UK Elections

UK Elections

1. FPTP - General elections

   • Advantages
     • Single-member constituency link
       • Surgeries/Email
         • In 2011 (Independent) - Sir Stuart Bell (Middlesbrough) hasn't held a surgery in 14 years
     • Strong mandate
       • 2019 Conservative majority of 78
     • Extremist Parties
       • BNP has never won a seat
   • Disadvantages
     • Underrepresent minor parties
       • In 2015, UKIP won 1 seat despite winning 3.9 million votes
     • No individual mandate
       • 2017, Amber Rudd 47% of the vote
     • Wasted Votes
       • 2017, 22 million votes

2. Functions

   • Participation
     • Turnout was 67% in the 2019 election
   • Representation
     • Karl Turner voted Remain but his constituency voted Leave but represents Leave
   • Accountability
     • 2017, Clegg voted out from Sheffield: Tuition fees

3. SV - Mayor of London, Police and Crime Commissioners

   • Advantages
     • Stronger campaigning
       • Not only first choice but also second choice votes are important
         • Sadiq Khan 2016 - Standing up for London
     • Not difficult to understand
       • Over half of voters gave an adequate explanation on SV
     • Extreme parties get eliminated
       • The BNP was eliminated in the first round in 2016
   • Disadavantages
     • Minor parties are underrepresented
       • The Green Party (Sian Berry) won 151,000 votes and didn't make it to the second round
     • Wasted Votes
       • In 2016, 20.8% of first preference votes were wasted
     • Lack of a mandate
       • 2016 mayoral election, Sadiq Khan had 56% in second preference (not first though)

4. STV - Northern Ireland elections

   • Advantages
     • Proportional
       • 2017: DUP won 28 seats with 28% of the national vote
     • Multi-member constituency
       • 6 members per constituency
     • No safe seats
       • Compared to FPTP: Labour has a safe seat in Liverpool Walton
   • Dissadvantages
     • Low turnout
       • 2017 NI assembly: 65%
     • Time consuming - Quota System
       • In 2019 NI election it took 4 days to calculate the results
     • Complicated
       • Nearly 40,000 ballots were rejected at the last four elections in Northern Ireland

5. AMS - Elections to the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales, London Assembly (d’Hondt system)

   • Advantages
     • Proportional
       • Welsh Election 2016, Tories won 20% of the vote and 19% of seats
     • Represents smaller parties
       • In the Welsh Election 2016, UKIP won 7 seats
     • Understandable
       • 2007 Scottish Parliament, 7% ballots were rejected due to human error
   • Disadvantages
     • Difficult to understand
       • Under 10% of voters understand how AMS worked
     • Wasted votes
       • 2017, 1.8m Scottish votes were wasted due to SNP's bonus
     • Low turnout
       • 46% Turnout for 2016 London Assembly election

6. Voting Behaviour Factors

   • Cultural - Almond and Verba
     • Race
       • 2015: 65% of ethnic minorities voted for Labour
     • Age
       • 2019: 58% of 70+ voted Conservative
     • Religion
       • 2017: 40% of Catholic voted Conservative
   • Rational - Blondel
     • Policies
       • 2019: 74% of Leave voters voted Conservative
     • TV debates
       • 2010: 10.3m views / 2019 : 6.7m views
     • Valence issues
       • 61% of Conservatives voted to Leave
   • Structural - Parsons
     • FPTP
       • Lib Dem got 3.7 million votes but 11 seats
     • Devolution
       • SNP won 48 seats, 50% of Scotland voted for SNP in 2019
     • Short campaign
       • UK: Turnout 67.3%

7. Referendums

   • Advantages
     • Popular sovereignty over parliamentary sovereignty
       • Gives a chance for direct representation rather than MPs
         • Controversy over Brexit where MPs work in self interest 37 MPs voted in their self-interest
     • Participation
       • 85% turnout among 18-24 year olds in the Scottish Independence Referendum
     • Effective means of decision making
       • "Should the UK remain a member of the EU or leave the EU" - Brexit
   • Disadvantages
     • Tyranny of majority
       • BREXIT 51.9% voting leave
       • Theresa May biggest defeat of 230 in 2019
     • Poor-quality campaigns may misinform the public
       • The Independent states one of the major criticisms of the Brexit campaign was the misleading information
     • Low turnouts
       • The AV referendum 2011 had a turnout of 42%

8. Closed Party List - EU elections

   • Advantages
     • Minor parties
       • 2019 Brexit party won ⅓ of vote & 29 seats
     • Proportional
       • 2016 Labour won 13% vote & 10 seats
   • Disadvantages
     • Low turnout
       • 50% in 2016
     • Extremist parties
       • 2009, BNP won 2 seats

9. Media impact (2019)

   • Fake information
     • Online advertising: First Draft News - 88% of Tory ads featured questionable claims
   • Age
     • 67% of 70+ voted Conservative (Print media)
   • Increase e-campaigning
     • Time: Conservative - Get Brexit Done
     • 2017: Conservative FB - £2.1m
       • 2019 - £222,000