I don't really care who wins a by-election in Scotland, but what I did notice was that it takes far less votes to elect an MP is Scotland than in my part of the country.
Working on the figures provided by the BBC news report, it would seem that Inverclyde constituency has an electorate of about 60,000. whilst where I live, the electorate for my constituency is just over 75,000.
If this difference is typical, and to simplify the maths, if one takes an area of Scotland with a electorate of, say, 300,000, it would get five MPs, whilst a similar electorate in England would get only four.
This is gerrymandering of the worst kind, particularly as Scotland now has its own parliament and there is no excuse whatsoever for enhanced representation in Westminster.
Yet for some reason any thought of boundary changes to remedy this situation seems to have been lost in the debacle over AV.
Perhaps we should have a campaign for "One man, one vote" rather than "one man one vote" in Scotland, and "One man, four-fifths of a vote" in England.
Showing posts with label Voting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Voting. Show all posts
Friday, 1 July 2011
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
To Hell with AV; Let's return to One Man, One Vote
I have long believed that the introduction of Postal Voting for all would be a disaster, and this morning my beliefs were confirmed by someone whom I would describe as "Being in the Know".
The nearby town (fortunately in a different constituency than the one in which I reside) has a large Asian community. I am assured that there are effectively two clans or tribes, and the leaders decide how the votes are to be cast. Families are expected to apply for postal votes, and the heads of each household are expected to show the completed forms to the clan leader before they are posted. I have no reason to doubt what I have been told, as this merely confirms what I learnt before I retired.
I had a young Asian lad working for me, living in digs locally although his parents lived up north. He told me that his father expected him to apply for a postal vote and that his father would tell him how to vote. He was also under pressure from locals, where he was in digs, to abide by the local decision on how to vote. He just wanted to do his own thing and was looking for a way out; I suggested that he "forgot" to apply for a postal vote, but he indicated that the clan would expect to see his application! He also believed that his father had applied for a vote in his name at their home up north, but didn't want to get his father into trouble.
It's been said before by others, but its worth saying again:-
As a result of postal voting we now have a third world electoral system.
So,
TO HELL WITH AV, JUST BRING BACK ONE MAN, ONE VOTE
The nearby town (fortunately in a different constituency than the one in which I reside) has a large Asian community. I am assured that there are effectively two clans or tribes, and the leaders decide how the votes are to be cast. Families are expected to apply for postal votes, and the heads of each household are expected to show the completed forms to the clan leader before they are posted. I have no reason to doubt what I have been told, as this merely confirms what I learnt before I retired.
I had a young Asian lad working for me, living in digs locally although his parents lived up north. He told me that his father expected him to apply for a postal vote and that his father would tell him how to vote. He was also under pressure from locals, where he was in digs, to abide by the local decision on how to vote. He just wanted to do his own thing and was looking for a way out; I suggested that he "forgot" to apply for a postal vote, but he indicated that the clan would expect to see his application! He also believed that his father had applied for a vote in his name at their home up north, but didn't want to get his father into trouble.
It's been said before by others, but its worth saying again:-
As a result of postal voting we now have a third world electoral system.
So,
TO HELL WITH AV, JUST BRING BACK ONE MAN, ONE VOTE
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