Peter Hitchens: Burnham calls it 'reform', but it's really the abolition of proper British elections

One horror screamed out from amid the jungle of slogans which Andrew Burnham displayed to us last week – his desire to abolish proper British elections, Peter Hitchens, is a columnist for the Mail on Sunday, stresses.

That is what switching to 'Proportional Representation' actually means.

Our ancient Parliament has one overriding purpose – to represent the real divisions in our uniquely free country and to stop leaders getting too big for their boots.

This means two big parties, genuinely opposed to each other, which take turns in office. It also means that the voters can sack the Government when they get tired of it.

In this way politicians live in constant fear (as they should) of losing their fat jobs, cars and privileges. It means a strong Opposition which makes life difficult for the Government.

This is good news for freedom of speech and bad news for poorly drafted laws, which that tough Opposition can shred and revise.

Now, as I have been urging and predicting for years, this country needs two wholly new parties.

Labour and the Tories are clapped out, represent nobody but themselves, and are far too close to each other.

A new force is emerging on the Right and may take shape at the coming election. When it does, Labour's weary north London Marxism will at last be seriously threatened. It has relied for decades on being anti-Tory to get out its remaining loyalists. Nothing else holds it together.

Its ancient incantations and spells no longer work and it is plainly terrified of what Reform UK might do to it.

This is why Mr Burnham is reaching for the lever marked 'electoral reform'.

This is designed to make it impossible for a Government to be flung out. No more removal vans in Downing Street on the day after an election if this goes ahead.

Instead, months of slippery negotiations between the parties – ending with most of the same people in power as before.

Likewise, under PR, Parliament itself becomes a conspiracy of the elite against the people. No more proper Opposition, no more genuinely hostile debate. The passions of the people will be kept out.

Our politicians, already hard to tell apart, will become so similar that they will need labels on their heads to let us know which party they are from.

This isn't minor. It is crucial. Don't let them do it.

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