The rise of populism and the feeling that some people have benefited from the pandemic has prompted a crisis in our democracy and the feeling that whichever party is in power ‘We, the People’ are being largely ignored particularly when it comes to the day-to-day worries that concern us all.
The solution is to reform our constitution and make local people feel that their vote has a direct impact on their lives.
1. Simplify the tiers of local government.
At the moment we have parish councils, town councils, district councils, county councils, and some even regional councils. Nobody knows who is responsible for what and consequently voter participation at election time is embarrassing. Reduce the tiers to maybe the Parish Council and County Councils. Make the Leader/Mayor of the County an important person who everyone knows and who leads the largest party in the county council and has to listen to their electorate
2. Allow local entities to raise and keep their taxes.
If an individual or business realises that their vote has a direct impact on their taxes and services they will be more likely to participate in local politics. At the moment Central Government collects in almost all the taxes and returns an amount to the regions according to the party in power in Westminster’s priorities. For instance County Councils should have the power to determine and retain Community tax and Business Rates, thus making them more accountable to their electorate and as a result their community would feel that decisions were being taken at a level closest to where they have an impact. Central government would still be able to top us special cases, where counties could not initially raise sufficient taxes to fulfil their obligations, but the general rule should be that central government should stick out of the way of decisions made by local government.
3. Reform the House of Lords.
At the moment the House of Lords is an embarrassment to our standing in the world. It seems too large, too elderly, too out of touch and too stuffed with government stooges.
Any decision taken there is so far removed from the man in the street that they might as well be sitting on Mars ( maybe that is why they have red benches).
This is an opportunity to reform this institution but not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
It should retain it’s place as the Revising Chamber but the membership should have more relevance to our whole population. Therefore I propose that the number of Lords should be reduced to roughly half of the House of Commons. Each County in the UK should provide 2 members in the same way that the Senate is constituted in USA. Each member’s time in the House of Lords should be time limited to maximum 2 terms of 5 years. How each County appointed their representatives would be up to them; they could appoint, elect or draw lots. With luck this would also give the Scots, Welsh and Irish a feeling that they had more influence in Westminster and help to draw the sting out of the independence campaign. The Commons always fear that a reformed House of Lords would diminish the legitimact of the Commons. The answer to that maybe in the affirmative but the Lords would retain its primary role of only being a revising chamber; it would be unable to initiate laws, thus maintaining its second class rank.
With these reforms the British people will feel that politicians are more representative of themselves and hopefully stop the apathy that is pervasive among a large sector of the population and re-energise our whole body politic.
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