Questions of Democracy

Democracy - rule by the people - is at the heart of Western society. It is cherished as the most equitable form of government, and much effort is put into seeking to proselytise others to its cause. But do we fully understand it?

Yesterday the people of Scotland engaged in an exercise in democracy, as they were asked to respond to a simple question: did they still wish to be a part of the United Kingdom, or was it time for them to become an independent nation (again)? They decided by 55% to 45% to stay within the Union, much to the relief of the political establishment in Westminster and financial markets across the world.

One thing that struck me about the referendum was the way in which it captured the imagination of the Scottish people, in that 85% of them actively participated in the vote. Such a turnout has not been seen in UK politics for well over 60 years, and bucks the trend of apathy that seems to be sweeping through domestic politics. This got me thinking: why would this be the case?

Was it that this election was about an issue that most people could relate to and understand - a matter of national identity?

Was it that this election was about a single issue? This has proved successful in other elections, be it Martin Bell standing against the cash-for-questions sleaze, or UKIP making immigration the scapegoat for the nation's ills.

Was it that this election was more firmly about an issue rather than individuals and personalities, in a way that national elections increasingly are not - a fact reflected in the Leaders' debates during the 2010 election which led to the relative success of the Lib Dems. People tend to talk of voting for the party leader, rather than that party's particular policies: I'm not conscious of the 'Yes' campaign putting too much emphasis on Alex Salmond over against the principle of independence.

Referenda, being single-issue plebiscites, perhaps have a tendency to be better supported than other such polls, though it will be interesting to see, if and when the tentatively-promised 'in-out' referendum on Britain's continued membership of the EU happens, whether we see anything like the figures we saw in Scotland.

There does seem to be an increasing apathy towards organised politics in the UK. Turnout for the last General election in 2010 was 65.1%; for the last Local Government elections only 36%; and for the election  of Police & Crime Commissioners a pitiful 15.1%. South Yorkshire will be holding a by-election shortly for its PCC, following the resignation of Sean Wright in the wake of the Rotherham Child abuse scandal: will the voters make an effort this time? We'll see.

From the time I turned 18, in that momentous year of 1979, I have always voted, and have always urged people to use their own vote. Compared to many countries, we have an enormous privilege in being able to have our say in the running of our nation and local communities. But in recent years I have found it increasingly difficult to decide where to place my 'X' on the ballot paper, and I recognise that others are showing their frustration with the system by simply opting out. There must be a way that we can find to enable more people to engage with the political process, but at the moment I'm at a loss to know what it might be, and I'm not sure whether the constitutional reforms hinted at by Cameron this morning will be the answer.

Clegg's Apology

I'm not ashamed to say it: for the greater part of my voting life I have supported the Liberal Democrats or their political predecessors the Liberals & the Social Democratic Party (SDP) - in fact in my 20s I was a member of the SDP.

At the last General election in 2010 I, like many others across the country, was excited about the prospect of the Lib Dems being involved in the nations political life in a way that they hadn't for the best part of a century. Nick Clegg was coming across as a leader-in-waiting, and one particular policy - opposing any rise in University tuition fees - was hitting a nerve nationally, and certainly in Clegg's adopted city of Sheffield where I live and work. Many of us remember the scenes of frustrated students unable to vote on election night because the polling stations simply couldn't cope with the numbers who turned out.

Following the election, Clegg and his party executive took the decision to form a coalition with the Tories - the largest single party in the poll, but with no clear majority - and a government was formed. Sadly, very early on in that administration, the pledge on university tuition fees was scrapped as financially unworkable, and much to my distress and anger, Clegg then stated that he hadn't really meant what he'd publicly promised.

From that point, I felt that I could no longer support the party in any election for the foreseeable future. And so far I have maintained that feeling.

Over the last 24 hours (as I write) Clegg has sought to set the record straight, to un-muddy the waters and - wait for it - to apologise (a rare word with politicians). But he's not apologised for breaking his word - for lying to voters and potential voters: no, he's simply apologised for making the pledge in the first place.

He believes that the decision to sign the pledge and then to break his word has become a weight round his and the party's ankles: too true, but he's showing no remorse at all for lying, simply for making the decision that won him so many votes in the first place. This move, ahead of the Party Conference next week, where Clegg will probably face anger from some local activists, is certainly not going to convince me to go back on my pledge, not to support the party I have most clearly empathised with for the majority of my adult life, certainly while Clegg is still leader and is still legitimising Cameron's divisive, elitist regime - a Government this country did not vote for and does not want.

A critical ward?

Yesterday's local elections have resulted in the Liberal Democrats losing control of Sheffield City Council to Labour. The ward in which I live, Broomhill, has as one of its councillors Coun Paul Scriven, now the former leader of the council. Within its boundaries are a large number of students from Sheffield University, and also a number of Sheffield's hospitals. What do last night's results reflect from this part of Sheffield?

The first thing I note is that turnout was down from 59% last year to 37.8% this year. A major factor in this, of course, may be that we also held a General election last year, which may have grabbed the popular imagination a little more than a referendum on AV. But are people also losing faith in the system that has not produced the promised change?

Secondly the change in voting shows that, here at least, the Lib Dems are bearing the brunt of discontentment and disillusionment over the Coalition's policy strategy. Lib Dem share of the vote fell by 19.4% to 27.2%, whereas the Tory share only fell by 1.7% to 10%. These votes were picked up by Labour, who increased by 12.1% to 34.6% and the Greens, who grew 8.8% to 26.1%. UKIP showed a slight increase, from 1.9% to 2.1%, but I think they can largely be ignored here. Are the Lib Dems becoming the 'whipping boys' of the coalition, diverting public anger away from Cameron and his party?

Sheffield is seen as Nick Clegg's 'heartland'. If that is so, it seems that some major surgery may be needed to prevent the terminal decline of a party that many hoped would bring radical change to British politics, but who instead have done nothing but disappoint their core constituency through the deceit and broken promises of their leader. I have no doubt that others in leadership in the party will say, as Paul Scriven did this morning, that this is only a 'temporary blip', but I believe that things are much worse. The new dawn that was promised only 12 months ago has so soon clouded over and the storms are brewing.

Voting on voting

I've been a voter since 1979, and at every election - national and local - I have exercised my democratic right and cast my ballot. So why am I so reluctant to do so today?

There are two ballots being taken here today: one to elect members of Sheffield City Council, and the other the referendum on the Alternative Vote system as a replacement for 'First Past The Post'. In both of these polls I am still wondering what to do.

The vote for a local councillor should be easy. We have some excellent councillors here in Sheffield, and the Broomhill ward in which I live has been well served by the incumbents. My natural inclination is to continue to support them, and based on their local record I should. If it were simply a matter of local issues, and competence at the job, my vote would be secure.

But politics isn't as simple as that. Our councillors are Lib Dems, a party I have supported at every election (either them or their forebears), but their role in the coalition government, and particularly a) giving the country a Tory PM and b) Clegg's blatant lies about student funding have caused me to question whether I can support the party this time. I have always advocated local elections being fought on local issues, and not treating them as a 'referendum' on the national government, but I am savvy enough to know that that's not how they are perceived. My head says one thing, but my heart says another.

The AV referendum causes me equal concern. I have always thought that the FPTP system was unfair in many respect, and that an alternative was needed. But the AV system proposed doesn't seem to me to be the right alternative. I want change, but not this change: so how do I vote? Do I vote for AV in the hope that, if the system is changed it can be changed again at a later date to a fairer PR system, or do I vote against AV, and hope that there will be a further chance to change the system? The risk is that if AV is defeated that will be taken as a mandate to keep tings as they are, rather than look for a better alternative to the present unfair system we have.

I don't think I will know how to vote until I get to the Polling Station. But I will go, and I hope everyone who can go will go. We have a right to determine our future that many in the world are denied: that's democracy. But democracy also gives us a duty to live with decisions with which we may not agree - I think I may well have to do that after today.