Thame’s Green candidate on parliamentary reform

MARK Stevenson, the Green candidate for the Henley constituency, has stated that his email inbox has been swamped with requests to support parliamentary reform.

Mark said: “In the last two days I?ve had over thirty emails on this issue from voters. I am delighted that people are putting it high on their agenda. In this election the main Parties have already ignored people?s anger and dissatisfaction with the system and are back to business-as-usual.

“Proportional voting, an elected second chamber and a written constitution have long been part of Green Party policy for democratic reform. Concern for democratic reform was one of the reasons I joined the Greens thirteen years ago.

“Scrapping ID cards and rolling back the database state is not only about preserving civil liberties, but is one way of making cuts in projected Government spending that will actually benefit us.

“Labour?s plan for calling a referendum on changing the voting system from first-past-the?post to the Alternative Vote system is likely to be a casualty of calling the election for May 6th. There is unlikely to be time to establish it as a requirement for the next Government before parliament is dissolved,” he added.

Concluding, Mark Stevenson commented: “Labour announced this idea so close to the election that it was never likely to get the cross party agreement needed to push it through. But even if it were agreed to hold a referendum, the Alternative Vote system is not proportional. It?s just a way of allowing people who voted for one of the least popular candidates to have their second preference counted.”