| The current list system
for electing second tier MSPs to Holyrood is coming under scrutiny by senior Labour
figures in Scotland. A senior party insider told the JT: "It's true that the
present system was endorsed by the Labour Party at the time, but the system just
doesn’t work in practice." The insider explained that the first vote was
intended to allow voters to express their preferences on a constituency basis,
"leading the electorate to vote Labour" the second preference vote was designed
for "leading the electorate to vote Labour again."
The obvious deficiencies in a system that doesn’t deliver CPSU style (ahem)
"popular mandates" is causing concern as the insider explains further: "I
mean fair do's, democracy |
is a wonderful thing and
aw that, but do we really want a system that means a wee nyaff like Rosie Kane can get
elected?" It is thought that the Labour Party will push for a revised electoral
system moving closer to the STV model which presumably means that if you don’t work
in television you don’t get to vote.
Elsewhere on Planet Politics, long term inmates at Barlinnie are lodging special
"cruel and unusual punishment" appeals to the authorities. The move comes after
SSP leader Tommy Sheridan, currently incarcerated in Scotland’s top jail, insisted
that everyone on his wing watched a really boring programme on telly about The Kronstadt
Uprising instead of Eastenders. |
