The Electoral Commission

Johnson to strip electoral watchdog of prosecution powers

Tories say commission is waste of money but Labour denounces attempt ‘to rig democracy’

www.ft.com/content/672b5cf7-fdda-42fc-a0f4-8d6e0dd17e0e

Democracy is slowly being eroded bit by bit. Johnson can do what he likes and he always gets away with it!

grannyrebel7

Democracy is slowly being eroded bit by bit. Johnson can do what he likes and he always gets away with it!

That is because there are no robust ways to hold the government to account and with such a large majority of MPs who are either compliant with the erosion of the Rule of Law, or are too stupid to understand its implications, the government is able to do as it pleases.

The Electoral Commission has never been a great hindrance to electoral wrongdoing because its power to fine is so restricted. It can pass cases to the police for criminal investigation, but the police seem to be uninterested.

David Allen Green has just posted 3 consecutive blogs on the problem of weak accountability measures:

Starting with this one:

davidallengreen.com/2021/06/garbage-in-garbage-out-how-disclosure-failures-are-key-to-so-many-state-failures/

A bit off topic but relevant to the OP. There will be a new science body called the Office for Science and Technology Strategy, with Vallance at the head. They will make decisions about where to spend the money available for research. Any scientist will tell you that putting a political body in charge of science spending is a sure way to get pet projects funded while ignoring potentially good ideas that don't fit with the current hot topic.

I know that personal comments are not on, but just look at him.

Doesn’t Patrick Vallance have shares in Pfizer but says there isn’t a conflict of interest? As for the erosion of democracy, the current government didn’t even hide the fact that that was their plan but people still voted for it.

As we do not live in a democracy, where a government could only be elected by a majority of votes, it is all the more important that we have independent bodies such as the Electoral Commission and the Supreme Court to curb the power of the executive.

The MPs from opposition parties are under represented in relation to their support and so struggle to have any power in holding this dictatorship by a minority to account,.

The research found only 14% of respondents said they believed political finance was transparent, down from 37% in 2011.

twitter.com/ElectoralCommUK/status/1407278658549604352

Research findings like this from the Electoral Commission do not go down well with the Tory Government