2023-09-17
Neil Oliver is outspoken and indeed speaks for many - but are we really past the time for reform?
Dominic Cummings makes a case for limited reform - it's an extensive case, but perhaps it qualifies as a limited hangout - a last-ditch attempt to persuade us that reform is coming - but without mentioning that it perpetuates still the underlying problem.
Many believe it now very obvious that those who control the Parties control Parliament, by controlling the selection of candidates for election, and by whipping MPs to vote as directed by the Party. Elections provide the veneer of competition and a largely fake responsibility to constituents. Until this changes, MPs are the Party's MPs, and the Parties are inevitably controlled by their donors - or worse if we include the possibility of corruption (and how can it be excluded?).
MPs are not "our" MPs, we just don't know whose MPs they really are. After recent years it's not too hard to come up with suggestions, but it makes little difference to the argument - we need "our" MPs to be our MPs.
Whether we are past the time for reform or not is a judgement that we may all have to make shortly, but it's becoming increasingly clear that the current shambles will never be resolved by the political party system that created it.
(11 minutes)
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