electoral systems

• Proportionality

  Lack of representation in constituencies - MPs do not have majority support

  • EG. 2024 Lab Terry Jermy SW Norfolk with 26.7% of vote, only 15.7% of constit voted for him

  Translates into lack of prop at a national level + winners bonus

  • EG. 2024 Lab won 411 (63%) seats with just 33.7% of the vote BUT 2019 worst result in modern history with 202 seats, but got 32% of vote

  In contrast

  • 2011 Scot Parl vote using AMS, SNP got 45% of vote and 53% of seats
• Favours parties with geographically conc support

  Massively under represents minor parties with widespread support, Cons rural and Lab rural

  • EG. 2024 reform 14.3% of vote but only 5 seats, Lib dims had more widespread support in 2024 so won 72 seats with 12.2% of vote BUT 2019 Lib dem’s won 11.5% of vote but only 11 seats - electoral reform society calculated that if done with STV, lib dem’s would’ve got 59 seats in 2019
  • EG. 2015 UKIP won 3.9 mil votes but only one MP, but SNP which has more conc support in Scotland got 1.4mil votes and gained 56 MPs
• Strong govs

  Lab 97-2010 had Parl maj, was able to introduce various policies with little possibility of them being voted down, Lab had over half of Parl seats, did not need support

  Using prop systems all previous GE results for last 30 years would’ve been coalition
• Wasted votes

  Dudley North was won by Labour with just 22 votes over Cons, therefore the only votes that had counted were the Lab ones

  Nationally, in 2017 over 22mil (68%) votes had no impact on the result and had ultimately gone to waste
• Winners bonus

  In 2019, the Conservative Party won 56% of the seats and therefore a commanding majority with just 43.6% of the vote
• Constituency link

  On December 5, 2023, 22 Conservative MPs supported a Labour amendment aimed at speeding up compensation for victims of the infected blood scandal, rebelling against a 3 line conservative whip to do so. The amendment, which was successfully passed by a narrow majority, called for the establishment of a body to administer compensation within three months of passing the Victims and Prisoners Bill.

  Conservative MP Caroline Nokes rebelled to represent the local movement for greater compensation and the number of victims affected in her Romsey and Southampton North Constituency.
• Exclusion of extremist parties

  2010 - the extreme right wing British National Party (BNP) won 2% of the national vote, but didnʼt finish higher than 3rd in any constituency so did not win any seats
• Limited voter choice leads to tactical voting

  YouGov data commissioned by the Electoral Reform Society (a pressure group) indicated that 32% of voters voted tactically in the 2019 election.
• Safe seats

  2/3 of the seats in the UK are considered safe, in 2015, 368 seats were sufficiently safe to the extent that they could call the winners without needing wait for the results

  225 constituencies have not changed hands in an election since 1950 or before

  In 2017 22mil votes (68%) had no impact to the result

  Furthermore, the expenses scandal also revealed a direct correlation between the likelihood of an MP serving a safe seat and the likelihood of them fiddling their expenses

  Currently 25mil voters live in safe seats - their vote is undermined
• Simple and has public support due to familiarity

  2011 Alternative Vote referendum, in which 68% of those who voted against changing the electoral system, on a 42% turnout.

  This rejected should be seen in part as a protest vote against the Liberal Democrats, though.
• Donkey voting - more complicated systems

  For example in the 2019 local elections in Northern Ireland, In District Electoral Areas where there were two candidates running from the same party, the candidate whose surname was first alphabetically was elected 85% of the time, whilst the second candidate on the ballot paper was elected only 54% of the time.
• Minority govs created weak

  Scottish gov First Minister Humza Youssaf ended coalition agreements after the Greens criticised SNP for abandoning key climate change target + pausing the prescription of puberty blockers to younger patients

  So Greens supported a no confidence motion against Yousaf, who soon after resigned as party leader and First Minister

  This shows a key disadvantage of AMS - leads to coalition and minority governments which are weak and vulnerable to instability
• AMS increased voter choice helps smaller parties

  2021 Scot Parl elections Greens won 1.29% constituency votes but 8.12% top up votes so won 8 seats overall
• Conflicts of coalition govs

  STV NI assembly suspended for 2 years as DUP refused to go into coalition with Sinn Fein

  In Scottish local elections 94% councils had no overall control after 2022 elections