2 days ago
Labour's shameful electoral manipulations have doomed the capital
Sir Keir Starmer appears to be learning from his party's newfound unpopularity. Having watched Labour slide in the polls and Reform and rival Left-wing parties surge, the Government now seems to be taking steps to ward off potential electoral setbacks. Regrettably, however, rather than simply governing well, its choice of tactic appears to be constitutional tweaks that benefit its candidates.
The somewhat misleadingly named 'English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill' is set to scrap the use of first past the post voting in mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections, replacing the system with the 'Supplementary Vote' used before 2022.
Before its reintroduction, we should recall why this system was abandoned in the first place. No voting system is perfect, but the 2021 London Mayoral election saw 114,000 votes – 5 per cent of the total – rejected as voters appeared to be confused by an overly complicated system.
In other words, a Bill supposedly intended to 'empower' voters will do so by introducing a system that is likely to mean that a large number accidentally lose their say – and, indeed, in a manner which the Labour Party seems curiously uninterested in introducing for Westminster seats, where it benefits from the division of votes between the Conservatives and Reform.
It is difficult not to suspect that this move, instead, reflects growing concern over the potential for a Corbyn-style candidate to derail Labour's attempt to secure yet another victory in London's Mayoral election.
This would be a setback for a capital that has suffered under the last decade of Sadiq Khan's misrule. A culture of arrogance and entitlement in City Hall has seen standards slip, from the woeful performance of the Metropolitan Police to the leadership of Transport for London, which accused public-spirited campaigners of daubing graffiti on trains they had filmed themselves cleaning.
The imposition of the Ulez expansion and the generalised war on cars has coincided with a 10-year high in store closures across the capital, this year's Wimbledon tournament being branded an 'international embarrassment' as London's transport system has failed to cope, and rampant fare-dodging – with Robert Jenrick seemingly doing more to combat the problem in his spare time than the Mayor in his years in office.
The costs of these failures are borne by Londoners, those who commute into the city, and those who visit it. So, too, are the costs of the inflated salaries of Mr Khan and his senior staff. London deserves better, and the opportunity to obtain it. Labour's shameful manipulations may well deny it the chance.
