Category: Political

Politics affecting the north west of England.

Voting and Parties in the European Elections – North West England

In the North West we have 12 parties, each with 8 candidates who are ranked in priority. There are 8 seats which is the second highest representation in the UK.

 The parties are:  Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green, BNP (British National Party), No2EU, JT (Jury Team), UKIP (United Kingdom Independance Party), CPCPA (Christian Party – Christian Peoples Alliance), English Democrat, Lib – EU (Libertas), SLP (Socialist Labour Party).  One independant.

We all have one vote for one party or an independant. As there are 8 MEP’s in the North West each party has 8 candidates as theoretically if a party got all the votes it could have 8 MEP’s. However proportional representation will give significant others a seat. Theoretically a party with more than one eighth of the vote will get a seat but in practise probably needing a quarter. Can’t say I’m an expert on this and have only done the sums mentally using the formula. In summary in a given region the allocated seats are awarding using a quota system. The quota is the total number of votes received by a party or independent candidate divided by the number of seats they’ve already gained in that region +1.

I vote in every election. Not voting is a statement but I’d prefer to give a rebel vote if I was so disillusioned with the candidates.  No-one represents fully what I want but there are candidates I wouldn’t vote for so they are out.  All parties have things I don’t like but some have things I believe in. So a few are in with a chance and I’ll judge who satisfies me the most on balance.

Who are Jury Team, CPCPA, Libertas?

Jury Team are a party who are against parties and want politicians to vote for what their voters want.

CPCPA are a Christian, pro-referendum, anti-poverty group.

Libertas is a pan-European, pro-European, pro-democratic EU party.

So I’ve narrowed my voting list to: Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green, CPCPA, Libertas.

Think I’ll look into Libertas some more as a pan-European, make the EU more democratic stance sounds interesting. I’m pro-EU, pro-pound sterling but not anti-Euro.

Find out more. http://www.europarl.org.uk/section/european-elections/candidates

European Parliament Elections

On 4th June there is an election for the European Parliament. So far I’ve received a leaflet from the Conservatives although I don’t know who my MEP is or what he or she does and the leaflet doesn’t tell me.

The Conservative leaflet says they are voting against a lot of things like the Constitution and EU Armed Force.  I’m never sure about what to think of the EU. I do think it is blamed for a lot of things it doesn’t do.  Also watching the European leaders jostling for place with Barak Obama was an embarrassment. Does the USA want to talk to these jostlers or to someone who represents them.

Should this uncomfortable relationship continue or should the EU be given some real powers and the members sit out of the UN Security Council etc.  For example California is bigger than many G20 countries, Australia and Mexico aren’t planning to join an EU organisation. So what is the best solution for a country like the UK, to stand alone or be part of the EU or is there a halfway point. I don’t really know, California isn’t apparantly harmed by being in the USA in fact it seems to benefit. So I can see that a stronger EU could benefit. Although against this the UK is a proud country with a gritty history of independance. Many EU states are bordering on bureaucratic semi-socialist states so maybe the US model wouldn’t be as good with such interferance from the centre. 

I guess that really I’d like a strong EU and to be part of it but on the other hand I’d like the member states to be strong as well. If countries like France and Germany can give up some sovereignty I think the UK can. It wouldn’t trouble me to be represented by an EU President if he was elected like the US President. Overall I don’t particularly agree with the Conservative leaflet but I do think some obstructionism isn’t a bad thing till the EU is made more directly democratic.