referendums, will know more about how town hall money is spent and Southampton City Council will have more powers and funding under a new Conservative blueprint for local democracy.

I was delighted at the proposals to revive local democracy which were recently unveiled by David Cameron in a major policy document. The new policies include:

· Abolishing all regional planning and housing powers in the hands of regional government, returning powers and discretion back to local communities.
· Creating bottom-up incentives for house building, by allowing Southampton to benefit from the increase in council tax revenues from new homes.
· Giving a real incentive for councils to promote local economic growth, by allowing them to keep the uplift in business rate revenues from businesses growing in size.
· Granting Southampton City Council a new discretionary power to give discounts on business rates, allowing them to help local shops and services, such as rural pubs or post offices, or even create new local enterprise zones.
· Making greater use of direct democracy, including allowing Southampton residents to veto high council tax rises, or instigate a council-wide referendum on local issues if 5% of local residents give their backing.

These radical plans will put local people in the driving seat, and cut back interference and meddling by Whitehall bureaucrats. The next election won’t just be about whether to transfer power from Labour to Conservatives. It will also be about whether to transfer power from the central state to local people.