Why would North Yorkshire Tories dismiss wanting to see a more grown up way of doing politics? - Yorkshire Post Letters

A meeting of the Conservative controlled North Yorkshire County Council’s executive on February 7 saw councillors refusing to support a proposal calling on the government to introduce proportional representation (PR) for all future general, local and mayoral elections.

One Tory executive member branded the debate as ‘political posturing’ and ‘peripheral’ to the concerns of the public in North Yorkshire who wanted councillors to be making decisions on housing, health and social care not PR.

I was one of those cross party campaigners who hoped to persuade the NYCC Executive by our reasoned arguments that they should agree to the motion and write to the government to request PR for local, national and mayoral elections.

I was representing the views of Compass North Yorkshire members who see the results of the North Yorkshire Unitary Authority elections as a perfect example of what is wrong with the First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system.

In last year’s local elections to North Yorkshire County Council, which will also serve as first elections for the newly created North Yorkshire Council when it comes into place in April 2023, the Conservatives won 47 out of 90 seats (52 per cent of the councillors). They achieved an overall majority with just 41 per cent of the popular vote. The combined Labour, Lib Dem, Green and Independent vote share represents a majority of the voting public in North Yorkshire, 58 per cent who because of the FPTP system are locked out of meaningful involvement in decisions being taken by the Conservative majority Executive of NYCC.

With these figures it is clear that the Conservative executive of NYCC don’t have a proper democratic mandate from the people of North Yorkshire, so how can they claim to speak for us?

Like countless other councils across the country, we’re being forced to endure a tyranny of the minority. But when we propose a solution to break this log jam, it is dismissed as peripheral to the real issues of the day.

A fairer system would see the parties represented on the council in the proportion that people voted for them. A 41 per cent share would have given the Conservatives 37 of the 90 seats, the rest would have been shared between the other parties consistent with their 58 per cent vote share.

Why would anyone not want this fairer, progressive way of doing business? The executive members of the council would have to be cross party members and would work to reach consensus on how to address the really important issues of the North Yorkshire electorate.

Why does the Conservative Executive of NYCC believe it has all the answers to the issues facing people in North Yorkshire?

In the 21st century, why would anyone really dismiss wanting to see a more consensual, grown up way of doing politics?