Labour's threat to democracy - shut polling stations

A great article in the Times today revealing Labour's plan to close thousands of polling stations across the UK to save some money.

The Government should really be encouraging people to vote and take part in the democratic process in this country not stifling the process.

Other proposals in the Department of Justice working paper include; cutting the number of election staff, replace polling cards with e-mail requests, increasing candidates’ deposits (currently set at £500, returnable if the candidate gets over 5%), fixed-term parliaments and reducing security at the election count.

These proposals will save some money, I agree but we should encourage people to participate in the democratic process not hinder them.

However, it seems Jack Straw has now performed one of the quickest u-turns in political history and has told officials within the Department to drop those ideas, because apparently they were only ideas.

Good for Jack Straw for putting a halt to this but perhaps now he may put his officials to use and think of ways of encouraging more people to participate in our democratic process.