Primus Inter Pares - 2008 Constitutional Reform Referendums

[Lumine]

May 2008 - The Alliance spearheads a series of referendums

One of the main points of debate in the formation of the Coalition Government was electoral and political reform, as Clegg and Blair had run on a platform of radical constitutional change. Despite the lack of interest in such reforms from a large part of the Tory right, Patten had managed to compromise, allowing some reforms to be put to Parliament and the most relevant ones to be voted on by the public in a referendum. Clegg and Blair took Patten's deal and after 15 months of Coalition Government the public is due to vote on five different matters on May 2008. The Alliance has gotten the Conservatives, Labour and New Deal to endorse some, but not all, making for a very contentious campaign:

Alternative Vote: Due to the constant calls for electoral reform, the Alliance got the Conservatives to agree to a vote on such a reform, compromising on the Alternative Vote (AV) to seek a more balance parliament. I have no way of simulating an AV parliament, so sadly this one is going to be unavailable to be voted on (the assumption being FPTP will win by a reasonable margin).

Lords Reform: Although a majority of the House of Lords is now directly elected due to Prescott's reforms, this proposal would eliminate hereditary peers, reduce the House of Lords to a mere 400 and make the entire chamber fully elected at the same time as General Elections.

Boundary Changes: This proposal promotes massive changes into the curent electoral boundaries for the House of Commons, reducing MP's from 650 to 600 and aiming to make those constituencies more balanced in their composition.

Right to Recall: Under this proposal MP's could be forced into a by-election should they be found to have engaged in serious wrongdoing, or should a large percentage of voters in the constituency sign a recall petition.

Public Petition: Finally, this Coalition proposal would allow any petition with more than 100,000 signatures eligible to be debated in Parliament, with the petition with the most signatures within a given period allowed to become a bill eligible to be voted by Parliament as well.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Hell no to Lords Reform
Yes to Boundary Changes
No to Right to Recall
Yes to Public Petition

[White Trash]

Yes
Abstain
Yes
Yes

[OSR stands with Israel]

Yes
No
Yes
Yes

[Lechasseur]

No
No
No
Yes

[Maxwell]

Yes, Yes, Yes, No.

I'd rather abolish the House of Lords all together but that might be too much for the UK.

[MAINEiac4434]

Yes to all.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Yes to all except boundary changes.

[DavidB.]

Yes to lords reforms (currentyear.png), yes to boundary changes, no to right to recall (could be abused + that's what general elections are for), yes to public petition.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Yes, Yes, Yes, No.

I'd rather abolish the House of Lords all together but that might be too much for the UK.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

An unreformed HoL is better than a fully elected one, or wholesale repeal of the same. It does its job and does it well.

[NeverAgain]

No
No
Yes
Yes

[OSR stands with Israel]

An unreformed HoL is better than a fully elected one, or wholesale repeal of the same. It does its job and does it well.

Should the senate still be elected by state legislators .

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

No,Yes,No,Yes

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Voted yes on all but boundary reform, though I'd prefer to abolish the House of Lords (dumb anachronism that serves no purpose).

People like Crabcake and other intelligent British posters can tell you just how useless the House of Lords really is.

[Phony Moderate]

Lords Reform: On balance, No. Would much rather get rid of the awful place entirely.

Boundary Changes: No. I've never quite understood the support for a reduction in the size of parliament on the part of those who hate politicians. Surely having more MPs means they are, in theory at least, closer to the people?

Right to Recall: Yes, why not. More elections and all.

Public Petition: Meh, I suppose so, even if they've become the primary platform for the kind of leftie I dislike.

[DavidB.]

Voted yes on all but boundary reform, though I'd prefer to abolish the House of Lords (dumb anachronism that serves no purpose).

People like Crabcake and other intelligent British posters can tell you just how useless the House of Lords really is.

Excellent reason to abolish it

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Voted yes on all but boundary reform, though I'd prefer to abolish the House of Lords (dumb anachronism that serves no purpose).

People like Crabcake and other intelligent British posters can tell you just how useless the House of Lords really is.

Excellent reason to abolish it

lol davidb...i'm being sarcastic...
The HoL does its job just fine anyway, and a fully elected HoL like is suggested here would be a mistake.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Irl I wouldn't want to keep the HoL and would vote No, but in this series i would quite like to see the effects of a PR house.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Ugh, please don't let the boundary changes proposal pass.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

No, No, Yes, Yes.

[Blair]

The House of Lords in my perfect world would be elected using PR on a regional level (much like the MEPS) and then topped up with scientists, ex MPs, Generals etc somehow. Certain aspects of the Lords, like the expenses, the hereditary peers, the Bishops sitting in etc should all be reformed but there's a big danger than a fully elected second chamber would turn into a second rate HOC (namely filled by party hacks, who follow the whip)

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

there's a big danger than a fully elected second chamber would turn into a second rate HOC (namely filled by party hacks, who follow the whip)

Unfortunately we're likely headed for that given how lopsided the vote has been. The HoL is by no means perfect, but the knee-jerk reaction to oppose it in full and support any alternative is wrong.

[Lumine]

All proposals have passed (expect voting reform, which I can't allow for simulation resons). Off to the General Election!