Say no to the elections bill – and join us to demonstrate for democracy

On Saturday 5th February at noon, the Democracy Defence Coalition will hold a demonstration against the anti-democratic elections bill. The bill has been passed by the House of Commons and now goes to the House of Lords. How effective the demonstration against it will be depends largely on how many people attend. It ought to be hundreds of thousands, as democracy in the UK now faces its greatest threat since the Second World War.  

Most LabourList readers know what is in the bill: mandatory photo ID at polling stations, disenfranchising many younger, lower-income and less settled voters; imposing first-past-the-post for the London mayor election and other directly-elected mayors and police and crime commissioners; further erosion of the powers and independence of the Electoral Commission. However, many voters know little or nothing about all this.  

Taken together with the policing bill, which allows arbitrary arrest at demonstrations, and the borders and nationality bill, which makes it easier for people to be stripped of their citizenship, the elections bill is part of a pattern of deliberate removal of democratic rights and imposition of measures clearly designed to maximise the unfair advantage enjoyed by the Conservative Party.

Ironically, defence of the UK’s democracy now lies in the hands of the House of Lords, one of the most undemocratic legislative chambers in the world. It is entirely right that the second chamber should be in a position to prevent the government, whose power rests on its majority in the “lower house”, from using that power to subvert the system. Protecting the constitution is the most important function of an “upper house”. It is a shame we do not have a written constitution that can be used to prevent these huge over-reaches of executive power.

It is also ironic that marching in the streets should be used to defend a system that is meant to vest power in the hands of fairly elected people rather than encourage mob rule. Very often, demonstrations are either ineffective or even counter-productive. In recent months, direct action by some climate change campaigners has been the source of comment and controversy. It is difficult to know whether or not such protests encourage the wider public to give greater priority to environment issues. 

But in this case, there is a very clear reason why everyone who cares about democracy, and can do so, should come along to the demonstration on Saturday. Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister Fleur Anderson and John McDonnell will be speaking alongside MPs from across the political spectrum. The demonstration has been called by Make Votes Matter, supported by Unlock Democracy, the Electoral Reform Society and others, and has the full backing of the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform and the wider Labour for a New Democracy coalition of which we are part.

My guess is that most voters who expressed a view would name the Liberal Democrats as the party most committed to democratic change. But Britain can no longer afford to leave this democratic crisis to one party.  That is why a huge turnout of Labour members and supporters on Saturday will make such a difference: we need to show just how important we believe a functioning democracy is.

We need the voters to see that this is not a niche or “anorak” concern, but a vitally serious issue which affects us all. We need people to know that supporters of all the opposition parties are involved. This is not a party-political issue, but one of resisting tyranny. And above all, we need the leadership of our own party to see that defending democracy is not a policy area that can be negotiated away.

Shadow ministers have spoken firmly against the erosion of democracy in this bill. I have no doubt that peers of all parties and none will speak against it in the upper house. We are unlikely to move Boris Johnson or his cabinet, and ultimately our current system awards the power to make these regressive changes to them. But on Saturday 5th February, if enough of us take part, we have the chance to make it clear to those outside parliament too, that the current system can no longer stand, and that we – the Labour Party and all those who will join us in renewing our democracy – will change it.