A million votes ‘wasted’ in last General Election

MORE than a million votes cast in Wales at the recent General Election were “wasted”, according to a new report from one of Britain’s leading political pressure groups.

Out of 1,544,357 votes cast, only 500,077 of them (32.4%) were seen by the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) as “decisive”.

Of the others, 806,116 (52.2%) were cast for candidates who did not win, while a further 238,164 (15.4%) were “surplus” votes cast for candidates who already had enough votes to see them elected.

The ERS also said the results in Wales should be seen as a warning for Labour, whose seat share fell more than its share of the vote.

According to the ERS, there is a “crisis of legitimacy” faced by Parliament, following an election that saw voters marginalised on an extraordinary scale.

The group’s comprehensive analysis of December’s election reveals that:

■ Nearly one in three voters (32%) “held their nose” and opted for a socalled lesser evil in December’s election, according to previously unreleased YouGov polling for the ERS. Similar analysis for the ERS in 2017 suggested around 20% planned to vote tactically then;

■ More than two-thirds (71%) – or 22.6 million – votes were “ignored”, in that they weren’t decisive to the local result. This is up from the 68% of votes ignored in the 2017 election. In seven constituencies, more than 90% of the votes were ignored. And 35% of MPs were elected without a majority of support (229 out of 650);

■ This was a “grossly disproportionate” election. Voters in Scotland and the South-West of England were handed the most disproportionate results, closely followed by the SouthEast of England. Around a third of seats in Scotland, the South-West, the South-East and East of England were “unearned” in proportional terms; and

■ Westminster’s voting system is leading to “absurd” inequalities in representation. For example, in Scotland a substantial Conservative vote share (25%) yielded just six seats (10%), while over 90% of Scottish Labour votes went unrepresented. And there are warning signs for Labour in Wales under the “first past the post” system (with a drop in seats higher than their vote fell by).

Dr Jess Garland, director of research and policy at the ERS, said: “It is no wonder trust in politics is at rock-bottom – the vast majority of people’s votes are being systematically ignored by a voting system that is morally and politically bankrupt.

“Westminster cannot go on like this – all parties must get behind reform of this broken system at long last.

“It’s time Westminster caught up with the rest of the UK and ensured seats in Parliament reflect how people actually want to vote. No more ‘holding your nose’ tactical votes, ignored votes and warped results. Voters are tired of feeling voiceless – and it doesn’t have to be this way.

“This research exposes the scale of disenfranchisement that is happening under one-party-takes-all voting. But we can build a fairer politics, where everyone is heard and your vote counts no matter where you are. It’s time for proportional representation and real democracy at Westminster.”

The ERS backs the single transferable vote (STV) electoral system, used for elections in Ireland and local councils in Scotland. If MPs had been elected by STV in December, the Conservatives would have been just short of an overall majority.

Blaenau Gwent Labour AM Alun Davies said: “The system is rotten. And our democracy is broken.

“The fact that a third of people do not feel able to vote for their preferred candidate and that most people who voted in Wales did not vote for a winning candidate tells us all we need to know.

“The danger is that our democracy seems to work for the convenience of the political parties rather than the people we seek to represent.

“I will be continuing to campaign for fundamental change to our political system. The Irish showed us how it’s done two weeks ago. It’s time we caught up.

“Until Wales and the UK have a modern system of fair voting and proportional representation, then we will not have a democracy worth the name”.