Politics Without Parties

about the jury team

Democratic Reform

The Jury Team has pulled together and reviewed the various ideas for Democratic Reform which have been suggested by charities, think-tanks and parliamentary and government bodies over the last twenty years. It has incorporated these into a series of Proposals in each area which will make the political system more responsive and give back the balance of power to the electorate. It will create an English Parliament and seek to equalise the powers held locally by each of the four devolved nations. It will reform the House of Commons by reducing the number of MPs by a third and introducing proportional representation. It will enable the holding of a referendum on a particular subject if requested by 5% of the electorate. It will reduce the 'health and safety' culture and the 'nanny state' by introducing a 'no-fault' compensation scheme for claims against public bodies.

The current party political system has turned the United Kingdom's Parliament and Government into the creatures of a small and increasingly distant group of oligarchical politicians. The UK political system has lost the respect of its citizens. This is evidenced by:

the low turnout at elections:

only two-fifths of registered electors voted at both of the 2001 and 2005 general elections and only three-fifths of registered electors voted at each
only one-third of registered electors voted at the 2009 European Parliamentary election

continuing criticism of MPs' lifestyles, of Government initiatives and of the delivery of public services

The arrogance that has developed in the traditional party cultures has led to personal behaviours and attitudes on issues such as expenses and conflicts of interest which would be unacceptable in any other walk of life. Politicians are seen as more interested in winning elections than in improving the lot of the people or the state of the nation. Many manipulate rather than respect their electorate. MPs are now largely in Parliament as their primary career rather than to provide objective oversight of the Government. The House of Commons has generally been reduced to a talking shop by the party whipping system and overwhelmingly accepts the Government's proposals with little scrutiny.

The Government is run by ministers appointed for party political reasons who have little background in their subject or in management and are anyway moved elsewhere before they can implement their proposals.

Westminster and Whitehall have distinct functions:

- Westminster: Parliament decides on whether to agree to a proposed new law and holds the government to account for its actions in administering the law

Prime Minister Gladstone made clear the function of Westminster when he said to the House of Commons:

'Your business is not to govern the country, but it is, if you think fit, to call to account those who do govern it.'

- Whitehall: Government administers the existing laws and as necessary can propose new laws to Parliament.

Unfortunately these two sets of activities have become blurred and have merged in the modern UK Constitution (unlike in the US which essentially adopted our 1780 Constitution with its then separation of powers, although replacing a hereditary head of state with an elected one). The legislature, our Parliament, and the executive, our Government, are now both run by the Prime Minister who commands his or her majority in Parliament though the whips and the administration of existing laws by Government though the ministers. His or her appointments of both whips and ministers are made in the interests of the governing party and not of the people of the United Kingdom. There are no proper checks and balances against the actions of these appointees either in Parliament or in the major departments of state.

Our 'first past the post' (FPTP) Westminster election system inevitably leads to the dominance of an oligarchy of only two major parties in which an increasingly small number of individuals have the media access to dominate politics. Career MPs become chained to the platform of their chosen party for their advancement. The biographies of many of the front bench members of the main political parties are almost indistinguishable on their well-trodden path from college to party worker to Westminster and they hope eventually to Whitehall. Their entire working life requires obedience to their party leadership who promulgate changing policies with some of which they may well strongly disagree. The majority of MPs have had little association with their constituencies before they are elected.

The active membership of political parties has dropped to less than 1% of the UK population. John Major wrote in 2003:

'At the grass roots, our political parties are shrinking in membership from mass movements to the size of special interest groups. The broad mass of the nation is detached from politics. Many feel a distaste for it. All the party machines are moribund, near-bankrupt, unrepresentative and ill-equipped to enthuse the electorate.'

Jackie Ashley, daughter of a Labour MP, said in 2003:

'You cannot have a Parliamentary system based on political parties if across most of the country they have ceased to exist.'

General elections using the FPTP system lead to substantial differences between the share of votes and share of seats for different political parties and therefore do not lead to a Parliament reflecting the will of the people. Parliament should also represent the population as well as possible in terms of gender, ethnicity and occupational experience. However in Parliament women currently have only about 40% of their proper representation. Similarly ethnic minorities have only about 30% of what would be required to reflect the ethnicity of the population as a whole. The inability of the party political system to provide sufficient women or ethnic minority candidates means that those groups have a strong argument in denying the legitimacy of Parliament.

The UK now has an unbalanced democratic system. There has been devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but the English electorate only has the Westminster Parliament where many MPs are not elected by the English electorate. In addition some English focussed government departments are run by ministers from outside England. The House of Lords reviews English Bills passed by the House of Commons but not those passed in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. There needs to be a wider and more stable devolution settlement.

Another area where people are very concerned about their relationship with the state is in 'health and safety' issues. There is a widespread view that public bodies enforce a 'nanny state' and are more worried about avoiding any criticism if occasionally things go wrong than they are about making sure that the public gets the best service.

In her introduction to the Power Inquiry report Baroness Helena Kennedy stated:

'The politicos have no idea of the extent of the alienation that is out there'

Given the very poor public perception of our democratic system and its many publicised failings, the Jury Team has researched a wide range of sources which over the last few years have looked at the governance of the UK including:

Electoral Reform Society
Hansard Society
Power Inquiry
Better Government Initiative
Democratic Audit
Unlock Democracy/Charter 88
Open Democracy/Our Kingdom
Electoral Commission
Committee on Standards in Public Life (Nolan)
House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee
House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee
House of Lords Constitution Select Committee
Hayden Phillips Report on Party Funding

The Jury Team believes that even in a single five year Parliamentary term it will be able greatly to increase democracy and to introduce a better framework of governance for Parliament. This will then provide a robust framework of governance for whichever MPs might be elected in the Parliamentary term from 2015.

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Make A Difference

We welcome all the help you can give us to make these ideas the law of the land. You can become part of our Team by:

Registering yourself as a candidate to become an MP
Registering to get our weekly newsletter, joining the Jury Team or becoming a donor
Helping other people to get elected by emailing to info@juryteam.org and giving your location and what you can do to help
Going to our Facebook, Twitter and SocialGo websites and blogging away to tell people what you think and look at YouTube and send the video links to your friends