Power 2010: Why fixed term parliaments are crucial for our democracy

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

It’s the evening of February 10th, and we’re in the middle of an election campaign. We all know it: we’re eighty days short of the most important general election in a generation.

Across the country today and every day since the turn of the year — and God knows how long before that — money is being spent on campaign literature; leaflets are being pushed into people’s homes; committed activists are knocking on thousands of doors.

The nation is preparing to go to the ballot box and cast a collective expression on who they want to represent them at the seat of our battered democracy. This time round, they will also be choosing the Government that will steer the course through recovery from the worst economic slump in 80 years.

Before the crosses can be drawn and our democracy can find expression, our leaders will appear before us and communicate their policies countless times: on television, radio and the internet; on posters, soapboxes and post office lines; and at rallies, train stations and press conferences. Indeed, in the information age, we are about to experience a tsunami of politics and politicians the likes of which most people have never before encountered or wished to – much less at this time.

All that, in the next 80 days. Afterwards, we’ll be able to rest, as we won’t have to do it all again for another five years.

But the election could come much sooner. Then again, it might still be more than 120 days off. And, actually, we may not have to endure anything like five years of the next Government. Our last Prime Minister served terms varying between four and two years. The current PM has had three. If there is a hung parliament in this year’s election, whenever it comes, it is not inconceivable that our next Prime Minister is in office for mere months. It’s happened before: the Earl of Derby served just ten months as PM in the nineteenth century, while Gladstone served just four in his second term.

For my Power2010 vote, I chose — without much need for consideration — to change our system in favour of fixed term parliaments.

Because in this 21st century, when we have every minute detail of mundane information at our fingertips, and in this election which means so much, it is frankly ridiculous that we still do not know the most important detail of our election: the date.

So far as I can tell, there are untold reasons why the Prime Minister or anyone else should not have the power to call an election at a time of his or her choosing. The concentration of power is simply undemocratic — and PMs almost always opt to go to the polls on the date at which they feel most likely to win. The result is that we have endless media speculation, unreasonable focus on politics over governing policy and decision-making based on expedience and self-interest over need.

More importantly — and this has perhaps been seen more with our current PM than any other in memory — no Prime Minister, no political party, no single person or group of people should ever be able to hold our democracy hostage to their own will.

At this time of democratic deficit, at which we seek to reinstate trust, we should all be concerned about improving accountability. Many of the Power2010 proposals, put forward in a deliberative process, would do that. I support many of the proposals made there: a more proportional voting system; the scrapping of ID cards and rolling back of the database state; a written constitution; an elected second chamber; the right to recall; stronger local government; and a “none of the above” option on ballot papers.

Fixed term parliaments won’t restore that trust alone. But to start there is a no-brainer.