Will the Brexit Party be the Harbinger of PR?

I'm a fan of the Brexit Party and will be voting that way in the upcoming EU elections next week. Ideally I'd prefer it if the EU could be reformed so that it became more of a forum for sovereign nations, rather than a solid single entity. However, that doesn't seem at all likely. If anything the arguments on the pro-EU side for further integration are getting ever louder. So given the choice between British sovereignty and a European super-state it's Brexit all the way for me.

Consequently I'm a big fan of Nigel Farage at the moment. The one problem I have with him though is that he seems to be a big fan of proportional representation. So with the Brexit Party riding so high currently I wonder if at some point down the line. Let's say if Brexit isn't delivered by Labour/Tory, and the Brexit Party stand candidates at the next general election. That perhaps PR could become part of a wider manifesto.

(Is this likely?)

PR is attractive to smaller parties for obvious reason. It offers an easier way into power - or at least partial power. It's also something that is attractive to many people that are sick of the two main parties, as again it offers greater hope that they can be pushed aside. So there's always the possibility that there could be a coalition of the disenfranchised, from both sides of the political divide, that pushes for a move to PR. That disenfranchised chunk of the vote is getting bigger and bigger by the day it seems.

So that's a minor, though distant fear I have.

So why do I have such a problem with proportional representation..

My problem is that it devalues the individual and gives parties and organisations too much power. So though smaller parties get a boost from PR, independent candidates (and more single-minded individuals that are members of parties) take a significant hit.

In an ideal democracy we would represent ourselves in person, however as it's simply not practical for everyone to do this we vote for someone else to represent us on our behalf - representational democracy. I've wrote about this elsewhere (see An Island - An Example).

As we're voting for a person, and investing our power in a person, we can have more confidence that we know who and what we're voting for. For example, if I vote for a member of the Labour Party (not that I would do that at the moment xD ) and I feel confident that he/she is a good, honest person. I can feel confident that they'll do the right thing in parliament or in government even if the Labour Party itself gets hijacked by people with views different to those which I was voting in support of. Likewise, if I believe the person I voted for is doing a bad job I know exactly who is responsible and to not vote for that person going forward.

So by having an individual person, representing my individual area, there is direct accountability to me the voter. Which cannot be fudged or ignored by the party. It also empowers the individual politician as it means that as long as he acts in the interests of the people he represents the people will continue to vote for him. So even if the party throws him out for not following the party line they can't kick him out of his seat if he has a strong bond with his constituents. So his relationship to his local area gives him real leverage.

Also with PR it means that small constituencies must be broken down to make way for larger regional or national blocks. For instance, a single seat can't be split between three or four people. So PR can't work under a system where one constituency has just one representative. PR therefore means the annihilation of small constituencies. Breaking the bond between representative and local area.

This is again why it's a terrible system for independent candidates. For example, it's perfectly possible for a single person to win a seat in their local area with a lot of hard work. Let's say in Middlesbrough, where I live. An individual can campaign locally in Middlesbrough, get to know the local people, get involved in local issues, and become well known enough to attract votes - i.e. it's easy for someone to become famous in a small community.

However, if we moved to a PR system similar to the one we're using for the upcoming EU elections, where we vote for people to represent the entire north-east, then this becomes nigh on impossible. A normal person can become well known in Middlesbrough through hard work, but they can't become well known in Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Sunderland, Hartlepool and so on and so forth. All at the same time and to win enough votes to get elected across that region. Only someone with a lot of money, or someone who is already very famous can do this. So such a system favours a party or organisation over an individual. As only a party or group could cover such a large area adequately.

In these upcoming EU elections I may find myself voting for people who have never stepped foot in Middlesbrough. That's not great representation. So I'll be voting for a party in the hope that the people under that party banner do a decent job. As I have no real link to them.

Parties generally stand for a certain set of values and ideas. However, these can change over time. It also may be the case that different people within a party have different views. For instance, take the chasm of difference between Tony Blair and Jeremy Corbyn. So ideallly we should always vote for the individual rather than the party.

Another good example concerns Nigel Farage himself. UKIP is now a very different party to that which it was under his leadership. It has the same name on the tin, and supposedly the same or similar values, but it is in fact very different. People trust Farage because they are familiar with him and know enough about him to have confidence that he will do what he says he will. This is incredibly important. Having knowledge about the person we're voting for is very useful when judging how much faith we should put in them.

Any group or party can stick a few slogans or promises on a piece of paper, but a reputation of good personal action and behaviour takes time to acquire. We can judge a person on their actions, but a party is more malleable and hard to pin down.

A final problem with PR is that there are so many different versions of it. Some which invest power largely in the party, others which, to be fair, put more emphasis on the individuals standing. The Wikipedia page on PR is quite a read (!). So again, we'd be replacing a simple system of personal representation with more fudge and confusion.

The PR principle of every party being equally represented in a parliament is attractive in an idealistic sense, but in reality it empowers parties and the money and groups behind parties. Not the individual voter or the voted for. I hope enough people in the Brexit Party realise this if they do begin to acquire real influence.