If as some commentators have suggested, a snap election is to be called early in 2019 it is clear that if most voters take a traditional approach, they will vote for parties rather than candidates and the two dominant parties will benefit disproportionately from the largest number of votes and due to way in which the First Past the Post System works the votes cast will be heavily weighted in favour of these two parties. One of the challenge then facing those of us who lack confidence in the way in which these two parties have handled the Brexit process is that we are prevented from seeing any real change. Whether Labour or Conservatives become the new Government, the priority from both of them is to get us out of the EU as a matter of priority, even though the  details of the destination and route is not yet clarified and will not be published until after the election. So the manifestos published by both Labour and the Conservatives will be almost identical when it comes to the Brexit arrangements. Yet the reason that a snap election is being contemplated is because the two parties have so far failed to offer a meaningful set of proposals that will be supported by their own Cabinet (or shadow Cabinet), let alone the rest of their party and rejected by large numbers of voters.

If as some politicians have suggested there should be free votes when it comes to the Brexit proposals, then it seems to make a strong argument for all parties to ensure that their candidates outline their personal views over Brexit in their independent manifestos. If we take the Lib Dems as an example, they like the Tories and Labour have existing MPs who are prepared to vote in favour of Brexit and others that are prepared to vote in favour of the people’s vote or even for us to remain in the EU. So far the Green Party appears to be consistent in its approach, but they are one of the parties (like the Lib Dems) that get far more votes for each MP than the Tories or Labour and they only have one MP currently.

Because it seems clear that both the Tories and Labour do not want to give us a peoples vote and want us to leave the EU on a No Deal basis if no credible deal can be achiever it is vital some form of new structure is achieved so that a commitment to democracy is maintained by whatever sort of coalition is elected to replace the Conservative Government and as an alternative to the Labour Government. Their policy must focus on the opinions of the individual 650 MPs, so that rather than the parties standing up and claiming that they got the most MPs because of their party policy on Brexit, that in fact they guarantee to allow each MP to vote based on their own local manifesto pledge!