To Reform But Not To Reform

Illustration by Will Allen

The latest asylum seeker news is damning for those wanting to demonise migrants seeking a better life in Europe and the UK. The troubling but all too familiar figure that 69 people died on the channel crossing between France and the UK this year should send alarm bells that certain people within the media are seeking to weaponise this tragic loss of human life into a battle between migrants and us. I’m talking about the latest convert from Conservative to Reform. Enter stage far right Marco Longhi. In a crass move, the former Conservative MP sought to explain how totally unchecked migration drastically damages our public services. 

This narrative is not new, but as the data shows, we invest a far smaller amount in our health service compared to other European countries and, ironically, our transport infrastructure is privatised and often owned by the foreign institutions that commentators like Marco Longhi seek to vilify. We need to simultaneously assure ourselves and others that we can handle the issue of net migration without our infrastructure crumbling in order to maintain our fragile position on the world stage. I do not seek to vilify Britain but we are not the once great nation that we used to be, and to pretend otherwise is foolhardy. 

If reform is what political rejects like Marco Longhi want, then looking to Reform UK is not the answer. Although perhaps, neither are the Conservatives, and, although in its early stages the new Labour government, doesn't appear to be effecting seismic change on current inspection. Although early signs are promising, they could all be changed upon spending reviews, and so this is not the provision of change that we were necessarily promised. Reform UK are attracting evermore support though, and speculation is rife among the politically interested. 

Some are even speculating that former and disgraced Prime Minister Boris Johnson may join their ranks . Although this may stretch credulity, we should not underestimate Reform UK’s threat to the political makeup of Britain. An easy way to mitigate their potential impact would be for progressive parties (and I still wishfully include Labour within this description) to wholeheartedly accept that electoral reform is a must. This could prove to take the wind out of HMS Nigel Farage’s sails, and lead to a deep shock for the far right of the country. Some proponents of First-past-the-post insist that the system protects us from the extremities of the far-right, however the evidence proves the opposite is true. 

We need to address the nub of the issue of Brexit, 9 years on from that wretchedly misinformed vote, and seek to ensure that people’s voices are heard in a proper way. Whilst Labour has admirably sought to further feudalise Britain with its devolution plans, this move arguably addresses the result of a problem and not the problem itself. We need to ensure that all voices are heard in our Parliament and if this includes the far-right and far-left alike, then so be it. We are a long way from the next planned general election in 2029, however, already polls are suggesting that minority parties will take 181 seats, including many high-profile Labour losses. 

Under this scenario, the two major parties will hold a total of 450 of the 650 seats. The data excludes Northern Irish political parties, which brings the running total to 450 out of 632. Whilst this might seem like a significant amount, we must consider that the main government and opposition are extremely unlikely to join forces as a coalition government.  The leaders in the race are likely to secure just shy of 230 seats, barely a third of the seats up for grabs, probably representing even less of the population as a percentage. We might ask why this matters in the long run, if our voices are faithfully represented. 

The Global Democracy Index does, after all, rank us in the top 25% of nations globally. However, there is a ‘but’ coming here and that is that this data deliberately omits electoral participation from this grading criteria. If all factors are considered, then the difference is stark. In the 2023 Economist Intelligence Unit (the latest dataset available), whilst the UK still qualifies under the parameter of full democracy at 18th on a list of 167 countries, the democracies that are ahead of us are telling. A plurality of the nations ranked in the full democracies section of the chart use some kind of proportional means to elect their representatives. Whilst it is good that the UK is in the 8% category of full democracies, one wonders how long this can last without our acceptance of electoral reform to some extent. In an oft-touted phrase by politicians nowadays, we must ‘reform or die’.