‘Morally & politically bankrupt’: New report slams ‘broken’ UK voting system, says millions being ignored
Nearly half the UK electorate – 14.5 million people – in the 2019 general election were denied proper representation due to a “morally and politically bankrupt” voting system, according to new research.
The survey by the Electoral Reform Society (ERS), an organization that campaigns to end the ‘first-past-the-post’ system, claims that 45 percent of the UK electorate cast a vote for a non-elected parliamentary candidate.
Dr Jess Garland, the director of research and policy at the ERS, has called for a reform of the “broken” voting system and urged all political parties to get behind a move to proportional representation (PR) to help bring about “real democracy” in Westminster.
The organization’s audit, titled ‘Voters Left Voiceless’, in combination with data from the pollsters YouGov revealed that 32 percent of voters “held their nose” and voted tactically, rather than selecting their preferred party or candidate.
Garland said that the research “exposes the scale of disenfranchisement” that currently occurs under a “one-party-takes-all voting” system, insisting PR would help ensure seats in parliament reflect how people actually want to vote.
The organization highlighted Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, with the concentration of their support in certain areas meaning that it took on average 50,835 votes to return a Labour MP — compared to 38,264 for a Conservative MP.
The ERS also insisted that smaller parties such as the Greens, Lib Dems and Brexit Party were “penalized” by the current system at the last general election in December 2019, despite an increase in vote share on 2017’s snap poll.
Dr Jess Garland, the director of research and policy at the ERS, has called for a reform of the “broken” voting system and urged all political parties to get behind a move to proportional representation (PR) to help bring about “real democracy” in Westminster.
The organization’s audit, titled ‘Voters Left Voiceless’, in combination with data from the pollsters YouGov revealed that 32 percent of voters “held their nose” and voted tactically, rather than selecting their preferred party or candidate.
Garland said that the research “exposes the scale of disenfranchisement” that currently occurs under a “one-party-takes-all voting” system, insisting PR would help ensure seats in parliament reflect how people actually want to vote.
The organization highlighted Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, with the concentration of their support in certain areas meaning that it took on average 50,835 votes to return a Labour MP — compared to 38,264 for a Conservative MP.
The ERS also insisted that smaller parties such as the Greens, Lib Dems and Brexit Party were “penalized” by the current system at the last general election in December 2019, despite an increase in vote share on 2017’s snap poll.