Britains democracy
| We are a non-ideological community; the British deal in situations, in actual problems and not in | ||
| ideas. But perhaps this tendency is now being carried to a length which leads to public confusion, | ||
| which prevents coherent action and is one reason why this nation is not reaching its full potential. | ||
| Consider, for instance, the notion of parliamentary democracy. Britain used to pride itself on | ||
| 5 | being the oldest and most consistent example of representative government. The people chose their | |
| representatives and they, in turn, selected a Prime Minister. He was responsible to the House of | ||
| Commons whose members answered for their actions at the next general election. | ||
| Then elements of direct democracy began to creep in. The rival candidates for the post of Prime | ||
| Minister appealed directly to the people. The parties put forward elaborate programmes, and it | ||
| 10 | was argued that MPs elected on a party ticket were bound to support that party's leader and | |
| programme no matter how situations might have changed or what second thoughts they might have | ||
| had. | ||
| The position was made much more confused by the introduction of referenda, first on | ||
| membership of the EEC, now on Scottish and Welsh devolution *. To have a referendum is a public | ||
| 15 | 15 admission that on that issue the House of Commons does not adequately represent the people. it | |
| also indicates that there are two classes of questions: those of major importance which must be | ||
| settled by the voters and those of minor importance which can be left to Parliament. | ||
| Now a further dimension has been added to this confusion. During the debates on the Scotland | ||
| Bill, several MPs explained that aithough they have always been opposed to devolution and aithough | ||
| 20 | their opposition to it has increased, they would vote in favour of the Bill. But, at the same time, | |
| they announced that once the Bill is passed they will campaign for a 'No' vote in the subsequent | ||
| referendum. | ||
| When I asked one of them how he defended such conduct, he said that he had stood at the | ||
| general election on a manifesto which included devolution so he was bound to vote for it in | ||
| 25 | Parliament but at the referendum he was a free man and would express his real feelings. | |
| Another argued that if the Bill was defeated in the House, pressure for devolution would | ||
| continue; so he voted for the Bill in order to have a referendum where the rejection of the Bill (for | ||
| which he would campaign) would be decisive. | ||
| When this sort of thing happens, it is not surprising that citizens lose their confidence in | ||
| 30 | Parliament. Indeed, pressures and problems from all sides confirm that it is time we made up our | |
| minds what kind of democracy we want so that Parliament can be reformed accordingly. |