Friday, April 29, 2022
Labour no-show enables Tory gerrymandering
For some reason the effectiveness of our democratic process is not considered to be sexy enough to make major headlines, even when the Tory Government seeks to stack it in their favour, and Labour abstentions enable them.
As Left Foot Forward reports, the House of Lords have now effectively capitulated to Tory plans to give ministers new powers over the Electoral Commission, undermining its independence by allowing government ministers to determine its remit as well as packing the Commission’s Parliamentary overseer with government appointments.
In addition, opposition attempts to remove provisions to requiring voters to show photo ID at the polling station failed. As a result, around two million people, mostly those from disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds will not have the ‘right ID', and could well be disenfranchised.
As one peer said: “The Electoral Commission will now be under government control, with ministers not only making Conservative Party rules but will also make rules for other political parties and now anything about disclosure of donations, who can make a donation and whether a donation is unlawful that will be a ministerial decision.”
But where exactly were the opposition in all this. I am pleased to say that Liberal Democrat peers turned out en masse to try and remove these provisions from the bill, but I understand that about 100 Labour peers were absent, effectively enabling this little electoral coup.
This seems to be a little self-defeating as these new provisions will work against Labour in future elections. If we cannot rely on Labour to act to try and protect our democratic rights, then what is the point of them?
As Left Foot Forward reports, the House of Lords have now effectively capitulated to Tory plans to give ministers new powers over the Electoral Commission, undermining its independence by allowing government ministers to determine its remit as well as packing the Commission’s Parliamentary overseer with government appointments.
In addition, opposition attempts to remove provisions to requiring voters to show photo ID at the polling station failed. As a result, around two million people, mostly those from disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds will not have the ‘right ID', and could well be disenfranchised.
As one peer said: “The Electoral Commission will now be under government control, with ministers not only making Conservative Party rules but will also make rules for other political parties and now anything about disclosure of donations, who can make a donation and whether a donation is unlawful that will be a ministerial decision.”
But where exactly were the opposition in all this. I am pleased to say that Liberal Democrat peers turned out en masse to try and remove these provisions from the bill, but I understand that about 100 Labour peers were absent, effectively enabling this little electoral coup.
This seems to be a little self-defeating as these new provisions will work against Labour in future elections. If we cannot rely on Labour to act to try and protect our democratic rights, then what is the point of them?
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Is this an indication of Labour's intentions towards the conduct of elections when, as they anticipate, they form the next government? Starmer has already shown his autocratic bent in dealing with opposition in his own party. We should be warned.
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