Voting reform

Dear Editor,

Our Victorian voting system is undermining the Union.

The general election results reveal that the votes of many Advertiser readers counted for nothing, thanks to continued use of our antiquated first past-the-post system.

Signing away your democratic rights with the mark of illiteracy in single member constituencies enables MPs to be elected on a small fraction of the vote; over three quarters of Scottish MPs were elected on a minority of their constituency vote.

Consequently, seats won the by a party do not necessarily reflect the level of of support nationwide for that party, nor are outcomes consistent or certain.

Boris Johnson’s so-called landslide was achieved on just 44 per cent of the vote; 56 per cent of those who voted did not support his party.

More worrying for those who support the Union is the fact that the SNP took 81 per cent of the seats in Scotland for just 45 per cent of the vote while in Northern Ireland, Unionists won fewer seats than the Nationalists, even though they had polled more votes.

As the Labour party’s secretary of the time observed as long ago as 1936:

“There is no greater gamble on earth than a British general election”. You might as well throw dice.

If Advertiser readers want to know more, www.knackered.org.uk sets out the deficiencies of our current system and advocates its replacement with the single transferable vote (STV), already used for local elections in Scotland.

STV increases the degree and accuracy of representation, minimises wasted votes, and is the most powerful vote on the planet – it is high time it was introduced for all elections in the UK.

David Green, via email