Back In Their (Ballot) Box

A Bill should be introduced in the first Queen’s Speech following significant gains by either or both of the SNP and UKIP, or in the event of another hung Parliament.

It would need to be made clear from the very start that the Parliament Act would be invoked if necessary, and that there would be absolutely no question of a referendum.

This would be a Bill for which Labour, the Conservatives, the Greens and the parties from Northern Ireland would certainly vote, as might the Liberal Democrats if their numbers had been significantly depleted.

It would permanently confine UKIP to a maximum of 12 Commons and seats, and the SNP (like Plaid Cymru) to a maximum of one.

12 would be the same number as the Greens, and one would be the same number as, if not fewer than, any number of parties.

Great Britain:

• 300 constituencies, each containing as near as possible to one third of one per cent of the electorate in Great Britain, would each elect one Constituency MP, with the official candidates of the Labour Party and the Conservative Party as the only people permitted to contest them;
• Each of the 91 lieutenancy areas in Great Britain would elect two County MPs, one from between two candidates submitted jointly by the Co-operative and Labour Parties, and one from between two candidates submitted by the Conservative Party; and
• Each of the 11 European Parliamentary regions in Great Britain would elect 12 Area MPs, four from a shortlist of six submitted by the Liberal Democrats, four from party lists submitted by parties other than any of the “Big Three”, and four Independents, with each elector voting for one Liberal Democrat candidate, for one party list and for one Independent candidate, and with the highest scoring four in each category being elected.

Northern Ireland:

• Each of the eight lieutenancy areas in Northern Ireland would elect five County MPs, one from between two candidates submitted by each of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, the Ulster Unionist Party, the Democratic Unionist Party, the Alliance Party and Sinn Féin; and
• Northern Ireland as a whole would elect 12 Area MPs, six from party lists (other than those of the SDLP, the UUP, the DUP, the Alliance Party and Sinn Féin, but including the Labour Party, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats) and six Independents, with each elector voting for one party list and for one Independent candidate, and with the highest scoring six in each category being elected.

This would give a total of 666 MPs.

The system should be presented, entirely honestly, as giving a voice to smaller parties and to Independent candidates from all parts of the country while also requiring the “Big Three” to reflect opinion throughout the country by giving each of them representative responsibilities for the entire population

Especially since SDLP MPs take the Labour Whip and UUP MPs would either take the Conservative Whip or else maintain a very close relationship with that party. The Labour Party, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats would in any case be highly likely to win an Area MP apiece in Northern Ireland, with Labour probably at the top of the poll.

It would remain possible for either Labour or the Conservatives to win an overall majority, but it would be impossible, even in theory, for anyone else to do so.

Only the extreme unlikelihood of a dead heat could ever deliver a hung Parliament.

The lowering of the voting age to 16 might also be included in this, although with the strict conditions that under-18s (indeed, under-21s, and perhaps even slightly older people) would be ineligible for Parliament or to serve on juries.

Far more urgently, there is the need to reduce the parliamentary term to four years, or, as would be even better, to abolish the fixed term altogether.

In any event, a General Election under the new arrangements ought then to be held immediately.