If you can’t win the game, change the rules

The Conservatives are making some changes to the system by which we all register to vote, this will be followed by a change to constituencies. Neither seem especially exciting, certainly nothing to get hot under the collar about, until you realise that the changes will cement a huge Conservative bias into our electoral system condemning us to powerful majority governments with little democratic mandate.

There are two premises that underpin the bold statement made above about what appear to be objective, administrative changes; firstly that the changes will create a democratic deficit, and secondly that this will favour the Conservatives. The changes will also mean that the most vulnerable groups within our society will be the worst represented within Parliament.

The new system of voter registration, called ‘Individual Electoral Registration’, replaces the household registration system we’ve had since the Victorian era. The current system has its problems with an estimated 7.9 million of those entitled to vote not registered, campaign groups including Hope not Hate expect that the new system will propel this number to 10 million. Following this, the Conservatives plan to redraw constituency boundaries based on the number of people on the electoral register, meaning if there are regions will especially low voter registration these regions will be under-represented in Parliament.

Research by the Electoral Commission (http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/163144/Confirmation-Dry-run-2013-Results-report.pdf), who are broadly supportive of the change, highlights why this change will further favour the Conservatives. They identify that those least likely to register to vote are “students, private renters and especially young adults” or to put it another way people that don’t tend to vote Conservative. Other vulnerable groups, for example those with mental health issues, are also less likely to be registered to vote, meaning that when the constituency boundaries are redrawn, based on the number of registered voters, areas with high concentrations of unregistered voters will become the worst represented in Parliament.

So far, so unfair, but imagine if this was to be rushed through, surely that would compound the problems I highlight above? It would, and that is why the usually reserved Electoral Commission has so vociferously spoken out against speeding up the timetable of reform, nevertheless on July 16 the Conservatives tabled a motion speeding the process up by a whole year meaning the changes will come into effect in just 10 weeks’ time. This will inevitably cement into our electoral system a Conservative bias and the boundary changes that follow are expected to take a further 30 seats away from Labour, condemning them to electoral defeat.

The current system certainly has its flaws, this government was handed a majority after securing just 37% of the votes cast, and now, on that shaky mandate to govern, they’re going to change the rules and rush changes through ahead of the next general election that win or lose, they win.

Nick Cartwright — Senior Lecturer in Law