What would happen if we voted for policies not people at a GE?

[blinkowl]

What if we scrapped personality politics entirely and people vote for policies not people at the ballot box?

Then the party with the manifesto nearest to the winning policies gets in.

I reckon this would work way better than the system we have today, where people form tribal allegiances with particular parties, and vote for them even - when if you ask them - their beliefs don't match the party at all!

I think this would work well, what do you reckon?
Does anywhere else do anything like this?

I vote for the party, in my case Conservatives, for their policies, doesn't everyone?

It would never occur to me to vote for an individual.

You would end up with very inflexible parliaments.

Say people voted for balancing the budget, lower taxes, doubling spending on the NHS and lowering the retirement age while raising pensions.

It sort of happened in Scotland when the SNP got elected on their usual unicorn in every driveway manifesto and promptly delivered almost none of it. We did get Gaelic road signs which is nice for the 1% who speak it.

The trouble is that Parties rarely follow manifestos. Also manifestos are written so generally that it could mean anything.

After the referendum I'm not keen on the idea of the electorate choosing policies. People are generally ill informed, led by scaremongering and reactionary.

People govern not policies. The personality of a candidate is far more important than their policies which can be changed almost at whim.

It would be voting for the magic money tree. Ultimately.

People can vote for the representative of the party with the policy menu they prefer, if that is how they want to vote.

But they might also want to take into account whether that person, and the party generally, has integrity and is likely to live up to their word. Or just be the latest shyster to do a U-turn

We'll still need people to carry out the policies, listen to their constituents and take forward their ideas for debate. I'm not sure how you could avoid voting for a particular person without hiding who they're going to be

I can think of some candidates I'd consider voting for, but definitely wouldn't want certain other representatives of their party to be my MP.