The need to appeal to middle English voters fascinates me. There are a couple of aspects to it I think are interesting.
Firstly, more people think they are in middle England than actually are. (The same appears to be true of the USian equivalent.)
Secondly, our electoral system rewards a narrow focus on a small number of people who might change their vote in a small number of places in the UK.
So, in order to be elected you have to appeal to a lot of people who think they are middle class but aren't really in order to sway the opinions of the couple of thousand who will decide if you are elected. (Speaking as one of the Electors of Edinburgh South I am all for this system and wholeheartedly support its manifest fairness. The only other system I would be in favour of is to adopt Thomas Cochraine's approach and just hand out £100 notes in bundles in key marginals.)
My main reason for supporting the Independence movement is that I want to avoid south of England Tory governments. I would accept, tolerate (and might even be persuaded of the merits of) the Scottish Tory party as an occassional minority party in a coalition. I find south of England Tories too far away from me both politically and geographically. They don't have to paas the Bjorn Beer Test.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2011-09-29 08:30 am (UTC)Firstly, more people think they are in middle England than actually are. (The same appears to be true of the USian equivalent.)
Secondly, our electoral system rewards a narrow focus on a small number of people who might change their vote in a small number of places in the UK.
So, in order to be elected you have to appeal to a lot of people who think they are middle class but aren't really in order to sway the opinions of the couple of thousand who will decide if you are elected. (Speaking as one of the Electors of Edinburgh South I am all for this system and wholeheartedly support its manifest fairness. The only other system I would be in favour of is to adopt Thomas Cochraine's approach and just hand out £100 notes in bundles in key marginals.)
My main reason for supporting the Independence movement is that I want to avoid south of
England Tory governments. I would accept, tolerate (and might even be persuaded of the merits of) the Scottish Tory party as an occassional minority party in a coalition. I find south of England Tories too far away from me both politically and geographically. They don't have to paas the Bjorn Beer Test.