1.
The head of state is not elected.
2.
The second chamber of Parliament that can
sponsor, block and amend laws in unelected.
3.
The selection of candidates. The Prime Minister
of the UK has, for the last 91 years been either Conservative or Labour. The
membership of these two parties in 2014 is less than 1% of the population and
it is these members (and often a small sub-set of them) that select
parliamentary candidates, therefore our MP’s and governments are not representative.
4.
Manifesto promises can be broken and new
policies with no mandate find their way into law.
5.
Party funding, lobbying and corruption. Parties
are funded by individuals and organisations with vested interest in certain
policies, this is paying for legislation.
Lawmakers can vote on issues where they have a direct financial
interest. These are corrupt practises.
6.
Individuals in power represent themselves not
the people. 65% of the population believe MPs represent themselves and “feather
their own nests”.
7.
First past the post. Our electoral system itself
is undemocratic. The party that wins the majority of seats rarely wins the
majority of the electorates support.
8.
The “payroll vote” and the Whips. The house of
commons is organised in a way that takes away from the constituency MP the
right to represent his constituents by either making them members of the
government of shadow government guaranteeing party loyalty, or by whipping them
to tow the party line regardless of conscience.
9.
Lack of veto. There is no power of recall over
an MP who is found to be not representing his/her constituents or for serious misconduct.
10.
Statutory Instruments. These confer on ministers
power to make legal orders without further recourse to parliament (other than
passing the original act giving them those powers). In this way ministers are
given vast power without the checks and balances of scrutiny by the people’s
representatives.
