Privatising my Vote

The postal vote at the 12 December election was 37%. In previous elections it never got out of the teens.

 

The postal vote was, in many areas, ‘managed’ by a private company, Idox Elections, that has donated to the Tory Party. 

 

Almost one third of all the voters in the UK are now registered to use its electoral registration software.

 

The company used a wholly owned subsidiary, Halarose, to manage postal votes at the election and yet Halarose is listed as being ‘dissolved on 24 Dec 2019’. This seems convenient.

 

With a Tory peer on its board, former Tory MP and Social Security Secretary, Peter Lilley, now Baron Lilley, It describes itself as "one of the premier election service providers in the UK, providing outstanding expertise and knowledge across all areas of election management".

 

Was it part of their expertise to provide Laura Kuenssberg with insider information?

 

Theresa May’s comment to Jeremy Corbyn about his prospects of being PM, “We will never let it happen” now chills my bones. As do the words of Roberto Saviano, anti-Mafia lawyer when he said, “Britain is the most corrupt country in the world.”

 

Whoever is leader of the Labour Party must, alongside the party’s membership, confront the privatisation of our voting system.

 

Otherwise Jeremy Corbyn’s fate will be theirs … and ours