Fight goes on for Buckingham voters

Local Liberal Democrats are continuing to press the case for all of the major political parties being able to field a candidate in the Speakers constituency at General Elections. There were protests across Buckingham constituency when the main parties followed the convention of mounting no challenge to the Speaker at last year’s General Election. Over 1000 voters spoiled their ballot papers in protest.

Buckingham Lib Dems are determined to make sure that this never needs to happen again. We raised the issue at the national conference in September and received support from Lib Dems in parliament. At our recent Regional Conference in Oxford we gained overwhelming support for our proposal to award the Speaker an honorary constituency so that electors in his former seat would be able to vote for the party of their choice.The full text of our motion was as follows.

Restoring democratic rights to vote in general electionsConference welcomes the progress being made by the Coalition Government in the area of constitutional reform including the moves towards an elected second chamber, fixed term Parliaments and the introduction of the Alternative Vote system for future elections. However, Conference believes that further reform is necessary on the effective disenfranchisement of the constituency represented by the Speaker of the House of Commons. Conference notes that:1. This year, the main parties followed the Parliamentary convention of not standing against the Speaker. Consequently, thousands of voters were denied their democratic right to vote for the party of their choice. 2. There were 1067 spoilt ballot papers in the Buckingham constituency in the recent election. This is massively more than the average in other seats.3. The Buckingham local party were inundated with letters and emails from local people angry that their democratic right to vote for the party of their choice was being withheld from them by an archaic convention. Conference therefore urges the Coalition Government to add a provision to the constitutional renewal bill which would automatically appoint the Speaker as MP for an honorary constituency, freeing his former constituents to exercise their democratic right to vote for the party of their choice.The motion was proposed by Buckingham Lib Dem member Bette Melling and summated by Cllr Llew Monger and received overwhelming support. We will now be working with Liberal Democrats in Parliament to take this idea forward in an amendment to a Bill which is expected to come to forward in January.

A NEW KIND OF POLITICS – LIBERAL DEMOCRATS JOIN CONSERVATIVES IN GOVERNMENT

Below is an extract from a statement issued by Nick Clegg commenting on the formation of a Liberal Democrat – Conservative coalition government.

‘’I hope this is the start of a new kind of politics I have always believed in. Diverse, plural, where politicians with different points of view find a way to work together to provide the good government for the sake of the whole country deserves.

“That was what we were asked to do by the people of Britain in the General Election last Thursday and that is what we will deliver.

“I want to thank David Cameron for the very open, constructive and workmanlike way in which we have come together to make this agreement on how we can come together in this coalition government. We are obviously politicians from different parties. I believe we are now united in seeking to meet the immense challenges that now face the country and to deliver a fairer, better Britain.

“Of course there will be problems along the way; of course there will be glitches. But I will always do my best to prove that new politics isn’t just possible – it is also better.

“I’d like to say something directly to the nearly seven million people who supported the Liberal Democrats in the General Election last week. I am now acutely aware that I carry your hopes and aspirations into this coalition agreement.

“I am sure you have many questions, maybe many doubts. But I can assure you I would not have entered into this agreement unless I was genuinely convinced it was a unique opportunity to deliver the changes you and I believe in.

· Fair taxes.

· A fair start in life for every child.

· A new approach to our discredited banking system and the prospect of green and sustainable economic growth.

· And new, open politics which you can trust once again.

“So I hope you will now keep faith with us let us prove to you that we can serve this country with humility, with fairness at the heart of everything we do. And with total dedication to the interests and livelihoods of everyone in this country.”

NOW LET’S CHANGE THIS CRAZY SYSTEM

Liberal Democrats will be putting electoral reform at the top of the list in discussions about working with either of the other two parties now that we have a hung parliament. There are several options for proportional representation but on a straight share of the vote basis we should have had 150 seats rather than the 59 we did win.

Reform for the Speakers seat too. Local Liberal Democrats are pressing the party leadership to include reform of the ‘convention’ that the main parties do not stand against The Speaker in General Elections. At our annual conference last year we secured support for the idea that the Speaker should become the MP for an honorary constituency so that electors in his former constituency could have their full democratic rights restored. Now is the time to put this support into action. Over 1,000 electors spoilt their ballot papers as a protest in the Buckingham constituency in Thursday’s election and we have received countless emails, texts and phone calls calling for change.

You can register you support for such a change at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118598158159917

TV DEBATE: CLEGG WINS FIRST ROUND BY A WIDE MARGIN

The polls following the first ever Party Leaders’ General Election debate on ITV are showing that Nick Clegg has won a convincing victory over David Cameron and Gordon Brown. The debate was the first ever Leaders’ debate during a UK General Election campaign, and the newspapers and polls are calling it a big victory for Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats.

The ITV / COMRES poll held by ITV and announced shortly after the debate gave Nick Clegg as the winner by a huge margin:

– Nick Clegg 43% – David Cameron 26% – Gordon Brown 20%

YouGov, Channel 4, Guardian, Daily Mail, The Times and Angus Reid polls following the debate also scored Nick Clegg as the clear winner of the first Leaders’ debate. Angus Reid said that 42% of voters were more likely to vote for the Liberal Democrats as a result of the debate.

Friday’s newspapers have hailed Nick Clegg as the winner of the first debate. They say:

– Daily Telegraph: “Clegg’s star rises in great TV showdown”

– The Times: “Enter the Outsider: Nick Clegg seizes his moment in historic TV debate”

– The Independent: “Clegg comes of age: Liberal Democrat leader is judged the winner of historic television debate”

– Daily Mail: “First blood to Clegg”

– The Guardian: “Clegg the outsider seizes his moment in the TV spotlight”

– Even Conservative commentator and blogger Iain Dale said “I think Nick Clegg won the day”.

In summing up the debate, Nick Clegg said Labour and the Tories have made the “same old mistakes over and over again. Despite all the problems and challenges we have, we can be hopeful about the future if we chose something different.”

No Lib Dem candidate for Buckingham in General Election

The Buckingham Lib Dem’s website is receiving a steady stream of emails from local electors disappointed to find that there will not be a Lib Dem candidate at the General Election. Locally we wish we did have a candidate but the Party, along with the Conservatives and Labour are observing the convention that they do not contest the Speaker’s seat. Once someone is elected Speaker they are obliged to withdraw from ‘party’ politics to preserve the independence of the post. This is entirely reasonable but it leads to the effective disenfranchisement of electors in the Speakers constituency.

To counter this situation local Lib Dems put forward a proposal to the party’s annual conference last September that the Speaker should automatically become the Member for the honourary constituency of St Stephen’s and his, or her, constituents would be the members of parliament. (St Stephens is the name of the entrance to the House of Commons used by MP’s). This would then allow a by-election in the Speakers former constituency which would enable electors to vote for the party of their choice without restriction. Changes such as this take time to bring about and the few changes to the electoral system which might have been passed by the outgoing government have just been scuppered by the Tories so we will have to hope that the new parliament will bring about the change. All of this is very frustrating for us and for local electors. However, there is some consolation in that Speaker John Bercow has said that he will only serve for two parliaments so even if the system isn’t changed at least Buckingham will not be disenfranchised for ever.

Congratulations Mr Speaker but what about my vote?

John Bercow will no doubt make a good a Speaker of the House of Commons but his election to that post could deny his constituents the democratic right to elect their MP. As the role of Speaker is non partisan he or she must resign from their political party but not from their seat in the Commons when they take up the role. Because of this there is a convention that the Speaker is not opposed at General Elections though this has not always been the case.

The position of the new Speaker in relation to his former political party is most interesting. It has become clear in recent days just how much his former colleagues despised him and pronouncements in the Bucks Herald by leading local Tories make it clear that they too had fallen out of love with him. Could it be that John Bercow would have been de-selected by the local Consrvative Party prior to the next election? Could it be that a new Tory candidate will be found to stand against the Speaker at the next election?

Local Liberal Democrats have been going through the process of selecting a new Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Buckingham constituency and will want that process to continue. Doubtless we will have to take advice from party headquarters about whether that new candidate stands against the Speaker at the next General Election but it could prove to be a very interesting situation.