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The British Electoral System

             'The First Past the Post electoral system for elections to the House of Commons is in urgent need of reform'. Discuss.
             The electoral system of the House of Commons has become a key issue in British party politics in recent decades. It has come to light that the First Past the Post voting system traditionally used in the 'Golden era' of a two party system is failing to achieve the objectives its defenders attribute it to. The 2010 general election produced the first hung parliament since 1974 which lead to the formation of a conservative- liberal democrat government which no one voted for making it undemocratic. Not only does FPTP fail to be fair to third parties competing in general elections by causing great discrepancies between the number of votes secured and the proportion of seats won in the house of commons, FPTP can no longer claim to guarantee 'strong single party government' it used to. This is crucial as it indicates that FPTP is failing on its own terms. .
             The wider issues that concern FPTP are the long term voting trends that have allowed for the emergence and support of third parties. In spite of the FPTP system, the rising support for third parties is a growing trend as highlighted by the growing support for UKIP. A surge in support for third parties such as UKIP and liberal democrats indicates that the FPTP is unable to facilitate such a change on the basis of being unfair and unrepresentative. It is clear that times are changing and that we are moving out of a two party era and towards a multi-party politics. This discussion will look at how urgently the electoral system needs to be reformed based on the changing attitudes of voters and change in circumstances that suggest that FPTP is no longer fit for its purpose. In spite of the arguments against FPTP, no electoral system is perfect and the defense of this system must also be weighed up in order to come to a suitable conclusion as to whether reform is necessary.


Essays Related to The British Electoral System

1. Should there be Electoral reform?

I believe that there should be electoral reform in Britain. ... The current electoral system employed for the general election is the First-past-the-post system. ... The alternative to the majoritarian First-past-the-post system would be a proportional system, such as the Party List system, or a Hybrid system, such as the Additional member system. ... The Additional member system is a combination of the First-past-the-post system and the party list system. ... The fact that there is so many better alternatives to the First-past-the-post system makes a mockery of the British elections. ...

  • Word Count: 412
  • Approx Pages: 2

2. Electoral College

The debate is about whether the Electoral College is still an effective system considering the circumstances the United States now faces compared to when it was created by the founding fathers. The Electoral College is an outdated system of election that misrepresents the people of the United States today. ... There are many flaws in the Electoral system that backers of the system refuse to acknowledge. ... Harrison, the country has tried to fix and even abolish the Electoral system. One idea to abolish the Electoral system came from Steven Hill, a writer from the Christian Science Monitor. ...

  • Word Count: 2001
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. Compare and contrast the British Parliamentary System with t

When one is asked to say which of the two systems best guarantees the maintenance of democratic principles in a state, in most cases, the British monarchy comes to mind, and so one assumes automatically that the United States" Presidential system is the more democratic. ... In the British system the executive and the legislative are united but have a separate judicial branch, though with different powers than those of the US. In the British parliamentary system the head of government and the head of state are different people. ... However, in the Electoral College system, it is possible for c...

  • Word Count: 2945
  • Approx Pages: 12
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. Should the UK Voting System Be Reformed?

Britain is the land of democracy, with every citizen having the right to vote for whichever party they desire. ... There is no definite answer to the question, should the voting system be reformed, and first must arise the discussion of how the voting system could be reformed, and subsequently would it be beneficial to our electoral system. ... However the electoral system is not without its imperfections, otherwise reformation would not be an issue., there remains to be the following inadequacies with the system; there is no individual. ... Although people may have qualms about the justice...

  • Word Count: 722
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. The Fall

The British political system is one of the oldest and well-respected systems in modern politics. ... One of the most interesting components of Britain's political system is the fact that they are not federal; they practice a unitary system of government. ... From organizing electoral choices to the selection of candidates in elections, it is suggested, "British government is party government-(Mahler 206). ... In terms of voting, Britain practices a single-member district, plurality-voting system. ... The most outstanding aspect of the British electoral system is the shortness of campaigns...

  • Word Count: 1431
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. Great Britain

The first article has to do with Great Britain and how their system has no written constitution that sets a consistency for a nation to follow. ... In Britain's electoral system elections must be called at least every five years, this makes long term planning difficult as each change of government can cause a change of direction. The current system of elections and constituencies can often lead to what is effectively a one party dictatorship. ... Another major reason why the British political system is so safe is because the government would not be able to get away with any covert poli...

  • Word Count: 4029
  • Approx Pages: 16
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Canadian Electoral Reform

Currently, Canada's electoral system is being questioned for its inability to reflect the political views of its citizens. ... To produce a more effective government, Canada's single member plurality electoral system should be replaced by a system of proportional representation (PR). Canada's current single member plurality electoral system is often described as a "first past the post " system. ... In British Columbia's 1991 election, "NDP popular support dropped to 41% of the vote, yet they took 68% of the seats and formed the new government "(Hiemstra and Jansen, 298)....

  • Word Count: 2609
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. Functions of political parties

There are six key functions of political parties in Britain. ... This is the foundation for the political party, and the British Government is generally formed by the political party with the majority. ... The Electoral system is vital to all political parties as election campaigns are devised. Parties choose candidates at local and general levels and provide funds and facilities for electoral campaigns. ...

  • Word Count: 415
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

9. Who Is Voting?

The debate is about whether the Electoral College is still an effective system considering the circumstances the United States now faces compared to when it was created by the founding fathers. The Electoral College is an outdated system of election that misrepresents the people of the United States today. ... There are many flaws in the Electoral system that backers of the system refuse to acknowledge. ... Harrison, the country has tried to fix and even abolish the Electoral system. One idea to abolish the Electoral system came from Steven Hill, a writer from the Christian Science Monitor. ...

  • Word Count: 1973
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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