Categories
Life

“More UKIP seats” is not a good enough argument against electoral reform

The General Election result was a surprise to most but the most important thing is how unrepresentative it was of actual votes cast. I’ve heard some express concern that a PR-based system would mean a greater number of UKIP MPs but I don’t think this is a good enough reason for maintaining a system that has passed its sell-by date.

So, that was the election. Aside from the disbelief/rejoicing (delete as appropriate) there have been calls to look very closely at our creaking electoral system and replace it with something more representative.

Why bother?

It’s probably summed up best in this tweet:

I’ll declare an interest. I’m a Green Party member so I have a reason to be unhappy. The fact that a nationwide surge in voting resulted in exactly the same number of Green MPs as 2010 doesn’t make sense. The same is true of UKIP. The Lib Dems have also faired badly according to this so it’s not really a partisan issue. Both Natalie Bennett and Nigel Farage have called for electoral reform in the last few days which is likely to lead to a very odd-looking single-issue alliance.

The Independent attempted to demonstrate how the House would have been divided up under PR (which system isn’t clear) and you can see that UKIP would likely come out as the 3rd largest party by some distance.

For many people, that’s a reason to feel anxious.

But…

Are more UKIP seats an argument against PR?

Well, no. It isn’t.

The first thing to point out is that this is not a reliable way to determine what the results would have looked like under PR. These were votes cast under a different system, where people’s voting intentions are inevitably going to be shaped by the first past the post rules. Under a different system, with different expectations of the vote value, a large number of people would have voted differently. I can’t prove that, but it’s enough of a reason to be cautious about the speculation.

But that’s not the point

Just because some of us might not feel comfortable with the idea of a party like UKIP getting more seats, that is not a good enough argument for an unrepresentative system.

I disagree with UKIP on just about every issue on which they stand but it’s important that the outcomes of an election are just and seen to be fair.

If anything, it’s a reason to demand much fairer representation. Farage has made much of the fact that he is not, as he claims, an establishment figure. His success is partly down to the fact that a certain portion of society feels alienated from politics. Along comes someone saying that they will give the Westminster Elite a bloody nose and it’s no wonder people vote for him.

But if the system was fairer in the first place, if more people felt their vote counted, then some of the millions that stayed away from the ballot box this time round might see more reason to vote.

Consider that 66.1% of registered votes turned out this year, meaning 33.9% didn’t, a little less then the entire Conservative share of the vote (36.9%).

Tactical voting makes less sense under PR and if you encourage more of the non-voters to turn out with higher expectations of their voice being represented, the political landscape could look very different.

Ensuring a fair democratic system is much more important than concerns about whether this or that party will end up with more seats.

Let’s see the quality of these MPs; UKIP, Green, Plaid Cymru, NHA and the rest. It benefits all of us if their ideas are open to greater scrutiny and debate.

Is reform likely?

I doubt the current government would consider changing the system. Why would they? Labour have less to gain from it than the smaller parties and the Lib Dems tried and failed to get a compromise AV-based system through a referendum in the last parliament and are probably still licking their wounds.

If anything, though, It’s now more obvious than ever that reform is needed. It’s down to those of us who want it to argue for it and persuade others. I started with adding my name to the Electoral Reform Society’s Make Seats Match Votes petition. My next step is to write to Cath McKinnell MP (Lab), my current MP. Small gestures, but at least it’s a start.

It might be naive of me to hold out hope for change, but I’d rather be naive than despondent.

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *