LB Hounslow residents named as 'conned' voters by ERS report
Last Updated: Thursday, 25 May 2006, 10:16 GMT 11:16 UK BBC 'Wrong parties' won local polls Voters did not always get the council they chose Many people did not get what they voted for in this year's local elections, electoral reform campaigners say. There were six councils in London where the party with the most votes did not take the largest number of seats. In Barking, the BNP gained 12 councillors to the Conservatives' one, even though the Tories won more votes. The Electoral Reform Society said: "It is no wonder so many people failed to turn out when the voting system so distorts their political voice." The six London councils where the party with the largest share of the vote did not win were Haringey, Kingston, Islington, Camden, Brent and Hounslow. The ERS, which campaigns for proportional representation, said the "wrong party" also gained the most seats in areas outside London, such as Birmingham and Bolton. ELECTION SCOREBOARD Councillors Councils PARTY +/- TOT +/- TOT CON 316 1830 11 68 LAB -319 1439 -17 30 LD 2 909 1 13 OTH -2 240 0 0 NOC - - 6 66 After 176 of 176 councilsNOC = No controlFull results And there were many councils where there is not a single Conservative councillor despite the party securing a significant share of the vote. Labour suffered the same problem in Sutton, the ERS said, and the Lib Dems in Westminster, while "The Green Party continues to suffer a similar fate in many areas". "Under the current voting system, a single party can achieve dominance on a council despite securing a minority of the votes cast. "This is bad because it means there is no effective opposition and little proper scrutiny of the decisions being made," the ERS said. 'Desperate need' In the London Borough of Newham Labour won 90% of the seats with less than 42% of the vote. Britain's political system is in danger of "meltdown" if major changes are not made, the independent report says Political system faces 'meltdown' In many areas the result was a foregone conclusion, the ERS added. Nationally, the Conservatives took the largest share of the vote and elected 1830 councillors. The Lib Dems came second in share of the vote, returning 909 councillors. Labour, which came third in share of the vote, elected 1439 councillors. ERS chief executive Ken Ritchie said: "These local elections once again show the desperate need for a change in the way we elect our councillors." Scotland is moving to a system of proportional representation in the 2007 local elections but a similar move has been ruled out for England. A cross party group of more than 60 MPs is campaigning for a referendum on changing the electoral system, at both a national and local level. They have backed Labour MP David Chaytor's Electoral Choice Bill, launched last November, but it stands little chance of becoming law without government support. Accountability Of the three main parties, only the Liberal Democrats actively campaign for electoral reform. Labour's 2005 manifesto says the party is committed to reviewing the new electoral systems which were introduced for the Scottish, Welsh, and European parliamentary elections and the London assembly. But it adds that a referendum will be necessary before there is any change in Westminster elections. Ferdinand Mount, vice-chairman of the recent Power Commission which examined why many people do not bother to vote, has joined a Tory policy review group on democracy, chaired by the former cabinet minister Ken Clarke, which will draw up reform proposals next year. At the Power Report's launch earlier this year, Mr Mount described himself as a convert to proportional representation, "not so much because it is fairer than first-past-the-post but because it is the only way to galvanise the parties to canvass every ward in every seat". But Mr Clarke has indicated he is against proportional representation, on the grounds that it would lead to larger council wards and less accountability._____________________________________________________________________So I take it that the Lib Dems should have won Brent, Haringey and Camden. The Tories Kingston and Hounslow and Labour Islington?
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