One vote: one value – our chance for landmark change

Next year is a landmark year in the history of our democracy. One hundred years on from women getting the right to vote and 90 since the establishment of equal franchise, we must recognise there is still more to do if we are to ensure that each individual vote is truly of equal value, ensuring every voice matters.

That is why this Government is determined to take action to safeguard the integrity of Britain’s democracy.

In the May local elections, we will pilot the use of identification in polling stations across a number of councils in England, alongside tougher checks on postal voting.

The biggest threat to free and fair elections in our country is electoral fraud, as highlighted by the 2015 Election Court judgment in Tower Hamlets which exposed the scope for electoral corruption if left unchecked and ignored. Next September, the independent and impartial Boundary Commission will bring forward their proposals to Parliament to update the constituency boundaries for the next general election. These reforms will ensure fair and equal representation for the voting public across the United Kingdom by the next general election.

As research by The Daily Telegraph has shown, it is an affront to democracy that 27 million people are currently under-represented.

The reforms to our constituency boundaries will ensure that Parliamentary constituencies are of a similar size. It was the Chartists in the 1830s who first proposed this simple principle, and in more recent years, this was endorsed by the independent Committee on Standards in Public Life. This will deliver the democratic principle of one vote: one value.

Each constituency will be within five per cent of a recommended size, excluding a number of unique constituencies, such as Orkney and Shetland.

It is disappointing that opposition parties like Labour are trying to block these reforms. Regular reviews of Parliamentary boundaries have been carried out since the current system was established by Labour’s Herbert Morrison during the Second World War. What is more, our democracy has never been so misrepresented in terms of its constituency profiles as it is today. Without a Boundary Review, the constituencies that would be contested at the next general election would be based on electorate data from 2000. This would be the most out-of-date in modern political history, disregarding changes in demographics, house building and migration. If Britain’s political geography changes, then the constituencies of the House of Commons need to change too.

If we do not take action by implementing legislation that has already been passed by MPS from all parties in the previous Parliament, future generations will find it hard to understand how we, as the custodians of our democracy, found it acceptable to allow the status quo to continue. For it is a status quo as unjust as when the Chartists first highlighted it in the system of Parliamentary boundaries.

MPS represent areas ranging from 41,367 electors (Arfon) to 93,223 (North West Cambs), effectively permitting one representative’s value to be twice that of another.

Equalising the size of constituencies in the review will ensure everyone’s vote will carry equal weight.

Labour are attempting to halt the independent review, yet history demonstrates they are simply up to old tricks. It was the Labour Government of 1969 which gerrymandered the 1970 general election by blocking the Boundary Commission’s changes. This resulted in the election being fought on 1953 boundary data.

Jeremy Corbyn’s political opportunism in opposing the most recent Boundary Review is gerrymandering by any other name, and threatens to taint any election result without such democratic reforms. One of the key reasons why even moderate Labour MPS are opposing boundary reforms is they are paranoid that the hard-left Corbynmcdonnell leadership and their Momentum stooges will use the process to bully and deselect them. Such Labour infighting is no reason to hold back an already-delayed review.

Labour previously tried to block the introduction of more accurate electoral registration.

Thanks to the introduction of new system of “individual” registration, the electoral register has become more accurate, compared to the old and flawed “household” system.

Councils have removed ghost electors who have moved, died or who never existed in the first place. This has not prevented people from registering legitimately – the electoral register for the 2017 general election rose to 46.8 million electors, the highest ever in our country.

But there is more to do to ensure that we have the most complete and accurate register possible. This month we published the Democratic Engagement Plan, setting out how we intend to focus upon electoral registration as an issue of social justice – 100 years on from women getting a right to vote, it is clear that there are certain groups in society who want to vote but still struggle to do so. We are taking forward crucial legislation that will allow survivors of domestic violence to register anonymously far more swiftly, while we will also be taking measures to ensure those with disabilities or sight loss will be able to vote free from impediment.

We also want to ensure that British expats are able to continue to have their say in Parliamentary elections; this is especially important given the decisions on implementing Brexit and respecting the EU referendum result.

Equally-sized constituencies; up to date boundaries; accurate and comprehensive electoral rolls; checks to stop electoral fraud – these are reasonable and essential measures needed in this coming year to defend Britain’s free and fair elections – and ensure a democracy that works for everyone.

‘Labour is trying to halt the independent review, yet history demonstrates they are simply up to old tricks’