When I first started A Level Politics I was shocked by how little I knew about how our country is run. Seriously. Everyone thinks they know about politics. Left vs Right. Red vs Blue. But if you were asked about how a law was made, could you go through the process? Or could you explain how the election process works? I find it startling how little we understand about things that have such a profound effect on us. With the recent election in the US causing many of us to pay a bit more attention to what was going on in the world, I decided to look into how Boris Johnson won power in 2019 through Britain’s First Past the Post electoral system.
So, what is First Past the Post? It’s election day and let’s take an average voter: let’s call them Sam and say they live in Glasgow. Sam will go to the voting station and check a box next to the name of the candidate that they feel can best represent them and the Glasgow area in the Houses of Parliament. The candidate who wins the most votes in Sam’s constituency in Glasgow will become Sam’s MP. That is First Past the Post in action. There is one winner per constituency who has won the majority. That seems perfectly normal and fair. However, a problem arises if 40% of people in Sam’s constituency vote Conservative, 30% Labour, 20% Lib Dem and 10% Green Party. The Conservative candidate will win, even though 60% of people didn’t vote for them, but they still won the majority. For 331 constituencies out of 650 that was the case in 2017; over half. It is starting to become clear that maybe this system is not quite as simple as it first appears.
You may hear the phrase ‘wasted votes’ talked about a lot on the news. Let’s refer back to Sam’s constituency in Glasgow: 60% of votes were not for the candidate eventually elected. That means that over half of the votes in Sam’s constituency did not impact the result in any way. They were ‘wasted’. A startling statistic I found in my research was that, in 2017, 68% of votes were wasted. To me, that is not a democracy. 22 million voices were not heard. And as a result, people tend to stop voting – the 2017 general election turnout was only 69%. Of that 69% only a slim majority of 42% voted for the Conservatives, meaning that overall, only 29% of the population voted for the Conservatives to be in power, a clear minority.
But can you blame people for not voting? If they live in a ‘safe’ seat they believe it is highly likely that their vote will not make a difference, and so why should they bother? I live in a constituency that has voted Conservative since 1924, making it the 76th safest seat in the country for the Conservatives. 31% of voters in my constituency voted Lib Dem but their votes made no difference.
So, if this system is ineffective and undemocratic, why do we keep it? Well, First Past the Post is supposed to provide us with a government with a strong majority. But with the most recent election excluded, most of the last decade was spent with a government with a weak majority, or no majority at all. It is also supposed to provide us with a strong MP- constituency link. There is one MP per constituency and if a member of the constituency has a problem it is easy to talk to them and create change. However, a recent survey showed that only 22% of people know the name of their MP. An outdated system has left people with no interest in politics as they may feel that their vote doesn’t count.
So, what’s the alternative to First Past the Post? The devolved parliaments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all use proportional representation systems. Not only do these elections have good turnouts, the results are much more democratic – Labour won 24% of the votes and 27% of the seats in the 2014 local Scottish elections. If the electorate has a government which they have voted for they are much more likely to support the government’s decisions and there is much less resentment between the government and its voters; resentment which is seen in the UK.
When I was asked to write about a topic that means a lot, my teachers told me ‘talk about something that’s important to you’. So why are elections important to me? I can’t even vote. But the party in power defines how well the important things in our lives work. Can I easily access free healthcare? Do I have laws that restrict my freedom? Do people have jobs? In Britain we have an uncodified constitution which means that no law is unchangeable. Any government with a strong majority, like the one we have now, can virtually make, change or get rid of any laws. It is so important that those governing us are accountable to us. First Past the Post seems to work for the politicians in power, not the people. Unless we are educated on how our country works, nothing will change. Our voices will continue to not be heard. Maybe, after this, we will question the ways things work. See if we can make them better. Not always stick to the status quo.
Isla (Senior Prefect)
IMAGE CREDIT – Science Photo Library
