Public Elections - reduction in voting age to 16 - States Assembly

‘Delivering Power to the People’
SPEECH AT THE POWER COMMISSION CONFERENCE
by Sir Menzies Campbell, M.P., Leader of the Liberal Democrats
May 6, 2006
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
The report of the Power Commission should worry every elected representative in Britain.
Because in their report the Commission says, “We were struck by just how wide and deep is the contempt felt for
formal politics in Britain.”
Well, that doesn’t make me feel too good, nor should it.
I can draw some small comfort from the fact that I agree with many of the sentiments and recommendations in the
report.
The report describes a dysfunctional system in which disengagement has reached crisis levels.
Look at the figures:
In recent elections, one third of the electorate do not feel represented by any of the political parties at
Westminster.
Less than one-in-five votes have had any impact on the outcome in 2001 and 2005.
Despite a huge effort to extend postal voting, in the 2005 election, 39% of registered voters did not vote at all.
And this at a time when voter registration is at an all time low.
It is clearly a long term problem, increasingly evident since the 1960s, and one that affects not just Britain but
other developed countries.
Before assuming office, the present government recognised many of the systemic failures of our democracy and
committed themselves to solutions in the form of the 1997 Labour manifesto, Charter 88, and the Cook-
Maclennan agreement between Labour and the Liberal Democrats on constitutional and electoral reform.
They have implemented some of what they promised – a devolved administration for Scotland, Northern Ireland
and Wales, and some reform of the House of Commons, under Robin Cook.
But the roadblocks to a revival of democratic participation remain – electoral reform, reform of the House of
Lords and the renaissance of local government.
These tasks were urgent in 1997. Failure to accord them the appropriate urgency once more will invite a crisis in
the legitimacy and credibility of our institutions themselves.
As the Power Commission makes plain, the British political system has remained more or less unchanged since
the Second World War.
It is a nineteenth century system that ill serves our 21 st century society.
21 st century Britain is place of educated, intelligent and engaged citizens who want to know how they are