Lords Filibustering UK Voting Reform Bill

Those who follow American politics have been treated to a long and painful lesson over the last two years of the power of the filibuster. In the 100-member US Senate, a minority if 41 can threaten to talk a bill to death, and a super-majority of 60 is needed to force an end to debate. The filibuster is not unique to America, however. Cato used it in the Roman Republic to get his way. And currently, the House of Lords is using it to block legislation on voting reform in the UK.

The proposed legislation would set May 5 as the date on which the people of the UK would vote on changing the way they select their Members of Parliament [MPs]. Currently, they use the first-past-the-post system, meaning whoever gets the most votes (but not necessarily a majority) wins. The Conservative-Liberal Coalition wants the people to vote on replacing this with the alternative vote [AV], under which voters rank the candidates in order of preference. The candidate with the fewest first preferences is dropped, and his or her votes get redistributed by second preferences to the others. When one candidate has a majority of votes, that candidate wins. Interestingly, Labour supported this in its election manifesto, but its peers are working to halt the bill in Lords. Why?

The bill also would redraw constituencies to make them roughly the same size by population and to reduce them from 650 to 600. Labour benefits from the current boundaries, and the fear among Labourites is that these changes will benefit other parties, mainly the Conservatives. Labour has proposed splitting the referendum issue from the boundaries issue. The government wants them passed together as the voting reform is a Liberal policy (proportional representation, though not AV) and equalizing the populations of constituencies a Tory policy.

So, Labour's peers are trying to talk the bill to death, and they have some chance of succeeding. If the law doesn't get Royal Assent by February 16, the referendum included in the bill set for May 5 can't be held. The Electoral Commission needs that time to prepare for the vote. Why is May 5 so important? Scottish, Welsh and local elections in England are set for that day. The Coalition believes that high turn out is politically vital, and combining all these ballots will achieve that. If they miss that date, they may have to wait a year or so, and that would upset many Liberals in Parliament and in the country, weakening the government.

As a result, the Lords are sitting all night. Camp beds have appeared, boardgames and cards are popular (rather than listen to the debate), and Their Lordships rose just after 0300 GMT on Thursday - they sat through the night on Monday. Lord Coe, the former Olympian discussed athletics. Lord Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey, gave a lecture called "In conversation: a life on stage and screen" between midnight and 1 am Monday. Subjects added to the debate have included cannibalism, the merits of Facebook, Scottish soccer rivalries and prime numbers.

The one thing that may help push this along is a very arcane rule. If the Lords sit Monday and continue through to Tuesday and Wednesday working on Monday's business, they don't get paid for Tuesday and Wednesday. At £ 300 a day, they have incentive to get a move on. Perhaps, America could learn something from that.

© Copyright 2011 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.

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