Having a labour party which actually stood for socialist ideas would help, instead we have Tories or Tories in red, essentially pick your flavour of Thatchers austerity. The worst part is the lack of a workers party has opened the doors for establishment parties dressed up as anti establishment - Reform UK.
"The IPPR recommended four policies (…) Lowering the voting age to 16. Implementing automatic voter registration. Introducing a £100,000 annual cap on donations to political parties. Creating an “election day service”.
(…)
The IPPR also said the government should consider enfranchising the 5 million long-term tax-paying residents who are not citizens "
Yes, yes, yes and yes. I don’t care about “election day service” but the rest should be introduced as soon as possible.
I find the concept of non-citizen voters to be really weird. Ideally, the path to citizenship would be easier, and then you get a vote this way.
Unfortunately, that’s not reality.
I find the concept of non-citizen voters to be really weird.
What I find weird is that Commonwealth citizens can vote in the UK parliamentary elections but tax paying EU citizens cannot.
“no taxation without representation”
no taxation without representation
Fuck off.
If they want to live here, use our services and have employment here then they pay tax.
When were were part of the EU, arguing for voting rights for residents made sense. However we are not, and if you were from any other country in the world I would expect you to pay the local taxes, even if you cannot vote there.
That quote is about the UK imposing taxes on the Americas. We are not talking about that here.
Weirdly aggressive response - it seems fairly clear to me that they’re arguing that people who live, work in the UK should have a right to vote, not that they should be exempted from paying tax
You may consider it aggressive, but I want a bit more commitment than just paying a bit of taxes.
Thats the sort of thing an American says just before Musk declares that he pays corporate tax and sues to vote in multiple countries, for as many companies as he owns.
Commitment like living and working there, you mean? Nobody was proposing it should apply to corporations, because they aren’t people
All they’re proposing is that people who pay their fair share for, and depend on, government services should have a say in how those services operate
And considering the majority of migrant workers return to their home country, your proposal is not very bright.
Hey, everyone who doesn’t have a stake in what happens in 5 years, do you want to vote for more investment in the country or reduced taxes. Yeah, thats going to end well.
They need to have some skin in the game if they want to decide that level of impact.
Lowering the voting age to 16.
I think this is the only one likely to change / come into effect.
Implementing automatic voter registration.
Honestly, why this hasn’t happened yet is beyond me.
Introducing a £100,000 annual cap on donations to political parties.
laughs in Tory and Labour special interests
The IPPR also said the government should consider enfranchising the 5 million long-term tax-paying residents who are not citizens "
Hmm… Call me old fashioned but I think voting should be reserved for citizens not simply if you pay taxes. If you want to vote then show that you want to be associated with the country you’re voting in and become a citizen. Living in a country and using it’s services is one thing but deciding where the country goes (however naively) is another.
None of those will help, the problem is the FPTP system that allows a party to win with only 1/3 of the popular vote.
There is no argument here, FPTP is definitely an issue. Nevertheless, I belive these should be implemented irrespectively.