Proportionality

• Proportionality

  The use of First Past the Post in the UK limits the number of Extremist Parties that can come into power, ensuring the stability of the government and the Parliament.

  This is because only one candidate can be elected to represent a significant number of people in a constituency, making larger parties far more likely to win a sustainable number of seats in comparison to Extremist parties – who tend to be smaller in influence and size.
• Proportionality - EXAMPLE & ANALYSIS

  This was evident in the 2019 General Election, when the facist BNP party stood, but gained only a few hundred votes and therefore hold no seats in parliament.

  This highlights how the use of FPTP ensures the security of the UK Parliament, as there is evidently a very minimal chance that parties with extremist or dangerous ideologies will gain any, or enough, seats in parliament to hold influence.
• Proportionality - REBUTTAL

  unfair on smaller parties as they are limited in their ability to gain seats in parliament due to the significance that large parties have in FPTP.

  Any votes they gain are essentially discounted unless they win over a constituency, meaning that although they may have grown in, or have a large amount of support it will not be reflected in their power in parliament. This also then impacts the range of political viewpoints in parliament, with smaller parties becoming redundant to the dominant parties and their likelihood to take many seats in elections. ****
• Proportionality - REBUTTAL (EXAMPLE & ANALYSIS)

  This was reflected in the 2024 election, when the Greens won around 1, 950, 000 votes across the UK, yet won only four seats.

  This disproportionate result reflects how smaller parties are silenced using First Past the Post, which means that only two or three political viewpoints are effectively shared in parliament.
• Proportionality - EVALUATION

  Therefore, the FPTP electoral system is ineffective, as despite its ability to limit the influence of extremist parties, this also means that it does not promote a range of political viewpoints in parliament by hindering the success of smaller parties in the lack of proportional representation it creates.