Campaign Blog

Making life difficult

Yesterday the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority said that if our Referndum Bill is not passed this Session "it will make life that much more difficult in terms of sanctions." Because this bill also gives them enforcement powers for MPs who fiddle their expenses.

Well the bill is just is one of eighteen heading into this Wash-Up, and several are heading straight into the parliamentary dustbin. Proposals for a referendum on the voting system - having received a powerful endorsement from both Houses of Parliament - may be shot down in secret.

With more than 18 bills heading into this parliament’s ‘Wash-Up’, voices have come together to rail against the growing threat it presents to democracy, liberty and equality. We’ve got Greens, Lib Dems, and powerful voices from the women’s and digital rights movement onside.

All are agreed that cameras in wash up are essential to prevent backroom deals damaging or destroying our laws. From fair votes to equal pay, net freedom to green energy, we can't afford cosy compromises. Now that might make life difficult for some, but were not averse to that.

We’re pleased that so many voices are joining together to rail against the secret deals. You can sign up today http://www.voteforachange.co.uk/cameras

BBC’s Bell backs calls for Cameras

The Call for real scrutiny are growing.

Writing in today’s Guardian Martin Bell, joined the call for BBC cameras to be let into this parliament’s last smoke filled room. http://www.voteforachange.co.uk/cameras

He’s now joined in his calls for scrutiny by campaigners for voting reform, heads of the Open Rights Group, the Fawcett Society and Lib Dem front bencher Chris Huhne MP, and Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas MEP

With proposals for a referendum a new voting system likely to be shot down in secret by Conservative opposition, we need to gather supporters who want real scrutiny on this last gasp of ‘horse trading’

Former BBC man – and anti sleaze MP Martin Bell writes in today's Guardian:

“We take for granted the presence of TV in the main debates and the select committees. We are sometimes appalled by what we see, but at least we see it.

“But the wash up is not on TV. It will be the enabler of some bills and the executioner of others. These are measures which will affect the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. Yet we will have no idea of why one was nodded through and another was blocked; which party made which compromises and why; and whether the public interest was served or simply traded away.

“Let this be the beginning of the end for first past the post. And if reform is killed, we have a right to know whose hands were on the dagger.”

Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas MEP had this to say:

"It really makes a mockery of our supposedly transparent system of government that such important decisions can be taken in secret, behind closed doors. If Westminster is to move on from the sleaze that has overwhelmed it in recent months, it urgently needs to open up, and let in the fresh air of transparency and accountability".

And amid fears that measures on equal pay in the Equalities Bill are set for the chop Ceri Goddard, Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society said;

“Leaders of the three main parties are touring studios and chat rooms targeted at women but when behind closed doors their actions could have a very detrimental impact on every single women who is in work. It’s not good enough and we join the Vote for a Change campaign’s call for BBC Parliament to be allowed to film ‘Wash-Up’.”

Libs Dems Home Affairs Spokesman Chris Huhne MP chipped in:

“Wash up should be open and transparent as possible and all proceedings on the floors of both chambers should be televised.”

And with the Digital Economy Bill ready to be railroaded through, Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group said:

"The government wants the power to cut off households from the internet as a punishment for copyright infringement: a potentially massive scale violation of human rights. This needs debate and scrutiny, but 'wash up' will allow this power to be granted without open, democratic consideration."

Word is spreading. If you’re not signed up already we need you on board today.

http://www.voteforachange.co.uk/cameras

But if you have you can help today by getting as many of your friends on board as possible.

http://www.voteforachange.co.uk/CamerasInvite

“It’s not ridiculous, it’s rules!”

Oh dear. We had hoped to give you a blow by blow account of the Lords debate today on the Lords debate on the referendum bill. But a little sartorial slip up put pay to that.

One of our campaigners was ushered away from our upper house today, for infringing the compulsory neck wear policy. One official, sporting a straight face and a rather lovely pair of tights, offered the comment that sits a top this blog entry.

Today we had tickets to sit "below the bar", a ring side seat for the action in the House. Unfortunately, there is a strict (and rather sexist) dress code that means men have to wear suits and ties to watch unelected peers decide the future of our democracy.

We’re basically in an election, and someone clearly hasn’t received the memo on tie usage. We were only trying to follow the lead of Cameron, Clegg and Brown, but sadly the Lords is still in the thrall of the winsor knot, the dickie bow and the cravat. Perhaps if we’d worn half a dead animal and enough gold to settle the balance of payments deficit we would have been more at home.

So instead of a blow by blow account, we’ve got a little taster from Oliver Michael Robert Eden, 8th Baron Henley, the Tories constitutional affairs spokesperson.

Ollie had the temerity to describe the referendum as a “gimmick.”

Well we’re understanding types. As one of the remaining 90 hereditaries left in the Lords this whole democracy thing is a bit of a gimmick. A fad. Something that might pass in the night like electricity, the horseless carriage or sewerage. For more check out the BBC’s Democracy Live.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/

Well if that’s the kind of comments we’re getting with the cameras turned on, god help us if what’s going to be said if we can’t get them into Wash-Up

www.voteforachange.co.uk/cameras

Let the Cameras in!

Heard of the Wash-Up? No, neither had we.

Our 19th Century Parliament enjoys its more arcane rituals. And none is more mind boggling than the little spectacle saved for the end of each parliament. The Wash-Up is an opportunity for party managers from government and opposition to sit down with the civil servants responsible for the bills yet to reach the statute book.

Behind closed doors - and without the usual niceties like reports - these shadowy figures will decide which bills live and which bills die.

Proposals for a referendum on the voting system – and with it the chance for voters to finally return MPs with a decent mandate – hang in the balance. Our referendum bill, along with seventeen others, is heading into this Wash-Up, and several will go straight into the parliamentary dustbin.

This horse trading could yet see all our work count for nothing. Our supporters have fought tooth and nail to get this referendum on the statute book, but now our opponents will enjoy powers not granted to them by any voters.

We’re not going to take this lying down. And the answer comes with a boom, a camera, and possible a few decent hacks.

http://www.voteforachange.co.uk/cameras

It’s now more than 20 years since TV cameras first arrived in the House of Commons. Today anyone logging into the BBC’s Democracy Live website can pick and choose from the proceedings in Westminster and beyond. It’s not been quite the “blow for democracy” Thanet MP Roger Gale MP lamented at the time.

We need to see the Wash-Up on BBC Parliament. This public service exists to let all voters see beyond the soundbites. And we need it to clear this particular smoke filled room.

http://www.voteforachange.co.uk/cameras

Last December a poll, carried out by BBC Parliament by ComRes, discovered that 93% of MPs think that a Parliament closed off to television would now be "unthinkable".

Well it would be unthinkable that this last gasp of horse trading in this parliament fails to receive the scrutiny it so richly deserves. After the expenses crisis it is essential that politicians finish what’s been started in this parliament – and in the Cold Light of Day.

Come Dine with Me

Imagine. A couple of suitors out there just want to let you know how much they care. They’re happy to spend all their time and money on you. They think you’re special - and if you live in one of the few marginal seats then you are.

The Tories' Lord Ashcroft and now Labour’s Charlie Whelan are playing the only game in town – relentlessly targeting voters in marginal seats, because that’s all that matters in our general elections.

Following the latest Ashfcroft scandal, news comes that Whelan, political supreme at union Unite is focusing his and his unions efforts on getting Labour re-elected. Think Lord Ashcroft, without the ermine.

What they do have in common is no one elected them, or granted them the real power they’re already having in the coming election.

They both aim to woo the few voters that matter. If they could wine you and dine you they would. Well these two political lotharios aren’t going to respond to the usual coded dumping lines. They won’t accept that you need more space. They won’t stop calling. And they won’t stop the unwanted messages pilling up on your door mat as polling day looms.

The only thing that can take these Romeos power away is a voting system that means all voters are equal.

As the Guardian’s Jackie Ashley writes, theirs' is the obsession with swing voters that is strangling our politics. “We need reform” writes Jackie, and “goodbye to sugar daddies and sweetheart union deals".

It’s time for a change.

And the award for best voting system goes to…

Anyone up very late last night, hoovering away at the toffee popcorn might have caught a wee victory for voting reform.

Late last night saw The Hurt Locker walk away with the Best Picture Oscar, after Academy Voters broke with First-Past-the-Post and backed preferential voting.

We reported on this back in September. Then Academy’s president Tom Sherak said that preferential voting was essential to choose the best picture candidate “with the strongest support of a majority of our electorate.” And we couldn’t have put it better – although not just for film, but with the MPs we all have to live with.

The Hurt Locker beat off a glitzy big budget campaign from 3D Blockbuster Avatar, and was widely rated by critics as the stronger picture. Don’t want to offend any Avatards, but Rotten Tomatoes says as much. We checked.

A decent Best Picture needs a decent voting system. The Academy ditched First-Past-the-Post – a system that could have handed Best Picture Oscar to a movie on barely a tenth of the vote, and backed the Alternative Vote. They wanted a serious movie with a serious mandate. And our oh so easily star struck politicians might want to remember that.

With a General Election campaign in the offing, the main parties may have glitz and massive budgets, but voters are prepared to reward substance. Well, that’s if they’ve got a voting system that gives actually let’s them.

PS: The Daily Telegraph got the wrong end of the stick about this last week.

They claimed that “Hollywood has become embroiled in a row ahead of the Oscars over a new 'transferable vote' system which critics claim could mean the award for best picture could go to a film with just 11 per cent of the vote”.

Sorry guys, that’s the ridiculous system we use to elect our MPs. And the system the Oscar’s were wise to get rid of.

Oh Lordy!

The Times reports today that the Tories are targeting Lord Ashcroft’s millions at 1 in 500 voters in marginal seats at the coming election. Well done them for proving our point that the money follows the few voters that matter in our general elections.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7050387.ece

There’s been a lot of talk about Ashcroft’s moola in recent days. And today we’re asking why people such as him, will be able to stand in the way of our efforts to modernize the only half way democratic chamber in our Parliament.

We’re asking our supporters to write to Lord Strathclyde, Tory leader in the Lords, asking him not to stand in the way of reform.

http://www.voteforachange.co.uk/lords

After all this Constitutional Renewal Bill can only deliver on its rather grand sound name by delivering the amendment our elected (albeit badly elected) representatives backed in the Commons - with provisions for a referendum on the voting system, and a shake up of the very rule book of politics.

Let’s make sure the Lords know it’s not their place to stand in the way of reform.

http://www.voteforachange.co.uk/lords

P.S. Some supporters may have received an email today erroneously describing Lord Ashcroft as a ‘hereditary’ peer. Alas typos set in when you work late into the night, but we wanted to fess up, and set the record straight.

To clarify - while hereditary peerages were rewards for smashing a few Saxon heads circa 1066, life peerages in this case are rewards for helping buy a few marginal seats circa 2001. Thanks!

Vote for Change?

A text message from a local supporter arrives as we as we pulled into Brighton. It seems the Tories have issued their election rallying cry: 'Vote for Change'

We spent the day flyering Tory conference delegates and keeping up with loads of interest from the assembled cameras. Our very own masked David Cameron waving a placard reading ‘How do you Spell Chnage? placard spent a good portion of the day scratching his chin outside the venue.

We’ll be honest. We found the choice of slogan amusing. The reactions we got from delegates on voting reform were variations on "Change? NEVER!"

Vote for Change is a nice message, but millions of Cameron's own voters won't be able to because of where they live. May have a bit more relevance if your lucky enough to live in a marginal seat mind...

Cameron's asking us to Vote for a Change, while endorsing a system that ensures most of us won't ever get that chance. Wish he'd make up his mind.

How can most Britons vote for change when this election will be determined by the actions of a handful of voters in marginal seats? Millions of Tory voters in Wales and Scotland and our inner cities won’t get this chance. Lord Ashcroft’s money is already chasing the few voters that matter. Change means giving us all a vote that counts, not just relentless targeting of swing voters - but that’s one change Cameron won’t accept.

The Conservatives seems intent on holding on to a bankrupt political rulebook, with sights trained and cheque book ready to woo a quarter of a million in the marginals. Cameron’s got it wrong on voting reform, and even his own voters think so. Voters want a debate. Conservative supporters want a debate. But David Cameron doesn’t. Until he's prepared to listen to his own supporters Vote for No Change is a more apt slogan.

Welcome to Witney

Well thanks to the thousands of supporters who voted in our Cameron billboard challenge today the campaign headed out West with a little message on a very large truck for the attention of one David Cameron MP.

So we parked up outside his constituency office in the Witney, Oxfordshire, a seat so safe it’s not changed hands in an election for a century.

When we hit the streets we quickly understood that Witney is not quite as ‘safe’ as it seems. At the last election Cameron enjoyed support of barely a third of his constituents, and less than half of those who actually bothered to vote – the normal state of affairs for our MPs with our crude winner takes all elections.

Most people in Witney, as with most people in Britain, didn’t want their MP. And at the bus stop, on the high street, and in the Market Square they weren’t afraid to tell us. But today we decided to focus on that minority of Cameron voters.

In recent weeks we’ve been gathering evidence. We had asked the people at YouGov to speak to voters across the country. We wanted to know what voters – of all parties – really thought about our call for a referendum, particularly the ones David claims to speak for.

The facts are that Cameron’s got it wrong on reform. And even Tory voters think so.



Voters want a debate. Conservative supporters want a debate. But David Cameron it seems doesn’t. He needs to have a little more faith in his arguments and in the common sense of the voting public.

This argument can’t be won by stifling this debate. And it won’t be won by the sort of disinformation Conservative Central Office has been peddling on the Internet. It will be won by making a compelling case to voters, and giving them the final verdict at a referendum.

Next week the referendum bill is back in the Commons, and in a matter of weeks we face a new barrier – The House of Lords. Barons, Dukes and Earls will have a vote that counts, and Cameron shouldn’t let his friends in that Medieval Chamber stop our chance to update a Victorian one.

Video's over on Youtube, snaps up on Facebook.

Well got to rush. It's a dozen odd Tory seats between Witney and Brighton, where we've got an appointment to keep with Tory Spring Conference.

Sporting a Tache

Well the winner – hands down – of our billboard vote sees Mr Cameron sporting a rather lovely moustache. In a collision of two iconic posters, David Cameron meets Lord Kitchener, for a meditation on trust.

Cameron needs our votes to be our next Prime Minister, but he’s not prepared to give us a say on the future of your democracy. As our supporters chose to highlight trust is a two-way street. David wants YOU! He just doesn’t trust YOU, or at least that’s the message his party is putting out so effectively with their opposition to a referendum.

We want voters to decide the way forward for politics. We credit them with an opinion on how they hire their MPs.

The winner got us thinking back to last year. The month dubbed Movember was a happy time for the campaign. As we soldiered on to get reform up the governments agenda, three of our team decided to look like idiots for a whole month in the name of charity.

Well David Cameron doesn’t need a tache. If he’s feeling charitable he just might want to consider offering his voters a choice.

You can have a gander at the finished article here…