FPTP

Pecker

It's just an element we expect and don't get.

Most people vote for a party rather than the individual.

Steve W

Member 581642

However isn't that equally a fault of the voters .

How many times do we hear "I'd never vote for con, lab, lib, etc" regardless of the individual candidates .

Sonic67

Results under PR:

Conservative 240
Labour 198
UKIP 83
Liberal Democrat 51
SNP 31
Green 25
Others 6
DUP 4
Sinn Fein 4
Plaid Cymru 4
UUP 3
SDLP 2
Alliance 1

pandemic

^^ No threshold? Many countries using PR have minimum threshold i.e. 5% keeps the loonies out, I guess.

Cliff

But all of the above are serious parties?

krish

5% is the same threshold for candidates to keep their deposits, so it's the same reasoning as that isn't it?

NytMadn

So under PR it would have presumably been a Conservative/UKIP coalition, which would arguably be less representative of the views of those who voted Labour, Liberal and Green than the pure Conservative government we now have. PR is a double edged sword in my opinion.

Sonic67

That would be the views of 15 million represented rather than 11 million. So more representive. With PR the amount of MPs match the vote. Whatever happens you might get someone not happy. Some people never are.

Rasczak

Agree with your last statement - which applies equally to the status quo. Personally I think the constituency link is very important - there is a clear duty between the MP and his area with the former carrying considerable clout because of it. We know that to get elected he must command the trust of a significant portion of his local electorate.

With regards UKIP there is a shouty-shouty, "tell it like it is" person is every community. We all find such people fun but very few would want them representing their interests in the national Parliament. That is why UKIP failed to achieve on Thursday.

Still, the issue is moot for the time being. Electoral reform is dead for 5 years and, as the Tories now will 'fix' the constituency boundaries, probably a lot longer.

Sonic67

Ukip "failed to achieve" on Thursday for no other reason than FPTP. They won the EU elections. The EU referendum happening soon is also down to them. Nearly 4 million people also want UKIP's representation. Don't you read your own thread?