5 reasons the Greens should work with UKIP for electoral reform
It probably sounds like heresy in Green circles, but hear me out. The Greens need to work with UKIP after May the 7th. The stakes are too high not to.
We live in a multi-party system now. But our voting system is wedded to the past – the old two-party duopoly which no longer exists.
So while it might be anathema to some on both sides, the Greens and UKIP should work together to secure PR after the election:
1. Both the Greens and UKIP will be thoroughly screwed over by First Past the Post this election. The Greens are expected to win around 5% of the vote this election. Enough to secure lots of deposits, sure – but on 5% of the vote, every single election projection is expecting the party to win just 1 seat. That’s 0.15% of the seats in Parliament – 3% of the number of seats the Greens will deserve (33).
But if we believe in democracy, we believe that UKIP voters should be represented too. They’re expected to get around 3-4 seats on around 13% of the vote – 0.6% of the seats in Parliament. If we had proper proportional representation, they’d get 85 seats. Whatever you think of UKIP, that’s simply not right. Parliament is the debating chamber of Britain – if you disagree with a party, they should be challenged in the Commons if they have public support.
The Greens and UKIP are likely to get nearly a fifth of the vote, but less than 1% of seats, writing off a huge section of the population.
2. There are going to be a lot of angry voters after May. Many new Green and UKIP voters are expecting their parties to win lots of seats. That’s not going to happen. And they’re going to be sorely disappointed, angry at our political system and even more disillusioned with formal politics. It won’t be healthy for democracy.
3. Electoral reform is one of the only issues the Greens and UKIP agree on. It’s something we can and should work with them on, on principle, even if we disagree on 99% of other things. Because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it is in both parties’ manifestos.
Including the Lib Dems, SNP and Plaid, a large chunk of the electorate will be voting for pro-PR parties on the 7th. An alliance is the only way – and a Green/UKIP one would be the most potent…
4. It would be hugely symbolic and incredibly powerful. Imagine what kind of message it would send if the two parties could put aside their other massive differences and unite on something. Imagine if Britain’s most left-wing and most right-wing major parties came together and said, for once: “We agree on this”. A joint press conference, a joint letter to the press, a joint campaign. Anything it takes. It would all put the issue of electoral reform on the agenda – and high up the agenda, at that.
This is an opportunity that can’t be missed. Our politics has changed massively since the AV referendum (itself not a vote on PR). It’s time for the voting system to change too.
5. We’re about to see another hung parliament. Despite being screwed over by FPTP, the Greens and UKIP will have around five or so seats – enough to potentially swing some votes in the commons, if there’s a deal, or indeed if Labour swings behind a fairer voting system given the situation in Scotland (FPTP will benefit the SNP this election, even if they will remain pro-PR allies).
Working in Parliament for electoral reform, the Greens and UKIP could help secure some real change – for example PR for council elections; a fantastic first start, and one which has a strong track record of success in Scotland and Northern Ireland (it’s also a move which won’t require a referendum).
I’ve spoken to Green leadership figures about this, and as uncomfortable as some may initially be with the idea, the notion of working together to win a better voting system after the inevitably unfair result in two weeks’ time is gaining ground.
Electoral reform could be back on the agenda on May 7th – but only if parties push for it.
Let’s not miss this chance.
Josiah Mortimer works for the Electoral Reform Society
—
Note: In response to comments, there are two points to – firstly, We’ve already worked with the right for progress in the past – Caroline has worked with Tory MPs like Zac Goldsmith previously, over voter recall and so on. When the Lib Dems introduced the AV referendum, the STV amendments were by Caroline Lucas and Douglas Carswell (then a Tory, now a UKIP MP).
Secondly, working with UKIP doesn’t rule out working with the SNP (expected to win well over 40 seats), Plaid Cymru or other parties. We need to do both. But what would be most powerful? Predictably focusing on working with people we agree with almost everything on, or working on this issue we a party we fundamentally oppose? The resonance of the latter would be enormous.
We have to cooperate with people on an issue-by-issue basis – if we believe in PR and the politics of the future as opposed to the artificial duopoly of the past, then we must agree on that.
We live in a multi-party era – and we need to work together on things we agree in. Purism for purism’s sake won’t get us anywhere; that’s the mindset of the past. Pluralism is the way forward, and it doesn’t mean we agree on everything. PR is too important to be sectarian about.
I’m a UKIP supporter and I reckon Josiah is right. Lots of Ukippers think the Greens are crazy, or “watermelons” or whatever insult is in vogue this week. The fact is that both parties are about to be done down by the electoral system and the only hope of getting a fairer system in the future is if both parties and the LibDems (Aaarggh! Not the LibDems!!) work together for it.
Incidentally, I personally reckon next week is going to be worse than Josiah predicts. Not because the 5% currently supporting the Green Party or the 13% currently supporting UKIP are suddenly going to change their political sympathies before the poll, but because on the way to the polling booth a lot of them will think “Hmm… I want the Greens/Ukip to win, but this constituency right here isn’t one they are going to win so I’ll vote for the least bad of the real;is tic contenders in this seat.”
Incidentally, this is another injustice of the existing system. It isn’t just that the votes gained by smaller parties aren’t rewarded proportionately in terms of seats; it is also that many who support smaller parties don’t even vote for them because they think there is no point.
p.s. Harry Dent – you are utterly wrong. Whenever UKIP discover racists among their members/candidates, they chuck them out pretty quick. And it isn’t that UKIP has more racists/fascists than other parties – it is just that the ones who are uncovered get far more publicity if they are in UKIP. Conservative Campaign Head Quarters have a whole team working on that. Please don’t fall for it. I’m pretty certain that the same data mining techniques the Tories are using to paint UKIP as a racist party will be turned on the Green Party if you ever pass the 10% mark. Watch your backs.
I am a Ukip supporter but I am not racist and definitely not a fascist. I am an ordinary person who has never belonged to any political party in my life and what you would call a floating voter as I have previously voted Tory, Labour, Liberal Democrat and even Green in the London Assembly elections. I think a union between the Greens and Ukip would be good on the electoral reform issue. I agree with some of the things the Greens are saying so may vote for them again for the London Assembly. The thing with people like me is that we see things we like in all the political parties but also things we don’t like. The problem is we have to vote for the whole package including things we don’t agree with!
P.S. Another Green/Ukip area of agreement would be on the ludicrous foreign wars we have engaged in during the last few decades!!
You forgot the fact that both UKIP and Green are passionate for animal rights and welfare. I personally would be in favour of this as a UKIP supporter but the party’s are both too different to properly co-operate.
seriously? You have to be kidding right now, no, just NO
This article must be a parody…..such a poor understanding of electoral politics and political change surely can’t be serious. If you want to destroy any credibility with the electorate you link up with a party so opposed to your own platform that people will think you have no clue about what they want or need. Why not campaign for electoral reform without linking with a right wing bunch of nut jobs…..you lead, you don’t make short term, self serving alliances…just ask the Lib-Dems.
I agree.
hey mr dent, not a good reason to change votes cos of the opinion of one member of the green party unless he is your local candidate, if political parties cant have internal debates with out the whole party being attacked you end up with the modern labour and tory parties ie members have no say.
i dont think we need a joint alliance with ukip for electoral reform we need a permanant campaign for it seperate from all parties i dont think the electoral reform society is fit for that purpose as it is both a buisness and a campaigning group and is overly obsessed with the irish voting system, we going to have to all talk about this i have a weird feeling that av was probably the right system for britain as it took in to account the opinions of a divided electorate with out giving them full proportional representation which i dont think people in britain will vote for. our best bet is still a hung parliament i only wish clegg had nt agreed to a referendum surely betraying the students was a high enough price to pay to ask for av with out a referendum?
> the association of the AV campaign with Nick Clegg destroyed it
Correction: the _exclusive_ association of the campaign with Clegg. Miliband “supported” it so quietly that many Labour supporters and even members didn’t know which side their own leader was on, while smaller parties were frozen out – particularly UKIP, as everyone else supporting it was on the left. Meanwhile, the small number of Labour dinosaurs actively opposing it made lots of noise. The result was that what was actually a nearly-all-Tory campaign with only the BNP on side looked more diverse than the side supported by every other party.
The AV campaign was tainted by its association with Clegg, not only because he had been recently exposed as a promise-breaker, but also because there was a more general perception of him as damaged goods. The way the polls are looking, by the end of next week Farage may be seen not only as a racist demogogue, but also as damaged goods, someone who can be painted as a ‘sore loser’ if UKIP do badly after all the hype.
Sorry, but this is a very bad idea. Just look at how the association of the AV campaign with Nick Clegg destroyed it, and the ongoing consequences for Scottish Labour of their recent alliance with the Tories and Lib Dems. The same thing would happen to the Greens if they campaigned for PR alongside UKIP. Besides, it seems quite possible that UKIP will implode after the general election anyway, if they fail to win the seats they are expecting. Some models are predicting that they could end up with only one MP (Douglas Carswell). If this happens, and/or Farage fails to win Thanet South, we should sit back and enjoy the resultant UKIP bloodbath, not work with them.
You’d seriously work with a party that counts numerous racists and fascists among its membership?
It’s entirely up to you of course, but you’ve just lost two votes in York Guildhall.
Harry, remember this isn’t the voice of the Green party itself.
But more to the point, if we want to make a stand against the current Westminster system, then we are going to need support. We can use UKIP to get a leg up into Westminster with this proposed campaign, and then once the public see how awful they would be with any sort of power, they would be shot down again.
UKIP are not racist, that is an obscene myth created by the mainstream media the gullible are lead to believe. They are in-fact the third most diverse, multi-ethnic party in British politics. They are not anti-immigration, they are opposed to mass, unregulated immigration. They embrace immigration on all spectrums, just in a more-efficiently regulated way. Read or watch their manifesto, it’s available on Youtube – it should explain all there is to know about UKIP.
They may attract racists but what the party stands for isnt racist and we really need to stop pretending it is.
Ukip are not the enemy. The enemy is prejudice, discrimination and intolerance. Some Ukip supporters show these faults other don’t. Likewise with greens. A fairer voting system is needed and it is right that the voters are represented more proportionately regardless of their political stance. We have to stand for what is right and if we agree on this issue then we stand together. Don’t allow your intolerance for ukip to steer you away from doing the right thing. I vote green because they share my beliefs but we have to put our grievances aside and work together in what common ground we have because we all share this country, we are in it together every person deserves to be acknowledged whether you agree with their politics or not. The only thing letting the greens down as far as I can see is when they dismiss others and are unable to listen to their points of view due to stubbornness of view in believing they are right. How can you criticise ukip for intolerance if you yourself show the same intolerance towards ukip supporters without the willingness to understand them.