Where now for proportional representation

[davemclaren]

AV was overwhelmingly rejected. I accept it wasn't AV but I'm sure a lot of the electorate thought it was and the defeat has put back the chances of PR at a UK level for a generation.

 

Also, the SNP won an overall majority by being backed by 45% of those voting in a supposedly proportional system.

[Commander Harris]

Where does this leave PR? on the back burner for now but it's only a matter of time imo. After all, we've not had a vote on PR

 

as for your SNP point, they would have had 73 percent of the seats with 45% of the vote under FPTP so the voting system did its job to an extent. You'd struggle to find a truly proportional system and any you did find would end local constituencies completely.

[The Gasman]

I think that (not for the first or last time) Clegg was hung out to dry by his Tory paymasters. The AV scheme on offer was so easy to slaughter (other than simpler alternative types of PR) and so difficult to explain, that the "No" campaign was always going to win.

 

Clegg was too busy trying to prove to his party that he had got something more than just a job from Cameron, that he never gave a thought as to whether the referendum was actually winnable.

 

Clegg's shortsightedness / stupidity / naivety, has put back any case for PR by at least ten years.

 

Cameron will be sitting in No.10, pishing himself laughing at having conceded nothing to get that address.

 

[jambos are go!]

I voted for AV but is utterly bizarre that Scotland whose Elections are now overwhelmingly based on PR systems rejects AV when the choice is given to the electorate rather than politicians doing deals in smoke filled rooms as they say. Must cause many of us to reconsider give a yes/no referendum is the gaffer of all PR systems.

[Rick Grimes]

I think that (not for the first or last time) Clegg was hung out to dry by his Tory paymasters. The AV scheme on offer was so easy to slaughter (other than simpler alternative types of PR) and so difficult to explain, that the "No" campaign was always going to win.

 

Clegg was too busy trying to prove to his party that he had got something more than just a job from Cameron, that he never gave a thought as to whether the referendum was actually winnable.

 

Clegg's shortsightedness / stupidity / naivety, has put back any case for PR by at least ten years.

 

Cameron will be sitting in No.10, pishing himself laughing at having conceded nothing to get that address.

 

 

 

Absolutely, and there's a good chance he's killed his party for the considerable future as well. In the rush to prove that coalition government could work he & his party have sold themselves far too cheaply and allowed themselves to be used as a fig leaf for Tory cuts which, despite the claims to the contrary, would not have been particularly more swingeing.

 

They've got to hope to that the economy turns around massively in the next few years and claim some of the credit or be seen to do something like save the NHS entirely from Tory schemes or they're toast.

[Rick Grimes]

I voted for AV but is utterly bizarre that Scotland whose Elections are now overwhelmingly based on PR systems rejects AV when the choice is given to the electorate rather than politicians doing deals in smoke filled rooms as they say. Must cause many of us to reconsider give a yes/no referendum is the gaffer of all PR systems.

 

 

its not utterly bizarre, AV is an absolutely honking system and arguably worse than FPTP.

[Smack]

AV was overwhelmingly rejected. I accept it wasn't AV but I'm sure a lot of the electorate thought it was and the defeat has put back the chances of PR at a UK level for a generation.

 

Also, the SNP won an overall majority by being backed by 45% of those voting in a supposedly proportional system.

 

Any system which contains an element of FPP will produce some skewed results. I think it is unfair to refer to our (D'Hondt) system as 'a supposedly proportional one', although it is as close as you can get to PR without being PR.

 

The SNP won 53.4% of the seats from 44.7% of the vote. Labour won 28.7% of the seats from 29.0% of the vote, the Tories: 11.6% of seats; 13.1% of the vote, Lib Dems: 3.9% seats; 6.6% of the vote.

Close to proportional, but a number of wafer thin majorities in (FPP) constituencies inflate the SNP's numbers.

 

In the 2010 General election, the Tories won 47.2% of the seats with 36.5% of the votes. Labour: 39.7% of seats; 29.0% of votes. Lib Dems: 8.8% of seats; 23.0% of the vote.

It is easy to see that both the Tories and Labour are massively over represented, whilst the Lib Dems are massively under represented. FPP usually produces the (supposedly desirable) majority, but it doesn't seem very democratic to me.

 

The more I have looked at our system the more beautiful I think it is.

 

Real fringe parties find it hard to win a seat unless their vote is concentrated in a particular region. The benefit of this in most peoples eyes is that it keeps the likes of the BNP out the picture.

The FPP results are nicely compensated for by dividing the number of list votes by the (number of constituency seats won (+1)). Although as in this case it doesn't always work out.

 

I would still prefer outright PR as it is the fairest system, warts and all. But I do agree this AV nonsense has set back the cause considerably, which is a shame. Not that Labour and the Tories will complain.

 

The below is an analysis of the 2007 results which work out close to proportionally as well.

My link