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Freedom
it is so important
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Pamphlet 1
A Parliament of the will of the people
Concerning the need to make Parliament relevant by:
- separating the power of Government from the power of a free voting Parliament
- outlawing any other influences over the voting intention of Parliamentarians other than that of constituency wishes
The Concern
In the United Kingdom there is no separation of the Government (executive) from a free voting Parliament. As a result Parliamentary voting involves members of the Government remaining sitting in Parliament voting on their own legislation under instructions from their parties as opposed to following constituency preferences. This tactic binds-in a Parliamentary majority for the Government party. This is unacceptable because under the British electoral system the first past the post vote enables political parties with less than 20% of electorate support to gain an absolute majority in Parliament. This enables a minority faction to enforce legislation on the majority. This process is reinforced and controlled through the action of party whips. This process does not enable constituency interests to be represented through a free voting Parliament where faithful representatives uphold the expressed interests of those represented. This results in this minority faction being able to enforce legislation on the majority. The majority principle in fact does not operate on the basis of a genuine electorate majority. This sustains an arbitrary governance and a suppression of freedom because the preferences of the people are not faithfully repreresented in Parliamentary votes. There is a serious conflict of interests between the freedom of expression of the people in Parliament and the specific interests of political parties who can achieve an imposition of their own pre-determined preferences serving their own interests.
This system is sustained by a process of frank interference in the voting itentions of Parliamentarians by lobbies and political party whips who over-ride the interests of the people who elected the Parliamentarians.
This results in a complete marginalisation of the electorate and suppression of freedom of expression of the will of the people in Parliament.
Proposed Solution
Government should be separated from Parliament by moving MPs serving in government posts and ministers from Parliament. All MPs who accept government posts should reliquish their constituency seats to allow constituencies appoint a substitute in a full by-election.
All government legislation should be brought before a free voting Parliament and government members should be barred from voting on their own proposals.
In order to secure the free representation of the people of Britain in Parliament, Parliamentary representatives would be required to vote at all times freely on the basis of their conscience but in line with constituency wishes. In order for this to be possible it would be necessary to make the role of the political party whip, in influencing voting intention, a criminal act. Similarly, lobbies of all types should be required to exercise their influence through open constituency level meetings as opposed to bringing direct influence to bear on Parlaimentary representatives. Parliamentary representatives must be employed on the basis of their undertaking to exercise a faithful representation of their constituents. In the spirit of protecting the integrity of the wishes of constituents and democracy any attempts to influence representative voting intentions in Parliament without the approval of the constituency should be a criminal act.
Government office holders should under this scheme not have the option of returning to the back benches if they are sacked.
All legislation must be presented to a Parliament in which all MPs vote with their conscience and in line with the wishes of their constuency.
This will provide for a more significant role for Parliament as the representative of the free will of the people and reduce the current ability of minority factional governments to impose their will on the majority (who did not support them in the election).
Submitted: 4th July, 2007.
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