EU Constitution

Below is my response to a blog on www.reengage.org about the necessity for a referendum on the EU Constitution, and www.yourparty.org's views on the matter:

Seb,

You make some very valid comments. It's certainly true to say that polls can be misleading, and for as long as there have been polling companies there have been political parties that pick and choose those which they percieve to support them in their aims due to the demographic they are composed of.

YourParty have long been aware that there is a crucial difference between a poll and a vote. Polls tend not to be taken as seriously as votes and have a lower burden of accountability. They are useful for putting together a quick snapshot of opinion but they cannot be relied upon for policy forming for a variety of reason. They'll have their place on the www.yourparty.org site but will have nothing to do with formal voting.

YourParty.org will rely on a carefully audited voting system for all areas of policy formation and will make sure that all votes happen in the light of an informed and impartial debate about the issues at stake. It's the nature of voting that many people will come to the argument with pre-conceieved idea formed through the media and what they might have heard down the pub for instance. It's our aim to fill in the gaps in understanding and make sure that members are well informed when they eventually come to take a formal vote on this or any other issue.

What I'm trying to underline here is that YourParty.org won't be letting it's members make up policy through a series of 'quick polls' If you go to the site today you'll see that there's no option to take polls at all for this very reason. The majority of work our technical team is doing right now is in designing deliberative policy formation tools to make sure all future votes are properly framed. This takes time and effort but we're determined to get it right rather than fudging it with polls.

I take your point about an internet group manipulating and taking advantage of our polls, and also your mention of our members being 'relatively affluent technologically literate'. A few points worth noting here:

1: In order to vote we require a valid photo ID. More than is required for postal votes.
2: The internet is now being used by well over half of UK citizens. Perhaps more than turned out to vote at the last general election.
3: It's not true to say that they are mainly young or affluent any longer. 'Silver surfers' number in the millions and many of them are members of the party. Anecdotally - the first press interview Dan Thompson gave on launch day after the Today programme was for an over 50's site (http://www.50connect.co.uk/)
4: The web works for us right now because the costs associated are relatively low. As we grow in size we fully intend to support other methods of participation such as phone, post and local meetings.
5: You could argue that the turnout for the last general election was not refelective of the UK as a whole. It being disproportionately older people who had time on their hands to go out and vote, and with less than representative turnout among ethinic minorities.

Finally - I've done some research on the Eurobarmoter poll and have to admit I can't find the full results. I'd be interested to see how many voted for the constitution if 51% voted yes and presumably a fair percentage said 'dunno'

In any case - we haven't yet polled our members on the EU constitution or started the process of voting and policy formation. Until then I don't have confidence in any polling organisation particularly except for general illustration of the need for a referendum in the first instance.

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