Why hold a referendum on how we elect our MPs when we are denied a say on whether those MPs actually run the country? It's a point that Daniel Hannan makes in his Telegraph blog, and is a profoundly sensible one. Where's the logic in allowing a popular ballot on a barely-known electoral system that no-one asked for and no-one - not even Nick Clegg - wanted, when all three major parties had refused referendums on the biggest constitutional and financial upheaval in Europe since the Second World War, which the majority of people in the country - whatever poll you look at - would support?
The debate over the voting system in this country is purely academic: what does it matter, when most of our laws are now made in Brussels and our elected parliament and head of government can be overuled by unelected officials and supranational courts? Our parliament cannot pass a law that the European Commission or the European Court of Justice does not like without incurring a hefty diplomatic or financial penalty: we faced over one billion pounds in fines in 2010, a simply crippling figure that could save hundreds of thousands of jobs. I fail to see the point in elections. If parliament is unable and unwilling to contradict the orders of unelected individuals we have no control over, and if every legislative programme passed by an elected parliament could be hauled before the European courts to determine its validity, then surely democracy in this country is nothing more than a farce? If we've lost control of our legislature, we may as well declare the whole thing void and start again, from the bottom up.
The media didn't report it like that, obviously. They reported the AV referendum entirely in terms of domestic politics and party squabbles, without saying once that such things are now entirely meaningless in 'post-national Europe.' Nick Clegg would get a kicking, the Tories would win, a narrow majority, etc. Not a word on Eurosceptic parties, other than the BNP being used as ammunition by the 'No to AV' camp, who claimed that the system would give undue power to far-right nationalists. UKIP was barely mentioned, although Nigel Farage actually came out in support of AV, which, to be honest, was probably a bad move (AV would have buried the prospect of PR for a generation, and the latter system would benefit UKIP immensely). The real winner is, of course, the EU.
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I'm sorry for the delay in blogging. It appears that I've taken too many A-levels, but now that's sorted I can resume the daily updates.
You are, of course, absolutely right Gallowglass. But the mainstream British media is doing the work of the EU Commissars and their servants, the Lib/Lab/CON.
ReplyDeleteWith the brave exception of the Daily Express, they refuse to highlight the un-Democratic and dictatorial nature of the Beast.
But this is where the internet is so empowering; we must use it to debate and spread the word, bypassing the BBC and the 'on-message' newspapers. Our biggest problem is lack of coordination between all the various bloggers and sites and attracting the attention of those people who are not particularly interested in politics. The British people are instinctively hostile to the EU - we must find a way of explaining to them that they are right to be hostile and encourage them to reject the concensus politics of the 3 main parties.
(Good luck with your A levels. I didn't realise you are so young).