Today’s Labour are barely distinguishable from the Tories in their policies.

Local campaigner and activist Ruth Kettle-Frisby today writes on the need for electoral reform.

The elephant in the room behind the recent successes of Havering MPs is that they were elected only on the votes of 20% of the public.

 This puts the sheer absurdity of First Past the Post – our established system for democracy – into sharp relief. First Past the Post is undemocratic because it is unreflective of so many of our political choices. This two-horse race between Conservative and Labour renders the ballot paper – with its six options – illusory, because every four years we are cornered by the system itself into choosing between Conservative, or not Conservative. 

 Labour haven’t been voted in for their manifesto, or – as they’d have you believe – social and political ‘change’; they are simply the only vehicle we have to block the Tories from wreaking economic havoc on the majority – including working people and the poorest and most vulnerable in our communities – with their ideologically driven austerity policies. 

 Now, if Labour actually offered competing political commitments to the established Right Wing, this system – taken in isolation – might make more sense, at least in theory. However, given that today’s Labour are barely distinguishable from the Tories in their policies, the appetite for transformative change is gathering real momentum.

 We can all feel the increasing heat being generated by the climate crisis and various culture wars, with neither main party rising to the challenges. 

 Disillusioned by the system that is rigged against democracy, a significant portion of us voted for real change; rejecting media pressure to vote tactically as opposed to splitting the vote for either of the main two parties.

 Barking, Dagenham and Havering Green Party propose an inclusive, cross-party campaign for electoral reform in the form of Proportional Representation. We want democracy in the UK to finally mean something, whoever you decide to vote for.

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