There is near universal agreement that the Conservative Party has run its course. It passed up the opportunity to transform Britain and squandered an eighty seat majority. Not only has it failed to deliver a meaningful Brexit, it has presided over record levels of immigration – contrary to the demands of the majority of British voters. This, however, would be a lengthier post were we to discuss all the failures of the Tory government, and I'm writing this well past my bedtime.
In the grand theatre of democracy, the actors are politicians and the audience, us poor sods, are left to applaud or boo, the system of electing a government has become as predictable as a British summer rain. We all know the drill: stand in line, mark the ballot, and hope for the best, which usually amounts to getting the least worst.
Firstly, let's address the elephant in the room, or rather, the elephant in the polling booth: First Past The Post (FPTP). A system so archaic, it might as well be voting by throwing stones at effigies of the candidates. It's like choosing a fine wine by the thickness of the dust on the bottle rather than the vintage inside. Indeed, FPTP ensures that we get exactly the kind of government we deserve - one where a minority can rule over the majority with the legitimacy of a back-alley deal.
The call for reform is not new; it's been around since the time when "change" was still a shiny penny in the political discourse. Proportional Representation (PR) has been touted as the panacea for our electoral ills, but even here, we find ourselves in a maze of possibilities. PR in its many guises could be the salvation or the further complication of our already convoluted political landscape.
Imagine, if you will, a royal commission on electoral reform. Picture a room full of bespectacled experts, each with their own pet system, debating whether the Alternative Vote (AV) could be our knight in shining armour or just another horse in the race. AV maintains the quaint constituency system but promises that MPs will be elected by a true majority, not just by the loudest shout in the room. Yet, there's the rub: bigger constituencies, less local connection, and the perpetual fear that we might just trade one set of problems for another.
Then there's the matter of politics itself, the art of the possible, as someone once said. The Labour Party, in its 2024 manifesto, seems to have embraced the idea of improving trade relations with the EU without offering much in return, a bit like asking for a second helping of pudding without finishing your meat and two veg. Brexit has left everyone - Remainers, Leavers, and the undecided - with a sense of betrayal, like a lover's quarrel that ended with both parties more confused than when they started.
On the other side, the Tories, with their manifesto, seem to have lost the plot entirely, appealing to a constituency so narrow, you'd need a microscope to find it. They've turned the Union Jack into a flag of division rather than unity, especially in Northern Ireland, where Brexit has been about as successful as a chocolate teapot.
And then there's Reform UK, with its "Contract with You" - a document so full of promises, it might as well be a fairy tale. They speak of Brexit like it's a golden goose still to be fully plucked, advocating for the revocation of EU laws like a child pulling petals off a daisy, with no thought for what grows beneath.
In Scotland, the SNP's manifesto reads like a love letter to the EU, promising to reverse Brexit's damage, while simultaneously pushing for independence, a bit like trying to hold a snowball together in the Sahara.
So, how do we elect a better government? Perhaps the answer lies not in the system but in the voters. We must become more discerning, more engaged, less swayed by the shiny rhetoric and more by the substance beneath. We must demand not just promises, but performance. We must vote not with our hearts or our fears, but with our heads and our hopes for a future where government truly represents us all, not just the loudest or the richest.
In the end, electing a better government might just require us to be better citizens, versed in the art of holding our elected officials to account, in the dance of democracy where every step counts. It's a tall order, but then again, so is democracy itself.
Failing that, there's always the Official Monster Raving Looney Party.