FPTP is a political bully’s charter
Thursday, 9th June 2022
‘Labour has little chance of winning a majority in the British parliament’
• BRITAIN has been ruled by Conservative governments for three-quarters of the last 100 years but the Tories do not gain a majority of the national vote.
This grotesque failure to represent the political wishes of the majority is a direct result of our FPTP, first-past-the-post, system.
In the May 5 elections in Camden the FPTP system meant that Labour took 85 per cent of council seats with less than 50 per cent of the vote.
Most Scottish people decided that they had had enough of being ruled from Westminster by governments dominated by English ex-public schoolboys.
Most people read newspapers which are heavily biased in favour of the Conservatives. In these circumstances Labour has little chance of winning a majority in the British parliament.
For this reason, 83 per cent of Labour Party members, according to a recent YouGov poll, now prefer a fairer voting system.*
It may be, as Martin Plaut points out, (Proportional representation systems are problematic, June 2), that proportional representation voting systems, used by almost every other democracy in the world, have their shortcomings; but these pale into insignificance compared with the towering injustice of our parliament failing to reflect our views, especially those of the poorest half of the population and those who are desperately concerned about the environment.
FPTP is a political bully’s charter.
PETER ROBBINS
Woodsome Road, NW5
