Introducing Proportional Representation

Introducing Proportional Representation

1. Fairness

   • It will eradicate many of the anomalies of the current system such as: Tactical voting, safe seats and marginal seats. It will make votes nationally to be of equal worth and greaten votes to seats ratio.
     • The current system is easy to use and operate. P.R. is more complex and so may result in a loss of public confidence and lower turnouts

2. Participation

   • Will increase voter turnout and increase public support to politics as voters will feel their vote is influential and matters. The results also will reflect the views of the public more accurately.
     • There is no major demand amongst the public for change. The AV referendum in June 2011 with only a 41% turnout, suggesting there is little public support for a change.
       • It would also eradicate the MP-Constitunecy link which is a vital part of the British political system.

3. Representation

   • It would help smaller parties that gain large electoral votes such as: UKIP, The Liberal Democrats and The Greens. FPTP excludes these parties from the decision and policy making porcesses and narrows the political spectrum. This creates the danger that the two main parties maintian a duopoly that damages accountability and creates a system that lacks dynamism
     • It could serve to allow exremist parties to win seats in Parliament, some P.R. systems may also encourage the fradmenting of 'broad church' political parites because splinter groups are more likely to gain seats

4. Allow Coalitions

   • It will introduce a clear possibility of coalition governments. The experience in Scotland is that P.R. can produce good, dynamic governments based on a coalition. Consensus politics operated in Scotland and seemed to be successful
     • A single party governments are more able to push through political policies without much legislative obstruction. Also, coalition goverenments are not what the people voted for and therefore would destroy the Birish system of the electoral mandate. This means coalition governments cannot be made fully accountable to decisions

5. Up to Date

   • P.R. is the most common basis for electoral systems in modern democracies (Italy, Belgium). Adopting it would place Britian into the world of modern democracy
     • Canada and the USA still use FPTP.