What do ordinary people want from the democratic system? Pam Giddy finds out
During the second weekend of January, while the rest of the country was discussing the snow, almost 130 people from all over Britain – and different walks of life and political viewpoints – gathered in London to debate and discuss how to fix our broken politics.
POWER2010 had brought this microcosm of the nation to one place for a unique deliberative poll designed to help distil the 4,500 submissions we received from members of the public into a manageable shortlist that could be put to the public vote.
Deliberative polling is a form of public consultation in which scientific samples are consulted before and after the respondents have deliberated about an issue. It was conceived by James Fishkin of Stanford University in the 1980s and has since been used in many countries throughout the world. Our own deliberative poll was overseen by Professor Fishkin and his team from Stanford’s Centre for Deliberative Democracy.
Participants received balanced briefing materials detailing each of the reform ideas, with arguments for and against, and background information. They deliberated in small group discussions with trained moderators and engaged in plenary sessions with experts. Their opinions were gathered through confidential questionnaires before and after deliberations.
In a surprising twist, populist reforms such as a fully-elected House of Lords and lowering the voting age to 16, came relatively low down the priority list – with open primaries to choose parliamentary candidates and a referendum on an English parliament not even making the cut of options to be put to the public vote.
What was wanted more deliberation – by citizens in public consultations and by Parliament in select committees. The POWER 2010 group moved away from populist proposals such as direct election of the Prime Minister or making party manifestos legally binding.
Two different ideas for replacing our current first-past-the-post electoral system were debated: changing to a proportional voting system for Westminster elections or changing to the alternative vote. It was PR that came out on top.
Whereas PR became slightly more popular over the course of the weekend, the more participants discussed AV – the reform option preferred by some in the Labour Government – the less they liked it. When participants were asked for their view on AV at the start of the weekend, 43 per cent backed it (they scored it six or above on a scale from oaught to ten). When they were asked the same question at the end of the process, less than 37 per cent supported it. In contrast, support for a proportional voting system increased from 48 per cent to 53 per cent.
All 29 ideas for democratic and political reform that were backed by a majority of participants at the end of the deliberative process – including a proportional voting system – can be seen and voted on at: www.power2010.org.uk/vote.
The five ideas that receive the most support between now and Monday February 22 will become the POWER2010 Pledge – the backbone of our major nationwide campaign for change at the next election.
Pam Giddy is director of POWER2010
