Councils dominated by single parties could be wasting up to £2.6bn a year through their procurement processes, according to a new report commissioned by the Electoral Reform Society (ERS).
The study, entitled The Cost of One-Party Councils and authored for ERS by Mihály Fazekas of the University of Cambridge, found that one-party councils could be wasting as much as £2.6bn a year—5.9% of their £45bn annual spend—due to their ‘weak electoral accountability.’
Single-party councils also, according to findings in the report, typically achieve lower price savings in procurement – 2.2% compared to 6.2% achieved by more competitive councils.
The author of the report also measured council procurement processes against a ‘Corruption Risk Index’ and found that one-party councils are around 50% more at risk of corruption than multi-party councils that are politically competitive.
Katie Ghose, chief executive of the ERS, said: ‘First Past the Post is clearly unfit for purpose, with parties able to win the vast majority of seats often on a minority of the vote. A fairer system, such as the one used in Scotland for local elections, would make ‘one-party states’ a thing of the past. And by letting the sunlight in, a fairer voting system could lead to substantial savings for the taxpayer.’
‘It’s time politicians from all parties,’ she continued, ‘woke up to the need for a fairer voting system. First Past the Post is hurting our democracy, and now it looks like it’s hurting us in the pocket too.’
Councils can be dominated by a single party thanks to the First Past the Post electoral system, and so the new findings have prompted ERS to call for the introduction of the Scottish system (Single Transferable Vote) to England and Wales.
