A More Aulesian Britain (and Ireland): A Collaboration

[Gian]

Hi, I'm back with another collaboration thread (that hopefully won't go by the wayside)

Really?!

Really.

So what's it all about?

I have a nation on NationStates (the Aulesian Federation) that in my view has an interesting background, politics, government, and lifestyle (basically what happens when you mix a European-style background and culture with Cruzite/Tea Party political culture and government). So I had this idea that what if you can try to do the same with a RL nation (say the UK) and apply some Aulesian values to the country (and more importantly to Parliament)

Yeah, but didn't you have a thread like this?

Yeah, I did do such a thread, and it fell by the wayside. Hopefully, this won't go down like last time.

What's your plan this time?

My plan is much bigger. Unlike the previous threads, which dealt with just creating a good snapshot of what a certain election might do to any system I put in (like just putting the Osonian system, plus the 30,000-per-seat rule of the Founders), what I envision is nothing less than a worldbuilding experiment like the American Commonwealth series, starting with the constituencies and the outcome of the alternate 2017 and 2015 elections.

Oh, and I'm also including Ireland in this as well (basically the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (emphasis added) but more "Aulesian" in structure)

So, is this going to be a Federation?

Not necessarily, as the UK might still keep its devolved constitutional status. The point is simply that we apply Aulesia's political culture into Britain's and see what happens.

 

[Gian]

So let's get started, shall we?

Structure of the alt!House of Commons

Similar to most legislatures, Aulesia's legislature (the Estates-General) is a bicameral chamber, so we wouldn't have to worry about that quibble in the British Parliament. What differs between them is the internal structure within those of the House of Commons and House of Lords, and that of the Aulesian Congress of the Commons and the Senate.

So let's focus on the House of Commons

Aulesia's Model

The lower house of the Estates (the Congress of the Commons) largely uses a system of parallel voting with the system established as follows:

• 950 seats elected via single FPTP districts apportioned to the population of the region
• 218 closed-list Proportional Representation seats (using both the Hare quota and Largest Remainder method) with the regions also acting as the constituencies. Now, the number of seats varied with eight given for generalities, and three given to the four overseas territories and the capital city of Lutièce.
• 75 seats automatically awarded to the largest party (which are also closed-list), ostensibly as an impetus for a stable government coalition

Now, there are some rules regarding the apportionment of the FPTP constituencies, namely that they cannot cross borders of another generality and that at least one is apportioned to it regardless of population (similar to the apportionment of the House of Representatives in the US)

Map and List of Electoral Districts

Now, each of the 108 electoral districts (the traditional counties of England, Wales, and Ireland, plus a few metropolitan counties and the three ridings of Yorkshire, and the 1975-1997 regions of Scotland, with modifications) are automatically given one seat regardless of population, with the rest of the seats apportioned according to population.

Note that as I've said before, the borders of the FPTP constituencies cannot surpass the boundaries of the electoral districts, and those districts are allotted one seat regardless of population.

England
-Cumberland
-Westmoreland
-Lancashire and Furness
-Northumberland
-Tyne and Wear
-Durham
-North Yorkshire
-West Yorkshire
-South Yorkshire
-East Yorkshire
-York City
-Greater Manchester
-Merseyside
-Cheshire
-Shropshire
-Staffordshire
-Birmingham City
-Warwickshire
-Herefordshire
-Worcestershire
-Derbyshire
-Nottinghamshire
-Lincolnshire
-Leicestershire
-Rutland
-Northamptonshire
-Huntingdonshire
-Cambridgeshire
-Norfolk
-Suffolk
-Essex
-Middlesex
-London
-Bedfordshire
-Hertfordshire
-Buckinghamshire
-Oxfordshire
-Berkshire
-Surrey
-Kent
-Sussex
-Hampshire
-Isle of Wight
-Wiltshire
-Gloucestershire
-Bristol City
-Somerset
-Dorset
-Devon
-Cornwall

Scotland
-Shetland
-Orkney
-Na h-Eilanan Siar
-Grampian
-Highland
-Tayside
-Fife
-Central Scotland
-Strathclyde
-Lothian
-Dumfries and Galloway
-Scottish Borders

Wales
-Flintshire
-Denbighshire
-Caernarfonshire
-Meirionethshire
-Anglesey
-Montgomeryshire
-Radnorshire
-Breconshire
-Ceredigion
-Pembrokeshire
-Carmarthenshire
-Glamorgan
-Monmouthshire

Ireland
-Londonderry
-Tyrone
-Fermanagh
-Armagh
-Antrim
-Down
-Belfast City
-Donegal
-Cavan
-Monaghan
-Louth
-Meath
-Westmeath
-Longford
-King's County (Offaly)
-Queen's County (Laois)
-Kildare
-County Dublin
-Dublin City
-Wicklow
-Carlow
-Kilkenny
-Wexford
-Leitrim
-Sligo
-Roscommon
-Galway
-Mayo
-Clare
-Kerry
-Cork
-Limerick
-Tipperary
-Waterford

How to adapt the model to Britain

Adapting Aulesia's model to the House of Commons will be relatively straightforward, as Britain also uses a FPTP system. The tricky parts will be to determine the overall size of the Commons and to then determine the number of PR seats.

FPTP and Automatic seats

I decided to fix the number of FPTP seats to say 800. So, the total electorate around this time (the UK's data provided by the latest electorate data from the ONS, while Ireland's taken from Wikipedia) is given below...

England: 38,386,900
Scotland: 3,930,000
Wales: 2,243,900
Ireland*: 4,510,810
Total: 49,071,610

(Total electorate per seat (rounded): 61,340)

... and thus, the allocations would largely be as follows:

England: 625
Scotland: 64
Wales: 37
Ireland*: 74

(*including the OTL Republic of Ireland)

I also decided to set the number of seats automatically awarded to the largest party to say 75 (same as the Aulesian total).

PR seats

Unlike Aulesia's system of PR districts, I want to get a little creative, so I decided that I should clump groups of districts together (for a total of 25 PR districts), with each PR constituency automatically gaining three and the rest allotted by population. The total number of PR seats should I think be set to at least 300.

The PR districts would largely be as follows:

England
-North East (Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and Durham)
-North West (Cumberland, Westmoreland, Lancashire and Furness, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire)
-Yorkshire (North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, East Yorkshire, and York City)
-West Midlands (Shropshire, Staffordshire, Birmingham City, Warwickshire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire)
-East Midlands (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire, and Huntingdonshire)
-East of England (Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk)
-Thames Valley (Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire)
-Greater London (Middlesex and London)
-South West (Gloucestershire, Bristol City, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall)
-South (Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Isle of Wight)
-South East (Surrey, Sussex, and Kent)

Scotland
-North (Shetland, Orkney, Na h-Eilanan Siar, Grampian, Tayside and Highland)
-Central (Central, and Fife)
-Lothian (Lothian)
-Strathclyde (Strathclyde)
-South (Dumfries and Galloway and Borders)

Wales
-Gwynedd and Clwyd (Flintshire, Denbighshire, Caernarfonshire, Meirionethshire, and Anglesey)
-Powys (Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire, and Breconshire)
-Dyfed (Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, and Carmarthenshire)
-Glamorgan (Glamorgan)
-Monmouthshire (Monmouthshire)

Ireland
-Munster (Clare, Kerry, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, and Waterford)
-Ulster (Londonderry, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Armagh, Antrim, Down, Belfast City, Donegal, Cavan, and Monaghan)
-Connaught (Leitrim, Sligo, Roscommon, Galway, Mayo)
-Leinster (Louth, Meath, Westmeath, Longford, King's County, Queen's County, Kildare, County Dublin, Dublin City, Wicklow, Carlow, Kilkenny, and Wexford)

 

[prime-minister]

If you want, I can have a crack at creating some FPTP districts for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland using the Boundary Assistant Plan Builder. Just to check I understand, would (say) Rutland merit an at-large FPTP seat of its own about a third of the population of the average district?

 

[Gian]

If you want, I can have a crack at creating some FPTP districts for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland using the Boundary Assistant Plan Builder. Just to check I understand, would (say) Rutland merit an at-large FPTP seat of its own about a third of the population of the average district?

Yes.

Like I said, every district no matter how small is automatically awarded one seat and the rest are then apportioned according to population. It's sorta like the US House, where the smallest states (like Wyoming and Vermont) get at least one

 

[prime-minister]

Yes.

Like I said, every district no matter how small is automatically awarded one seat and the rest are then apportioned according to population. It's sorta like the US House, where the smallest states (like Wyoming and Vermont) get at least one

OK, cool. I'll get working on some maps with the Boundary Assistant Plan Builder; hopefully you can then translate them into maps on the template?

(On a side note, are there any constituency builders of that sort for Ireland? If so, I can try doing some boundaries there too.)

 

[Gian]

OK, cool. I'll get working on some maps with the Boundary Assistant Plan Builder; hopefully you can then translate them into maps on the template?

(On a side note, are there any constituency builders of that sort for Ireland? If so, I can try doing some boundaries there too.)

Sadly, no. But @psephos showed me a method I could try which worked the last time I worked on a UK-Ireland constituency challenge:

You'll have to indulge a flight of fancy a little here. This might I hope also help anyone doing Ireland as I probably won't try to do it all.

"THE BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR IRELAND with its humble duty in respect of County Dublin.

The electorate per province and entitlement on 68 seats is as follows:

We considered crossing the county boundary between County Dublin and its neighbours but considered this undesirable.

County Dublin has the greater claim to the 'extra' i.e. 26th seat.

The local government areas in County Dublin have entitlements as follows:

The Rules require us to treat unitary authorities as counties and to avoid crossing their boundaries where possi[FONT=&quot]ble with respect to the other Rules.[/FONT]

We decided to allocate two seats to Dun Laoighaire-Rathdown, three to South Dublin, and eight to Dublin and Fingal combined. Although this meant the seats in South Dublin would be on the small side, the Commission was shown evidence of high projected growth in the area, especially around Tallaght. We have taken this evidence into account in delineating constituencies.

Although we tried to allocate whole local electoral areas (LEA) to constituencies, the variances this would produce are unacceptable. LEAs return between six and ten councillors in Ireland. Bearing in mind that under the English system of local government, there would be many one-, two- or three-member wards where in Ireland there is one multi-member LEA, we considered it acceptable to divide LEAs. We have sought to avoid doing so where possible.

We estimated electorate figures for each LEA using the population figures in the Boundary Committee's 2013 report:

http://www.boundarycommittee.ie/

We roughly estimated electorate figures for each district electoral division (DED) by dividing the electorate of each LEA by the number of DEDs within it.

Our provisional recommendations are:

(The land has encroached into Dublin Harbour compared with the master map up on here, and I have reflected that. Bull Island is a new addition too)

The Commission welcomes all comments in respect to its provisional proposals, both in respect of boundaries and names."

 

[Gian]

So I could actually try doing the seats in Scotland if anyone doesn't mind.

 

[Nazi Space Spy]

I'd be down to help if there is anything I can contribute. I remember from Gian's project I devised a list of political parties that might fight Aulesia better than the ATL UK we had. I can make a list when the time comes if you like, though you probably already have that figured out.

 

[Bjornhattan]

I'm willing to contribute the FPTP seats in the North East too, if needed.

 

[Nazi Space Spy]

I've amended the earlier list from the first project, if you're interested in it still. The leaders are not set in stone, I just chose prominent figures who best seemed to represent the proposed parties. I think the split among the left into the center-left, the Corbynites, and the various regional left-wing nationalist/fringe movements (Respect, PBP), etc, fits in with the more right-wing outlook you've proposed.

Note that this list is up for debate and I am more than willing to be flexible about who are the leaders, etc.

National Parties
Liberal-Conservative (David Cameron): Center-right, strong in England. Much less influenced by Thatcherism perhaps, with a strong Christian Democratic influence?
Progressive Cooperative (David Milliband): Center-left to left wing. Basically like OTL Labor, without the hard left factions of course. Basically a combination of the Liberal Democrats and the New Labour faction.
Socialist Labour (Jeremy Corbyn): The hard left of British politics. Has about 30-40 seats in the Commons, mainly from urban industrial areas/solid OTL Labor areas. Strong union support, with the majority of the nation's major trade unions
National Democrats (Paul Nuttall): Eurosceptic, anti-immigration, right-wing populism.
Green (Caroline Lucas): Green politics, community politics, eco-socialism, feminism etc. In an electoral alliance with the Respect Party and People Before Profit.
Respect (Salma Yaqoob): "Respect, Equality, Socialism, Peace, Environmentalism, Community, and Trade Unionist" Party. Respect is allied with the Greens/People Before Profit and is particularly strong among Muslim voters.
People Before Profit (Clare Daly): Hard left party, active across the UK but limited to 1~2 seats in southern Ireland. Anti-capitalism, socialism, born from the occupy movement.

Scotland
Scottish National Party (Nicola Sturgeon): Basically the same as OTL.

Wales
Plaid Cymru (Leanne Wood): Again, same as OTL.

Ireland
Irish Parliamentary Party (Edna Kelly): Center-right, soft nationalist. Basically the southern Irish branch of the Conservatives. Favor devolution but oppose outright independence.
Irish People's Party (Alastair McDonnell): Center-left, soft nationalist. Again, more of the nationalist branch of the Progressives in Ireland, oppose independence but seeking more autonomy. The party forms as a breakway from the Irish Parliamentary Party.
Sinn Fein (Gerry Adams): Hard left nationalist party, advocates full independence. Aligned with the Socialist Labour Party.
Democratic Unionist (Ian Paisley Jr.): Same as OTL.

 

[eadmund]

Some suggestions:

List of political parties in Ireland

Irish Parliamentary Party: Irish autonomist. Centre to centre-right, mostly Christian democratic.
Irish Unionist Party: Irish unionist, hardline anti-independence. Affiliated with a centre-right to right-wing party.
Irish Labour Party: Social democratic and democratic socialist. Irish branch of a centre-left to left-wing party.

 

[Gian]

So I've been spending yesterday and today creating the basemap (which is still not finished atm) which we will be using for the PR seat allocation:

England: FULLY COMPLETE
Wales: FULLY COMPLETE
Scotland: 4/5 regions complete
Ireland: 1/4 regions complete

 

[Gian]

So yeah, managed to finish the PR map with all 300 seats (plus the 100 seats automatically awarded to the largest party) put in:

Taking that altogether now (plus the first Scottish seats I did (more to come after I've done the rest):

 

[Nazi Space Spy]

This project is gonna be "hella cool", to quote a certain eight year old from the little town of South Park.

 

[Gian]

So here's the FPTP seats in Scotland:

Number of FPTP Constituencies Done: 64/800

and here's the map with Scotland:

 

[Nazi Space Spy]

Just for clarification, are the PR seats part of the House of Commons or do they comprise a Senate/House of Lords?

 

[Gian]

Just for clarification, are the PR seats part of the House of Commons or do they comprise a Senate/House of Lords?

The PR seats are part of the House of Commons, yes (as are the seats automatically awarded to the largest party)

The House of Lords will be covered in a separate post.

 

[prime-minister]

Made seats for Peterborough, Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire.




Soke of Peterborough:
1. Peterborough West
2. Peterborough East

Huntingdonshire:
3. St Neots
4. Huntingdon

Cambridgeshire:
5. Wisbech
6. Ely
7. South East Cambridgeshire
8. South West Cambridgeshire
9. Cambridge

 

[Gian]

Made seats for Peterborough, Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire.



View attachment 328363
Soke of Peterborough:
1. Peterborough West
2. Peterborough East

Huntingdonshire:
3. St Neots
4. Huntingdon

Cambridgeshire:
5. Wisbech
6. Ely
7. South East Cambridgeshire
8. South West Cambridgeshire
9. Cambridge

The only concern is that those seats for Northamptonshire (Peterborough) and Huntingdonshire crosses the county borders, which it is not supposed to be doing (The UK's constituencies in this case, is like the congressional districts of the US, where it cannot overlap state lines)

 

[prime-minister]

The only concern is that those seats for Northamptonshire (Peterborough) and Huntingdonshire crosses the county borders, which it is not supposed to be doing (The UK's constituencies in this case, is like the congressional districts of the US, where it cannot overlap state lines)

Oh OK. I wasn't entirely sure how to reflect that with the OTL electoral wards, where in places it does cross them, so feel free to take liberties with my proposals to ensure they don't cross the county borders.