BLAIR’S  LEGACY  OF  FAILURE

 “If he fails to rediscover his 1997 radicalism Tony Blair will go down in history as the man who did more than any other to encourage cynicism, disenchantment and disdain for parliamentary democracy,” said Paul Tyler ‘ former Shadow Leader of the Commons, at the weekend.

Speaking at the Politics Association Conference at Exeter College, Oxford, on Saturday Lord Tyler claimed that “presiding over an increasing but avoidable democratic deficit” could prove as lasting a legacy as Mr Blair’s obsessive attachment to the Bush Administration, and the failure to develop independent British policies for Iraq, the Middle East generally or climate change.

Speaking at the Politics Association Conference at Exeter College, Oxford, on Saturday Lord Tyler claimed that “presiding over an increasing but avoidable democratic deficit” could prove as lasting a legacy as Mr Blair’s obsessive attachment to the Bush Administration, and the failure to develop independent British policies for Iraq, the Middle East generally or climate change.

“Is it any wonder that electoral registration is at an all time low, that voter turnout remains so disgracefully below comparable countries and so many young people in particular have got out of the habit of voting when less than one-in-five votes have had any impact on the outcome in 2001 and 2005.  Harriet Harman – one of very few Ministers to be even concerned – referred this week to ‘democracy deserts’.    Has it not occurred to her that these precisely match the safe Labour seats where the fraudulent electoral system cheats all but the few of any influence?”

“If she has not done so already she should urgently study the recent report of the New Economic Foundation which assesses this problem in terms of an ‘Index of Democratic Power’, and concludes that less than 3% of UK voters have anything like a fair share of power.  Democratic power is even more unevenly distributed in the UK than income.”

“The blatant injustice of the system – to the voter, not the politicians – is clearly the most powerful reason for opting out.   One can hardly blame the 40% of those who could vote who refuse to do so when they can see that it is so pointless.   In the recent German and New Zealand elections – by PR – turnout was 77.7% and just over 80% respectively.”

“Turnout is by no means the only health check for the body politic, but it is the most tangible one.   The ignominious retreat from the promises of 1997 – matched by the refusal to listen over Iraq – will mean that Tony Blair will leave us with an even more illegitimate elective dictatorship than he inherited.”

CLICK HERE TO READ PAUL'S SPEECH IN FULL

Note:   During 2004/5 Paul Tyler was a Member of the Puttnam Commission on  ‘Parliament in the Public Eye’ and of the Commons Modernisation Committee which reported on ‘Reconnecting Parliament with the Public’.