Sunday 25 June 2023
A Lousy Deal
It can be useful to view a UK general election as a deal between voters and the elected government. A general election isn’t a deal in the usual sense, but it is a useful way to highlight what an asymmetric process it is.
Take Net Zero for example. The UK government has a Net Zero policy which already has a negative impact on voters, so we could ask what compensation voters receive. What is the Net Zero deal? Obviously we know there is no Net Zero deal, but its absence does highlight how threadbare general elections are – what a miserable deal they are for the electorate.
For example, replacing the NHS, selling off the BBC and a major restructuring of the education system could be some kind of modest compensation for enduring the costs, the intrusion and for risking the likely failure of Net Zero. Inadequate compensation perhaps, but better than none, which is what we have been tacitly offered.
There are other obvious aspects to this approach, such as HS2. What is the compensation for those who will never use it? Or the BBC – where is the compensation for those who never watch it yet must endure its one-sided effect on public debate? What are we offered as compensation for substandard government?
Of course this isn’t how electing a government works and it couldn’t work as a specific deal between voters and government. Yet the point is made – UK general elections are an absurdly poor deal for voters. The choice between Conservative or Labour is a choice between an absurdly poor deal and an absurdly poor deal.
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7 comments:
After Johnson started burbling on about Net Zero and attending that ridiculous COP meeting, I checked out the manifesto. In fact, Net Zero was on there, along with Brexit being completed. What has happened is that both of them have been pretty much abandoned, but in such a way that the government can claim that "progress has been made". The issue for me is that Brexit could have been done in our interests, but wasn't; whereas Net Zero was always a downright lie, but it's going to be hard to admit it. Expect Starmer to re-badge it, and carry on.
The longer she's gone the more I respect Maggie.
And for his next trick, Sunak is promising the biggest expansion of NHS staff evah. It's as if he is hell bent on destroying NHS productivity. And he has the brass neck to call this travesty "investment".
Net zero is gradually being rebadged and expanded anyhow. All the latest moves are to reduce 'pollution' - Nitrates from cars, methanes from cows, particulates, Fertiliser runoff, pedestrian safety from vehicles via LTNs. CO2 is no longer the only headline.
Sam - yes, we can't even vote for a manifesto in the expectation that it will be adhered to or at least tackled with integrity.
dearieme - it's a pity we don't have a clone of her.
decnine - it's annoying how they always refer to spending and increased costs as investment. They won't even use moderately accurate language.
Woodsy - Net Zero has certainly expanded. We seem to have a bottomless supply of loons to wave their arms about environmental trivia.
Voting: Buying a pig in a poke.
We vote without examining or being able to examine the contents on offer. And if we later discover the 'pig' is deficient our only choice is to buy a different pig from a different poke at the next general election.
My suggestion is that we make the House of Lords subject to a democratic 'Second House Election' normally (say) 2 years after the last General Election. This way the current Members of Parliament get an early view of how the electorate regards them.
DJ - that's a good idea. Probably means it won't happen as it would create considerable pressure to carry out election promises.
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