19 April 2015
The days of two party politics are nearly over and the promise of ‘first past the post’ elections producing a clear winner has failed. It is time to restore confidence in the voting system with proportional representation so that all voices are fairly heard and have the power that reflects the election results. The Greens would restore and advance democracy in this and so many other ways.
At national level, in addition to campaigning to introduce proportional representation so that everyone’s views are fairly represented, we would make the second chamber entirely elected ending the hereditary right to oversee national affairs.
Regional devolution is also high in people’s minds. In the North West we think that an elected regional assembly is the best option and that this should be decided by referendum. We are opposed to ‘DevoManc’ because it was not the people’s choice, it is an unelected body and it leaves the rest of the North West marginalised sucking power and resources to the centre.
In Cumbria we are confused by too many layers of local government. We think it would be more straightforward to have a unitary authority that devolves more powers to local level – parish and town councils. This would save money, simplify many roles and increase involvement in services. We support charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises that are set up to provide services in partnership with local councils as this ensures people that are passionate about the service and knowledgeable about local needs are involved. We also argue that the council should remain active in supporting the funding of these adequately for a quality service provision with long-term security. Likewise, our policies in health, care, education, national parks, etc would engage local people, democratically chosen, in the running of our local services.
A Green vote is a vote to restore participation in our democracy.
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