FPTP

• The UK is divided into 650 constituencies geographically, each with a roughly equal population. Each constituency will elect one MP.
• In 1951 and 1974, the party forming the govt secured fewer votes than the main opposition party suggesting that FPTP can distort voters’ wishes.
• Safe seat: A constituency where it is almost certain that the same party will win the seat at every general election. The Electoral Reform Society estimates that 368 out of 650 were safe seats in 2015. In 2019, approximately 14 million voters lived in seats which had voted for only one party since WW2.
• Marginal seats: Marginal seats are those which are closely contested, and the result is in doubt. 141 were estimated as marginal in 2019 (winning candidate led by 10% or less)
• Speed and simplicity of FPTP: Counting is simple and results are all known within 24 hours, with the fastest seats reporting in under 2 hours. Voters understand that they are choosing one candidate in their seat and know the voting history of their area. The party with the most votes in an area wins.
• FPTP leads to a Strong and stable government: In the majority of cases, a government is formed even when one party does not have over 50% of the vote. FPTP tends to create large majorities, which then enables the governing party to easily pass their legislation in the HoC, leading to efficient governance. Coalition governments are less effective.
• FPTP leads to the Exclusion of extremists: Because their support is rarely geographically concentrated enough, fringe parties like the British National Party rarely (if ever) win seats and therefore return MPs. In 2015, UKIP received 12.6% of the vote and received 1 MP.
• FPTP leads to a strong link between MPs and constituencies: MPs represent their local areas and constituents can therefore vote based on local issues. MPs have a clear accountability for their local area, and therefore tend to have constituency offices and hold local surgeries with constituents. They will want to improve their local area to ensure they are re-elected.
• FPTP means that MPs/Govt can be elected with less than 50% of the vote: an absolute majority is not needed. This means that in 226 constituencies in 2019, the winning party actually had fewer than half of people voting for them! 
• FPTP can lead to a Winners bonus: where the biggest party tends to win more seats than its proportion of the vote. This results in the two main parties targeting marginal seats. This winner's bonus makes it more effective to target those constituencies because the party with the highest number of votes will not necessarily win.
• FPTP means that the electorate has Limited voter choice: FPTP entrenches the two-party system as it rewards parties with a large geographical spread and the funding to compete in a large number of constituencies. Third parties find it hard to break through because their support needs to be concentrated in a constituency and they are often seen as a wasted vote. Voters often vote tactically as their party will not win; e.g. a Conservative voter voting Lib Dem in a Lib-Lab marginal to keep Labour out.
• Under FPTP, Votes are unequal: those living in marginal seats will make a genuine difference as to the MP that is selected. Those living in safe seats are often seen as ‘wasted votes’, in that their MP will likely win no matter what. E.g. Stephen Timms has a 33,000 seat majority! 
• Extremist parties are excluded from parliament under FPTP, meaning that they become political ‘martyrs’ and they gain support from outside of parliament. Mainstream parties who are threatened by extremists may take on their views, such as the Conservatives moving to the right and taking an increasingly hard line on immigration (e.g. Rwanda policy). 
• In 2015, 194 safe seats (where winning candidate led by 10% or less)
• In 2015 ¾ of the voters were casting wasted votes
• 368 seats are safe seats, 200 are marginal seats and 160 are target seats
• In 2015 cons elected on 36.9%
• Winners bonus= 2017 Cons won 42.4 percent converted into 48.9 percent of the seats
• 50 MPS secured a seat with less than 40 percent of the popular vote. Therefore more people voted against them than for them
• In the 2015 General Election, only 319 out of 650 MPS won an absolute majority.
• First Past the Post is used in Westminster, the USA and India
• In 2015, UKIP received 12.6% of the vote and received 1 MP.
• in 2019 it took just 38,000 votes to elect a Conservative MP but 853k to elect a Green MP.

  This is significant as it means FPTP produces significant majorities, even with less than a significant proportion of

  the vote. For example, in 2019 the Conservative Party won 56.1% of seats from 43.6% of the vote and the

  average majority since 1945 is 58.5 seats. This results in governments having the working majorities required to achieve their manifesto pledges without much resistance, ensuring that the electorates desires are met and the

  legitimacy of the democratic process is secured.
• in 2019 it took just 38,000 votes to elect a Conservative MP but 853k to elect a Green MP.
• in 2019 the Conservative Party won 56.1% of seats from 43.6% of the vote and the average majority since 1945 is 58.5 seats.
• governments having the working majorities required to achieve their manifesto pledges without much resistance, ensuring that the electorates desires are met and the legitimacy of the democratic process is secured. This is most recently illustrated by Johnson’s ability to swiftly pass his Withdrawal Bill in 2020 after winning an 80-seat majority on the 2019 General Election. He thus delivered on the people’s will to ‘get Brexit done’.
• The Electoral Reform Society estimated that in 2019, 316 out out the 650 were safe seats. This represents nearly half of the country.
• votes are not of equal value,. Votes in safe seats are worth less than votes in seats that are keenly contested, where voters may have more of an impact.
• Voters in safe seats may feel their votes are 'wasted' because they have no realistic chance of influencing the outcome.
• MPs sitting in safe seats are less accountable for their actions since they have virtually no chance of losing their seats.
• The Electoral Reform Society estimated that in the 2019 General Election, 70.8% of the voters, numbering 22.6 million, were effectively casting 'wasted' votes.
• In 2019, there were 141 marginal seats in the UK.
• In 2019, there were 316 safe seats and 141 marginal seats.