FPTP

tapzilla2k

I would say you have to admit that Tory backbenchers have also forced the issue on Cameron, UKIP was merely added pressure.

If Cameron tries to wriggle out of an EU referendum it would only take 10 defections to UKIP from Tory backbenchers to throw his majority out the window. That's the big danger for Cameron, the Tories imploding over Europe once more. Blair's majorities put that issue on ice, now it's really going to thaw. If Carswell takes the UKIP leadership, then defections from the Tories to UKIP will probably become more likely. Farage out of the picture could be the making of UKIP in terms of attracting more voters to them.

Rasczak

No, UKIP failed as they didn't appeal to enough people.

Rasczak

Although with the FTPA and a shattered opposition, he will be able to sustain though anything other than a large scale rebellion. I doubt many Tory MPs are looking to imitate the Reckless humiliation either.

EarthRod

Nearly 1,500,000 SNP voters which gained them 56 MPs

Nearly 4,000,000 UKIP voters which gained them 1 MP.

Yes - UKIP failed because they didn't appeal to enough people. Duh!

Member 581642

"lies ,damned lies and statistics" as popularised by Mark Twain


SNP 1.5 Million out of an electorate of 4.2 Million
UKIP 4 Million out of an electorate of 38 Million (if we just include England) or 46 Million for the whole of the UK

Cliff

Whichever way you look at it, for a population of 1.5 m to return 56 MPs is pretty good going. Especially as we English had no say in the matter- i.e. could not vote for or against the SNP.

Rasczak

I wonder how many votes the SNP would have got if they stood nationwide? Probably a lot more than 4 million given they offered an allegedly and we'll marketed left wing option. The SNP campaign was well marshaled. The UKIP campaign was useless and failed to effectively target effectively.

Also note that if we looked at 56 constituencies in South England we would probably see similar stats for Tory voters vice returned MPs. Bottomline is popular parties that appeal win, those that don't lose.

pragmatic

The SNP had an electoral machine from the referendum to call upon, UKIP not so much.
They say it takes an election (or more a vote) to map out a consistency, find your voters (and harry them to get them out on the day), the undecideds that can be convinced, and those you're wasting your time on, at a street by street basis.

The next election, council/eu will give us an indication on how UKIPs national machine is doing.

The simple truth is that 4 million people have a single voice, 1 million other people have a single voice, that is simply not any sort of natural justice.

nabby

And the arguments over the under-representation of UKIP's support in terms of MPs is why UKIP followers who would vote to leave the EU won't be quiet if there was an In vote in the In/Out EU Referendum.

Within hours of the result the 4 million UKIP voters could have easily had a very powerful petition on change.org

In fact, looking on there, there is one petition that's been going for a week (since May 2nd) and it has 140,000 odd votes of support. Where's the rest of the UKIP voting public gone all of a sudden?

Politics is not about natural justice. We elect constituency MPs, not Prime Ministers, and I have the sneaking suspicion that many UKIP voters voted for them because of Nigel Farage, not because their potential UKIP constituency MP would do a good job for them.  I have the same suspicion about the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon.

tapzilla2k

You can't really defend FPTP when it does not reflect the democratic will of the people in terms of who they vote for. Get fixated on Majority Government and you become blind to the dangers of voter apathy and disenfranchisement. If vote levels keep going down at what point do election results become illegitimate ? While the Tories had a perfect plan to win (in hindsight), it doesn't really reflect the fractures around the UK or what the popular vote indicates.