A Class Act

I have had a very interesting email today from an extremely disillusioned Old Labour media type, asking what I (and, it must be said, a number of others) thought might be done to increase working-class representation in Parliament, considering that exceedingly few (rather elderly) people from that background are likely to be returned next time, and quite probably none at all the time after that.

(As part of New Labour's efforts to persuade the unions to accept signing into, rather than out of, the political levy, and to accept a cap on further donations, a substantial number of working-class MPs will be ennobled just before the next Election, so that their seats may be given to people who have been full-time trade union officials since taking their Politics degrees, and who have never actually worked in the industries that they organise and represent.)

Well, I happily throw open the topic here, beginning with this, and also with the extension of the same principles to local government: let each Council contain an equal number of Councillors and Aldermen (an excuse to revive that venerable old term). The former elected as here, the latter would be elected for the same areas by those in the (admittedly imperfect) AB, C1C2, and DE social groups: vote for one candidate, and the top two per group would be elected at the end. Candidates for each election by each group would have to be drawn from that group.

Every major decision would require the approval both of the majority of Councillors and of the majority of Aldermen. Each would enjoy equal representation within a properly restored committee system. And the powers of local government would be restored across the board, with the requirement that nominations to bodies dealing with health, education, transport and so forth also include equal numbers of people from the three social groups.

Any thoughts?