As an overview, I am
a former Labour Member of Parliament for Carmarthen,
Member of the Council of Europe and Private Parliamentary Secretary to Roy
Jenkins when he was Home Secretary. I chaired the SDP and Alliance in Wales
during the 1980’s, National Committee of the SDP 1982-87, and National
Committee of the Liberal Democrats 1989-92. Between 1994-2013 I concentrated on
my business activities, heading a schools' inspections and conferencing
company, which over its eighteen years of operations inspected approximately
10,000 schools in Wales and England.
Currently
a little bored with blogging, tweeting and maintaining my YouTube channel, I am
looking to make a greater contribution once again in public affairs over the
next ten years, especially in relation to matters concerning electoral reform.
The
recent ERS petition with 500,000 signatories along with the level of public
dissatisfaction existing—gauging by the widespread reaction I receive through my online
activities as well as the efforts of groupings such as Democracy Now, VotingReform1, PR4Labour and the other ‘anti-austerity’ parties—prove conclusively that ERS’s time has come. Not only do we need to work towards a
cross-party campaign and establish a broad based convention, ERS must be
organised closer to the people by strengthening regional groupings, better
integrating with local constituencies.
In effect, ERS should organise itself broadly as political parties
do.
The
British electoral system has been dysfunctional since the 1960s, ever since the
two major parties began to lose their dominance, leading to the emergence of
four/five party politics—first in Wales and Scotland during the 1970’s and now in England with
UKIP. At this General Election only 24% of the electorate voted Conservative
but similar figures were familiar in the days of Harold Wilson and Margaret
Thatcher.
In addition, some 400 of the 630 parliamentary seats never change political party representation, so in those constituencies the votes of some 30 million people are irrelevant. The only election that matters in those contexts is the one to be chosen as PPC for incumbent party!
Not only is the
governance of the UK Union fragmented, so too are its electoral arrangements
within the four nations, exaggerating national and regional
divisions. In many instances, the same is true at local elections with
artificial majorities for the governing party in many councils and vast swathes
of the voters left unrepresented.
I am well versed in a
campaigning style of advocacy, contributing to the formulation of key strategic
decisions and am an effective team player, leading others when called upon.
The
key skills I will bring to the deliberations and activities of ERS are:
Leadership
and team working skills:
· Led
and chaired numerous research, working and campaigning groups throughout my
working life.
Communication,
interpersonal and advocacy skills:
· High
level of communication skills. Have
addressed countless audiences from a few people to thousands and have the
attribute of being an effective speaker and presenter. Have made hundreds of
radio and television appearances in both English and Welsh.
· My
work with various government agencies involved research, investigation,
evidence based evaluations, confidentiality and effective report writing skills.
· An
understanding of the decision making processes in England, Wales, UK and
Europe.
Creative
skills and strategic thinking and action:
· I
am well versed in preparation of policy papers on a range of subjects.
Further information available on: