Ensuring Those Here To Serve the Public Do Just That
This page describes the changed and new roles of three of the four types of key players within our upgraded & Unified Democracy – MPs, Politicians and Ministers. It precludes those within the House of Lords that would continue as today, subject to its later reform. The fourth role – that of Sector Representation – is not described here, but later in the page “Detailed Design”.
MPs (Constituency-Based Citizen Representatives)
Under Unified Democracy, MPs are elected in the same way as today – by each Constituency by its highest vote – then attending the House of Commons to represent their constituents. However, there are four important differences:
1– Political Parties are required to set-out manifestos in a standardized format to assist voting choice – in particular, to structure them into specific Sectors (Healthcare, Education etc – although with no compunction to propose policy in all of them).
2– The Governing Party is now elected by the Highest Popular Vote (no longer by FPTP).
3-The Governing Party no longer requires the support of an insurmountable overall Majority of MPs in the House of Commons to keep itself in power. Cabinet support now being achieved by a much more democratic and accountable method (described later under “Detailed Design”).
4-The Party Whip system therefore becomes redundant, the role of each MP being purely to represent the interests of their Constituents, rather than Party Policy (this now being a separate role as described below for “Politicians”). All MP Votes therefore become “free votes”, where the influence of every MP is the same as any other, so no citizen becomes electorally disadvantaged.
Politicians (PR-Based Party-Policy Representatives)
Under Unified Democracy, the role of Politicians now becomes formally defined as those forming and representing the policies of their Political Party. They are more senior to ordinary MPs, but junior to Ministers. Therefore, receiving a salary halfway between the two, but disallowed from other forms of paid employment.
Their role is to debate and draft policy in the various different Sectors of or Economy – and also to monitor their service levels to ensure the ongoing satisfaction of the public. In the UK, 260 UK Politicians are proposed, to be deployed across 13 Sectors, these being proposed as follows.
(1) Citizenship & Immigration (2) Foreign & EU Affairs (3) Police, Justice & Prisons (4) Business, Hospitality & Tourism (5) Jobs, Pensions, Social Security (6) Housing, Building & Local Government Coordination (7) Ecology, Food, Water, Rivers, Coasts (8) Health & Social Care (9) Education (10) Energy Infrastructure (11) Transport (12) Technology, Communications, Media, Culture & Sport (13) Defence (under special security).
To support this debate, Political Parties are required to propose their manifesto policies structured into these different Sectors. In those Sectors where no policies are proposed, the presumption would stand that they have no interest in them during the term of that Parliament. Thereby allowing for Sector-Specific Parties (such as for Healthcare etc).
Politicians are appointed by Proportional Representation. They are those Candidate MPs that achieved the highest voting percentages for their Party within their Constituencies – directly proportionate to the overall Popular Vote (probably, but not necessarily, those actually elected as MPs). For example, if a Party achieved 10% of the Popular Vote, then their 26 most popular Candidates would be assigned as its Politicians (10% of 260).
The vast majority of Politicians would therefore also be MPs – preforming both roles (but purely representing their Constituents in the House of Commons).
Ministers (Policy Management)
Ministers, as today, are appointed by the Prime Minister of the elected Political Party to manage policy. However, there are now three important differences:
1– The Ministers appointed must also be Politicians (as defined above), rather than ordinary MPs. They can be those from any Party but realistically, would probably be appointed from the Prime Minister’s own Party for purposes of Cabinet cohesion.
2– The Cabinet no longer drives policy top-down (except in times of National Emergency) but now adopts a democratically-corrected managerial role in ensuring its timely and effective delivery (described under “Detailed Design”).
3– There is therefore no longer need for unelected spin-doctors, taxpayer-funded PR Agencies etc. to try to paint a public perception of its performance that could be different to its reality. Thereby promoting open, honest government.
The Unified Democracy Party (UK) 