For Goodness Sake – Britain’s Antiquated Constitution

One of the themes that emerges in this book relates to the antiquated constitution

and governance arrangements of the UK.

The First Past the Post electoral system works fine when there are only two

parties. But in the 21 st century, there are several parties contesting elections. And

First Past the Post fails to reflect the will of the people, with many MPs elected

with less than 40% of the vote in their individual constituencies. Britain needs to

change the voting system to some form of proportional representation as exists in

most western countries.

The use of the referendum (on the question

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of leaving the European Union in

2016) as a means of testing public opinion has also led to a period of

unprecedented disharmony and questionable assertions about the will of the

people. In fact the referendum has no status as a decision making mechanism.

And it is hardly democratic that the 37% of the electorate that voted to leave the

EU (without any understanding or explanation of what this would mean) should

constitute a majority. If Britain is to use referendums, there need to be rules

about wording of resolutions, level of turnout, and acceptance by a majority of the

nations that make up the UK.