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Zombie government should face electorate - for The Inverness Courier
LAST week's elections posed serious questions for politicians of all parties.
The low turnout, the rise of the BNP in parts of England, and the heaviest defeat for a sitting government all raise issues about the state of our democracy.
Locally, I was delighted that the Liberal Democrats won the election in the Highlands. Votes from this area secured the election of George Lyon as an MEP. As the first MEP from the Highlands and Islands for over 10 years, I am sure that George's presence will make a difference.
We should also be pleased that neither the far right BNP nor the anti-Europe extremists of UKIP made any progress locally. But the fact that the neo-fascist far right secured their first parliamentary foothold is deeply troubling.
I do not believe that everyone who voted BNP shares their ideology of hatred. It was clear that many of those votes came from people who have lost faith with mainstream politics, in areas of England that have been one party states without any credible opposition for too long.
The BNP's ideology has to be defeated in argument, but is most successfully dealt with by vigorous campaigning at community level. Burnley used to be a place where the BNP had great success, until local Lib Dems took them on street by street. Last week, Lib Dems won six out of seven seats there. Other parties have done the same elsewhere.
The lesson is that no party should take any vote for granted. And nor should any community be abandoned for generations as the preserve of one party. Healthy competition for votes is essential to ensure politicians listen and act.
Nowhere is the need for an electoral contest greater than at Westminster. The government started to go to war with itself even before the polls closed. Despite daily resignations and the lowest share of the vote by a governing party for decades, Mr Brown has clung onto office.
It seems that the price he paid was to cede control of the government to Peter Mandelson — hardly a step forward for democracy. The country is paying the price with a government that is unable effectively to govern, lingering in office for another year. In the midst of the worst recession for decades, we do not need a zombie government.
It is one of the many things wrong with our rotten political system that the prime minister can fiddle with polling day so he can go on for another year. We should fix the election date in advance — every four years, as happens for the Scottish Parliament or the presidency of the United States.
This was one of many urgently needed changes that should have been introduced immediately when Mr Brown made his announcement about "democratic renewal" last week. But instead of actually doing anything now, he announced more committees and reviews. He — and the Conservatives — want to sound like they want change, but do not want to do it.
That is perhaps not a surprise, given that the current Westminster stitch up, with all its arrogance and secrecy, gives Labour and the Tories a turn at power every few years. But it is breathtakingly cynical, and more importantly a betrayal of the real anger at our rotten system and the desire for change that most people feel. We should force the reforms through now and then elect a fairer, more open, and cleaned up parliament in a general election.
OIL PRICES
The rapidly rising oil price, driven by speculation, is starting to hit people across the Highlands — at the worst possible time.
We need more than ever a recognition by government the fuel prices have a different, and more damaging, impact in rural areas like the Highlands. A duty cut for people in such areas would be simple to do and at very little cost to the taxpayer. I will keep pressing the Labour government to do it in their final months.
Posted on: 16/06/2009
