Franglais:
So is the current system broken?
Time for proportional representation?
Would that raise the level of debate? or are we stuck with 30second sound bites?Or is the EU question so emotive that it was and will continue to be divisive?
Is there any outcome, from here where we are , that will give us a good route out?
I blame Cameron a lot for his half-arsed idea of a referendum to gain a few votes from UKIP in order to win power and all that followed, but in truth, maybe he just bought the inevitable referendum forward.
The current system doesn’t seem to represent the people who vote, but its not just a UK problem, seems to be a problem in most countries that have had reasonably stable regimes for the last few decades. People don’t take an interest in politics, few take an active part, voting drops off and to climb the greasy pole to the top of politics needs influential friends and money, those the provide this are paid back before the voters.
The problem with trying to fix this is it will take major upheavals, probably lead to major unrest, economic collapse.
PR is used in several countries, it does benefit smaller parties in getting members into which ever version of parliament the country uses, I believe under a PR system UKIP might have got something like 13 seats in the 2015 election. As for the argument that a small party could hold the power, well that’s happened both in 2010 with the Lib Dems and now with the DUP, also under the present system its quite possible for a party to have a majority in parliament, forcing their agenda through with only around 30% of the vote.
However under the present system we have a direct representative for each of us, that is lost under PR with representatives being picked from a party list, it would also mean party rebels wouldn’t get in, those like Denis Skinner would be sidelined for somebody who toes the party line, I believe Germany uses a hybrid systems, so you vote for your direct representative and also a PR vote, meaning those with minority views get represented.
Judging by the posts on here the EU is by far the most emotive issue on this forum, its great that people are so passionate about it, and social media and the internet in general is great for airing these views, but it does seem to polarize opinion, with people staying within the own groups and selecting what they read and view on the subject, dismissing any other opinion as wrong and false.