Take back parliament blog
01.09.2010
Guy Aitchison: The first London-wide meeting of activists to fight for a "Yes" vote in the AV referendum took place yesterday evening in a crowded room in Bloomsbury.
The event, organised by Take Back Parliament alongside Unlock Democracy and the Electoral Reform Society, brought together around 100 people of different ages and political persuasions.
We heard from Andy May, national co-ordinator of TBP, who told us how all the democracy organisations are pulling together in a single joined-up effort across the country with over 20 local groups already self-organising.
The narrative amongst lazy journalists and bloggers has been that the "No" campaign is much more organised and serious. But Andy informed us that lots of work is being done behind-the-scenes to fight and win the issue in advance of the launch of the formal "Yes" campaign in the coming weeks.
We broke off into small groups, organised by boroughs, to discuss how we will take the issue to the wider public in the months ahead.
I led a discussion of the Camden and Westminster group. With a committed group of volunteers, we are already planning several street stalls and leaflet drops in the area - the other groups are planning similar actions.
If you are in London and keen to get involved, it's definitely not too late to get in touch with your local group.
Wherever you are across the country you can find and join a group in your area through Take Back Parliament's online network.
22.08.2010
Andy: The NoToAV camp - or should I say their solitary twitter account have already started spreading the misinformation about the effects of the Alternative Vote. In this instance the claims were made around the result of the Austrailian Election. Australia already uses AV and similar to our last election the result means they have their first hung parliament in 70 years.
I did expect a lot of spin and distortion from 'No campaigners' throughout the coming months but thankfully we have an excellent group of supporters ready and willing to rebut these claims. I'd also like to question another assertion of VoteNoToAV. The owners of the Twitter account - who has yet to identify themselves - claim they are a grassroots campaign. However it appears the only blog post and site connected to their account has just one post dating back to the second of July.
TBP has already got 20 local groups in the offering and many more meetings happening - so where pray tell are the grassroots groups backing a 'No' vote.
Anyway - thanks to the Research by Take Back Parliament Birmingham, who have been monitoring tweets from the NoToAV campaign, below is the rebuttal of their claims throughout last night.
On the night of the Australian election, the NoToAV campaign has made a series of blunders:
Claim 1:
"VoteNoToAV In Australia, Labor (38% of the vote) win same number of seats as Liberals (43%). Greens (12%) win only 1. Behold the proportionality of AV!"
Reponse 1a) Actually it's the Liberal/National coalition which got 43% of the vote. This is ironic since no campaigners have complained that AV produces coalitions, when it is a coalition they are in fact talking about here.
Response 1b) VoteNoToAV completely ignores the second preferences of voters, clearly shown on the Australian Electoral Commission's website - http://vtr.aec.gov.au/
This shows the two main political groupings - Labour and the Liberal/National Coalition are almost neck and neck when second preferences are taken into account. Therefore you would expect them to be neck and neck in terms of seats under AV.
Claim 2:
"VoteNoToAV Over 11% of the vote and the Australian Green Party wins a single seat. Why does the Green Party UK support AV exactly? #No2AV"
Response 2a) There is no Green Party UK. There is instead the Green Party of England and Wales, and a seperate Green Party for Scotland.
Response 2b) The Green party of England and Wales are not in favour of AV - traditionally they've been in favour of AMS. They are debating the issue at their conference in September. Their leader, Caroline Lucas, has spoken out against AV in the past.
Response 2c) NoToAV ignores the prediction by some section of the media that the Greens in Australia may hold the balance of power in the Australian Senate, which is elected by STV.
Interestingly, there are proposals here to elect the Lords by...you guessed it, STV.
Perhaps the VoteNoToAV should change their campaign to VoteNoToDisinformation and start getting their facts right?
If you'd like to help crowdsource and rebutt such claims in the future let us know at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
19.08.2010
Billy Bragg: I live in one of an estimated 80% of constituencies where the result is a foregone conclusion. West Dorset is a ‘safe’ Conservative seat. With Labour stuck at around 10%, a vote for the local candidate would be a somewhat futile gesture. Instead, I have voted tactically for the Lib Dems in the past three elections in the hope of unseating the Tories. Although they always win, the majority of us vote against the Tories. This tactic has brought us some success; in the neighbouring constituency of South Dorset, a Labour MP – the first for 40 years – was twice elected with the support of Lib Dem tactical voters.
Our local anti-Tory coalition has been shattered by the national Tory/Lib Dem government, making my choices at the next election very limited. No longer willing to vote tactically for the Lib Dems, I am left with the prospect of walking down to polling station in the sure knowledge that voting Labour will make no difference to the outcome. It’s a dilemma that millions of other potential Labour voters around the country will face if the next election is fought under first past the post; would you bother going to a football match if you knew that your team all had their legs broken before the game?
It is even more frustrating when you look at the size of anti-Tory vote. Under a fairer voting system, the Tories could be defeated. Although AV is not the proportional change that I had hoped for, it does have the potential to re-engage Labour voters disenfranchised by FPTP. To get me to vote Labour again, a new leader of the party would first have to make my vote count. A strong campaign in favour of AV by the new leader of the Labour party would have my active support.
Having made my vote count, the new leader would then have to give me something to vote for. The party desperately needs to remember why it was formed; to defend ordinary people from exploitation by a financial system that refuses to accept any responsibility for the inequality that it creates.
As the coalition government go beyond the requirements of deficit reduction to make ideologically motivated cuts to public services, the new leader of the Labour party needs to make the case for the collective provision of health care, education, housing and pensions as the best way to protect the majority of citizens from the insecurity that has accompanied globalisation.
Five million Labour supporters went AWOL between 1997 and 2010. They didn’t switch to the Tories, most of them simply stopped voting for a party that they felt no longer stood up for their interests. To win them back, the party needs to make an ideological commitment to significantly narrowing the gap between rich and poor. And you can’t create a fairer society without a fairer voting system.
The fact that neither Labour nor the Conservatives were able to win a majority at the last election suggests that our democratic discourse has become stale, the electorate jaded. A Labour party that sided with the Tories to defend the status quo in the AV referendum would only serve to undermine enthusiasm for a new leader.
Instead, the party needs to use the referendum as a shop window for radical policies that engage a new generation of activists and supporters who want to live in a society where the interests of the people come before those of the markets.
Cross-posted from Labour Uncut.
19.08.2010
Guy Aitchison: Many congratulations to Nathaniel Avery whose top design skills have won him our competition to find posters for fighting the "Yes" campaign.
We received lots of stunning entires (you can take a look at some of the best here) but we felt Nathaniel's had the edge with its combination of a classy design mixed with a powerful political message and a touch of humour.
Nathaniel receives a £20 prize and, more importantly, the satisfaction of seeing his handy-work at the forefront of our grassroots campaigning in the months ahead.
We were also impressed by the clarity and originality of Stuart Bonar's designs and may be adapting some of his posters for use in the campaign as well.
Many thanks to everyone who entered - let the battle to convince the British public begin!
14.08.2010
Elliot Folan is 16 and one of our North London activists. He has been campaigning with Take Back Parliament since its beginnings immediately after the May 2010 elections.
"I should begin by saying that it’s entirely down to Take Back Parliament that I’m a political activist. Going up to the protests outside Parliament made me finally feel that politics is real, relevant and important - and that not all MPs are expenses-hoarding duck-house owning fools, ignorant of the people who elected them. In a way, by energizing me and making me feel I can change things, it led to me joining the Green Party.
I’m campaigning for electoral reform because I believe it will make Parliament more representative, more accountable and - crucially - that it will make MPs of all parties work together. As a History student, I know that the politics of England has been for too long geared towards mighty contests of will; between the King and the People, between the Whigs and Tories, between Labour and the Conservatives, between “left” versus “right”. This might have been fine in 1295, when our Parliament was born. But it’s not 1295 anymore.
The legacy of FPTP is the past fifty years of argument, war, anger and frustration. Any decision taken by Labour was reversed in five years’ time by the Tories; any decision taken by the Tories was reversed in five years’ time by Labour. It’s happening again right before our eyes - to the NHS and to public services. As an old song laments; When will they ever learn?
In North London, we are doing plenty of campaigning for reform. We’ve promoted the Eye See Purple gig in Kilburn; we’ve taken to the streets of Camden; we’ve gone to Speaker’s Corner; we’ve joined forces with South and West London to go to Wimbledon; we’ve turned part of North Finchley purple and even gained press coverage, and next week we have a stall at Friern Barnet’s summer show. We have a blog, a Twitter account, and a Facebook page - we’re even planning a Youtube page and Flickr page in addition to those.
The winning tools are often just a simple street stall, with purple ribbons and signs, and plenty of petition forms and leaflets. But what makes it work - really work - is the people. Campaigners from all walks of life have joined together, set aside party politics, and are working together for the good of all parties, people and voters.
In the coming months I hope that we can engage the pro-PR and pro-AV parties in North London; the Labour, Green and Lib Dem parties. They, too, must set aside partisan politics and work together. The maxim of “Divide and Conquer” is on the cards for many Tories; one-sided misinformation is coming from the press already.
The only way to defeat it is grassroots campaigning; door-knocking, street canvassing and a continuous purple presence. North London, I think, is leading the way. In the coming months, we can only do better, both nationally and locally.
I see the Alternative Vote as the last time we have to weigh up the chances; I see AV as the Last Great Tactical Vote."
