Representation & Policy Formation

How Hybrid Representation Meets our Needs Fairer & Better

Representation

In contrast to our current single system of representation, Unified Democracy is a a hybrid one – Citizens represented by elected MPs, Political Parties by elected Politicians (proportionate to the overall popular vote), and Economic Sectors (Healthcare, Energy etc), represented by appointed Sector Representatives. The UK is proposed to be managed under 13 devolved economic sectors (see Appendix for list).

General Elections & Government Formation

Unified Democracy is based first and foremost on the need for informed and stable strategic continuity. Based on the common-sense principle that if something works to our satisfaction – don’t risk breaking it. On the other hand, if it doesn’t, then we must rectify the situation in the quickest, best-informed and safest way possible.

General Elections are threfore held only when The People (as represented by Politicians, Policy Experts and MPs), feel that a change of management is needed –at any interval between 2 and 10 years.  Parties then produce manifestos, not as “hard and fast” policies, but as sets of proposals – not necessarily for everything – but for those sectors (Healthcare, etc), where they believe change is required.

When a General Election is held, The Executive is formed simply by the Party with the most votes. The Prime Minister than appoints Ministers of his/her choosing – although a pre-requirement to become a Minister now becomes uprated from being an MP to being a Politician (as explained below). 

In parliamentary terms, Government is then formed simply by all the elected Parliamentary Parties – each with a real voice in shaping policy, (there no longer being the concept of an “Opposition”). The influence of each Party directly proportional to its popular vote – as reflected by its number of Politicians.

How MPs and Politicians Are Elected

MPs (650 in the UK) are elected exactly as they are now, and attend the House of Commons. Although most candidates would likely be fielded by political parties, their role becomes purely to represent their Constituents (rather than party policy).

Politicians (proposed as 260 in the UK – an average of 20 across 13 Sectors) are more senior than ordinary MPs – thereby providing a career path based more on capability than on who they know. However they have more essential full-time work to do – so would not be permitted to have other paid employment.

Politicians are elected to represent and form the policies of their particular Political Party (no longer the sole domain of the party leadership). and to argue their case within the UK Policy Council.  They are those Candidate MPs that achieved the highest percentages of their Constituency Vote -as a proportion of their Party’s overall Popular Vote.  Politicians are therefore also MPs in most cases.

For example, if the Greens won 50 Constituencies with 20% of the Popular Vote, they would have 50 MPS attending The Commons and 52 Politicians (20% of 260) attending the UK Policy Council. Most of those Politicians would also have been elected MPs – so would attend both the Policy Council and The House of Commons (but with different roles).

On the run-up to each General Election, Political parties provisionally assign their politicians to debate policy for the production of their manifestos based on poll projections. But these are obviously changed in accordance with the actual poll.

Elected Independent MPs would not be able to become Politicians, (attending only The Commons). So to qualify as such, would be required to group to form and register a Political Party to contest future elections.

How Sector Representatives Are Appointed

By a branch of the Executive called The Cabinet Office.  This office establishes  resourcing needs in accordance with each Parliamentary Agenda and then liaises with Representative, Regulatory and Advisory bodies within each sector to invite parliamentary representation on behalf of their particular organization.

Sector Representatives would be seconded from their regular places of employment, paid by their employer rather than the taxpayer (except for reasonable expenses). In total, 220 Sector Representatives are proposed – an average of 20 across 11 economic sectors (Refer to the Appendix).

How Policy is Formed

To meet the electoral goals of The People, The Executive defines the Bill Framework, the Parliamentary Agenda and specifies Policy objectives for each Bill. It then delegates policy formation to the Second Tier – called “The Policy Council”.

The Policy Council consists of teams called “Sector Management Groups” – made up of an electorally-proportional mix of politicians and an equal number of Sector Representatives (real-world policy experts). These teams then debate policy and document proposals (usually in the form of Draft Bills) then debated in The Commons to form Law – much as today, but all MPs now of equal influence.

A total of 13 Sector Management Groups are proposed – all coming under the budgetary control of a New professionally-informed Fiscal Office (headed by the Chancellor) and the resourcing and cross-sector coordination of an upgraded Cabinet Office (both branches of The Executive).

Politicians are deployed to SMGs by their Party Leader, in collaboration with the Cabinet Office – ensuring a balanced and electorally-proportional assignment -starting with the smaller Parties. This enables Parties to target those sectors where they feel their proposals would be most beneficial -in accordance with their manifestos. For example, a Party with only 2 Politicians could chose the Education & Healthcare Sectors to argue their policies.

Within this structure, The Education SMG becomes central – by aligning its policies with those of the other SMGs – to ensure that each generation is properly skilled to meet the UK’s planned and upcoming resourcing needs – such as for those for healthcare, construction, technology etc.

Within the Policy Council, AI is deployed to ensure that taxation is optimized for the greatest overall benefit and to ensure the different sectors of our economy work together seamlessly and efficiently (rather than the disconnected silos we have become accustomed to.

How Budgetary Control and Fiscal Policy / Taxation Is Managed

By a branch of the Executive called The Fiscal Office. This is essentially an overseeing Sector Management Group, headed by the PM’s appointed Chancellor. It consists of representative from the OBR and a small team of professional economists – supported by AI to ensure that taxation and the national debt is best balanced and optimized to the best overall socioeconomic benefit

How Strategic Continuity of Policy is Achieved

By the offset deployment of Politicians and Sector Representatives within the UK Policy Council – that itself runs strategically continuously across Administrations. Each of these groups passing know-how and work-in-progress information to the next.