Westminster rejects reform

Press, 4 January 1978, Page 16

Westminster rejects reform

By

y ADAM RAPHAEL

in London

Twice in one month, British M.P.s rejected proposals for electoral reform. The attempt to introduce proportional representation for Scotland in the Devolution Bill was decisively lost with only just over 100 M-P.s voting for it. The vote on proportional representation for election to the European Parliament was lost by a much smaller margin (319222), but the prospects for changing the way Britain is governed are still clouded. For years advocates of proportional representation have argued that the British system of first-past-the-post voting is heavily weighted against minor parties. Point to this complaint was provided by the February, 1974, elections when the Liberals got only 13 M.P.s elected in spite of securing nearly seven million votes. But the Liberals have always been a lonely voice. Neither the Conservative Party nor the Labour Party

has wished to change a system which in the past has given therrt assured, if alternating, grip on the reins of government. This attitude may be slowly crumbling, but it is stif a powerful force. The results on the European Elections and Devolution Bills were heavily influenced by the fear of Conservative ana Labour M.P.s that if they voted in favour of proportional representation for Scotland or Europe it would be a dangerous precedent which could then extend to Westminster. The many M.P.s who would lose their seats under a reformed voting system were in particular anxious that there should be no flirting with electoral novelties. What the opponents of change at Westminster have to fear, however, is not so much contagion but the development of a multi-party system in British politics.

There are already clear signs that this may be happening. Twenty-five years ago, the Conservative and Labour Parties monopolised nearly 97 per cent of the vote in the General Election. By the last election in October, 1974, this proportion had fallen to 75 per cent and of the total electorate barely 50 per cent supported the two major parties.

The next election, which could come any time within the next year, is likely to take this developing multiparty situation much farther. The rise of nationalism in Scotland and Wales, reflected in the increased representation of the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru, is unlikelv to be stopped by the proposals contained in the Devolution Bill.

If the minor parties take up to 50 seats in the new House of Commons there will have to be a major swing if either the Conservatives or Labour are to achieve an over-all majority.

The trend is already against this. Only two out of the last five Parliaments have produced effective working majorities. The prospect, therefore, is for some form of continuing formal or informal coalition. But that undermines one of the principal arguments for the traditional voting system: that it gives the voters a clear choice of the alternatives. The logic may point in the direction of reform but the obstacles are formidable. Not least is the attitude of the present leaders of both the mai.. parties. The Prime Minister, Mr James Callaghans’ dislike of proportional representation is only exceeded by that of Mrs Margaret Thatcher, who has a pathological distaste for the subject. Political attitudes, however, change under the pressure of events. If successive elections produce one hung Parliament after another, public pressure for change is bound to increase and may well prove hard to resist. O.F.N.S. Copyright.