William Eichler 13 December 2019

Reform ‘unrepresentative’ electoral system, campaigners say

Voters have been 'disenfranchised on a mass scale’ by the First-Past-The-Post electoral system, campaigners say.

Analysis of the election by the Electoral Reform Society has revealed that it took 864,743 to elect one Green MP, whereas it took only 50,817 to elect each Labour MP.

The Brexit Party returned no MPs despite getting 642,303 votes and the Conservatives won a majority with each MP only receiving 38,300 votes.

Willie Sullivan, senior director of the Electoral Reform Society, said that ‘millions of voters have gone totally unrepresented’.

'When it takes nearly 900,000 votes to elect one party’s MP, and just 26,000 for another, you know the system is not just struggling – it’s bankrupt,’ he said.

‘Millions of voters have gone totally unrepresented, with worryingly warped results in many areas.

‘The Conservatives have won a majority on a minority of the vote, with an increase in seat share high above their increase in vote share.

‘The SNP have also been highly over-represented, while Liberal Democrat voters have been short changed. Thankfully both these parties support a fair, proportional voting system.

‘People will not tolerate being systematically ignored. This has to be the last election under Westminster’s warped voting system.’

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A pivotal week for councils sees fresh devolution plans, new service pilots and key legal and political battles, writes LocalGov editor William Eichler.
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