Firstly, there MUST be a General Election called because what is about to happen is NOT about the People's choice of the UK's leadership. 150 000 people out of 65million will choose who holds our highest office. This is only one aspect of the shit-storm that has been unleashed.
Secondly, the debate now must be about our democracy and how undemocratic it is. (Before anyone pipes up I utterly accept that as a younger man I never questioned this situation; my feeling now is not sour grapes over EU, it is a drawing together of a life of wasted votes).
As we accept that a straight poll has democratically come up with a result we really need to be examining whether our system of weighted constituencies in General Elections ever comes up with anything other than a narrow and undemocratic result. We actually do NOT have an equal democracy, it is a post code lottery. If you happen to live in one place your vote will have more or less meaning than if you live in another e.g. if you are a Tory or Liberal or Green in Wigan you may as well burn your voting card, whereas if you are any of those colours living in Chichester, South Lakeland, Brighton then your vote will count (in that precise order) - but if you are Labour then chuck it in the B-B-Q. As I write this I am listening to Boris Johnson banging on about 'democracy'. Only recently Farage was saying that if the vote were 52/48 he would be calling for a re-run (he has not called for that today). We must stop these slithey toves from shadow shifting with our lives.
Democracy must mean that every vote has equal value and currently it does not. SURELY IT SHOULD??!!
We must change our electoral system. We must end the system that sees EVERY government being formed by a minority vote of at best 4 out of 10 voters. The hugest irony of this is that our EU MEP elections have been conducted using Proportional Representation - leading to a situation where we have been represented in the EU Parliament by more UKIP MEPs than any other party. Well at least that has been representative of those who could be arsed to vote in EU elections, hats off to UKIP for getting its supporters to the polls.
The divided nation is a direct result of the ONE winner approach in General Elections - it always leaves the majority pissed off (though I accept that today there is a narrow majority who think they have 'won', and then they may be slowly seeing what the consequences are). We need to have all of our voices represented, not red v blue, blue v red etc etc. It's not a horse race where first past the post makes sense. This is much more important than that, it's about how we live, and how we make agreements with each other.
Even in this moment where our nation has narrowly voted to leave a consensus arrangement in Europe we need to focus on how to make things better - to avoid division, to find consensus, consider our MUTUAL interests as primary.
"For the first time Britain's prime minister will not be chosen by a general election, or by MPs, but by party activists. The new prime minister will be chosen by a Conservative Party leadership election. This election will have two parts:
First, Conservative MPs elect two candidates.
After these two candidates have been chosen, a postal ballot will be sent out to all Conservative Party members on a "one member, one vote" basis.
After these two candidates have been chosen, a postal ballot will be sent out to all Conservative Party members on a "one member, one vote" basis.
The winner of this vote will be the next prime minister. That means 149,800 Tory activists - about 0.2% of the UK population - will choose the next leader of the UK."
http://uk.businessinsider.com/brexit-eu-referendum-result-political-economic-and-social-analysis-and-whats-next-2016-6
http://uk.businessinsider.com/brexit-eu-referendum-result-political-economic-and-social-analysis-and-whats-next-2016-6
This is not Democracy.
Our first past the post system is not Democracy, it does not reflect the People's Vote. (imagine explaining it to an alien!).
