Party or Not?

There have been very few (if any) Independent MPs in recent decades, and there aren't all that many Independents as local councillors either. Why is this?

There are advantages and disadvantages to having political parties, and to having them dominate. It's swings and roundabouts, to a degree...

The main advantage of political parties is that you stand on a published policy platform. There's no fudging (unless you're a LibDem, of course: they are well-known for this!) and when the public vote for you they know for what the candidates stand. Independents can just make it up as they go along, though they usually have leanings in one direction anyway.

For example, I know of an Independent councillor who often says quite sensible things and agrees with what one political group is proposing, but will then vote the same way as the opposing group; so they are not necessarily consistent. Interestingly, to maintain strict political balance, that Independent councillor has no entitlement to a seat on any specific committee, so cannot easily participate in formulating policy. He has however been granted two "left over" seats on committees of relatively little interest, and which are not the best uses for his undoubted abilities.

Another advantage is that policies can actually get through, rather than having a disparate bunch of non-party MPs (or councillors, for that matter) voting all over the place, not getting something agreed, and then debating and tweaking for months or even years before finally reaching enough of a consensus to secure a majority vote in favour.

Especially at election times, it is less bewildering trying to work out where one's cross might best be placed. With just a few lots of party literature arriving during the campaign, and just a few knocks on the door, it is manageable to voters who have real lives to lead. Especially in local elections with two or three councillors per ward (Twydall has three, to use that as an example), imagine how it would be to be bombarded with leaflets and other bumf from eleven independent candidates rather than from five parties, as happened in Twydall ward in the 2007 local elections.

Not only was it less to read and take in, it saved a lot of dead trees (and money printing all that stuff). There also weren't as many callers at the door asking if and how you are going to vote.

When whoever is elected gets to the House of Commons or the local Council Chamber as appropriate, though, this is when the Whips come into play. They do their best to ensure party loyalty, especially when it comes to public debates and voting. Okay, fair enough you might say: they were elected on a policy platform (as already mentioned) so one expects them to stick to it, and vote along party lines.

The exception is votes of conscience, either personal ones (where an elected member might abstain from voting at all, possibly on religious grounds) or a so-called "free vote" because the issue itself will be a matter of personal conscience for all taking part. Okay, so even those two contingencies have been taken care of within the party system.

Overall one can see that political parties have a lot of advantages in practice, though they do then give the impression of churning out what some call "lobby fodder" (in reference to the voting lobbies in Parliament). In reality, many MPs are fairly independently-minded (the names Dunwoody, Marshall-Andrews and Bercow spring immediately to mind) and they can generally pursue matters in a less than slavish manner, if they set their minds to it. This can produce better, more rounded legislation by coming up with amendments to Bills that work better in areas of concern to one or more individual members, whether Independent or party members.

Also, constituency work by an MP can be fairly wide-ranging and tends to be more flexible than in the formal business of the House of Commons. A similar situation exists for councillors when it comes to matters in the ward each represents, usually jointly, though sometimes by members of different parties.

Thus one can see that party-based politics works better in practice than a collection of disparate Independents. For one thing, it makes it possible to work out who is really running the country (or the council). The Mother of Parliaments works this way, and so do the equivalent legislative assemblies in a large number of other countries, many of whose parliaments (though not all) were modelled on ours.

Warts and all, it still seems to be the best way that has yet been found to run our affairs, along with the regular election pattern (though I am very much if favour of fixing the duration of parliamentary electoral terms, just as is already the case with councils). Even so, a relatively small number of Independents do add some additional colour and texture to a council, and even to Parliament, despite the inevitable limitations.

If I were to re-stand for election to Medway Council in May 2011 (which is by no means certain, though a lot of people have asked me to return) I could stand either as a Conservative or as an Independent. I have a strong enough personal vote to carry me in the latter case. Even so, I'd prefer to stand as a Conservative if possible.

We shall see when the time comes. I might by then be so fully committed to a new project that I couldn't sensibly return to council life anyway. Otherwise, like Arnie, "I'll be back!"