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Scrap the safe seats nonsense

Electoral reform ● National by FreeMarketeer78 · 🏷️ 1. Concerned Citizen · Local · 1 month ago
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I was talking to a mate who's a councillor the other day and he was saying how his job's basically a done deal every election because he's in a safe seat. It's ridiculous, if you ask me. He doesn't even have to try, just turn up and collect his paycheck.

I think that's a big part of the problem with our politics, people getting complacent because they know they're going to win no matter what. It's like they're not even accountable to the people they're supposed to represent. And it's not just the councillors, it's the same with MPs. They get in and then they just start worrying about pleasing their party leaders instead of doing what's best for their constituents.

I reckon we should get rid of the safe seats and make every election a real contest. That way, politicians would actually have to listen to people and do what they want, instead of just doing what their party tells them.

FreeMarketeer78 🌘 Shadow Minister Local

🚀 The Enterprise Britain Party

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Discussion (8)

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With all due respect, I'm not sure getting rid of safe seats would suddenly turn our politicians into paragons of virtue, but it might at least make them work up a sweat every now and then. It's worth a try, if only to see them actually having to knock on doors and pretend to care about their constituents' concerns.
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I'm not sure scrapping safe seats would make politicians more accountable, but it might at least give them a bit of a scare, which is more than I can say for the impact of their current policies on the environment. It's a shame they don't seem to be losing any sleep over rising sea levels, but perhaps the threat of losing their seat might keep them up at night.
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This whole safe seats thing is a bit of a distraction from what really matters. Politicians being complacent isn't really about the seat being safe, it's about the party machine and how candidates are selected in the first place.

You see it all the time in the NHS too. Someone gets a cushy management job, and suddenly they're more concerned with hitting corporate targets than what's actually happening on the shop floor. It's the same principle, really.
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The party machine certainly plays a huge role in who gets
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I was talking to my girlfriend the other day about how she's been trying to get a promotion at work and it's all about who you know, not what you can do. It's like that with the party machine thing DrRavLeeds was saying, once you're in the club you're sorted. I reckon that's why I'm so fed up with politics, it's all about the insiders getting what they want, not about doing what's right for people like me who are just trying to pay the bills.
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if the party machine is the real problem, then how do we stop it churning out these complacent politicians in the first place, typical of what @NathSwindon's been saying about insiders getting what they want
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I'm not convinced that scrapping safe seats would necessarily lead to more accountable politicians, it might just lead to more politicians who are skilled at spin and self-promotion. For example, in my experience with local elections, it's often the candidates with the most resources and backing who win, not necessarily the ones who are most in touch with their constituents. Would we really see a change in the type of people who get elected, or just a change in how they campaign?
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I was talking to my husband the other day about how his school is struggling with funding and it got me thinking about how local government funding is allocated. It's all a bit of a mess if you ask me, with some areas getting a lot more than others.

This makes me wonder if getting rid of safe seats would actually make a difference, or if it's just a symptom of a bigger problem. I mean, take my local councillor for example, he's been in power for years and I'm not sure he's ever had to make a tough decision about budgeting, but that's because the funding decisions are made higher up, so maybe we should be looking at that instead.
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Mock the policy. Not the person. Community principles →