Should Proportional Representation Be Introduced in Westminster Elections Essay Example

vote and received 9 list seats. However the SNP received only 21 constituency seats under the FPTP system yet they received more seats from the party list (26).

The conservative party were under represented as they received 4 constituency seats and only 13 list seats, this goes against David Cameron’s view that proportional representation should not replace the current FPTP system as they received fewer votes from the first vote which is under FPTP and gained more from the party list vote. If PR were to be introduced in the Westminster election then there would be better representation for parties like the Liberal Democrats that have much geographic support as they would receive more votes hen what they currently get through the FPTP system.

However those in favour of the current Westminster system believe that the FPTP system keeps extremist parties such as the British National Party at bay as it under represents parties that do not have much support and could cause harm to the political system. Furthermore because the parties could not receive a majority of the votes they failed to form a single government, this meant that a coalition had to be produced.

Under the FPTP system in Westminster Labour and The Conservative party have been dominating the legislature as they have been receiving most of the votes, this produced a strong a stable government. However in the 2010 elections no parties could reach the total number of seats being 326. The party that received most of the votes were The Conservatives with 307 yet they failed to reach the majority. Liberal Democrats and The Conservatives produced a coalition

in the UK the second coalition after the post-war consensus.

This shows evidence that the FPTP system is not reliable in that it can still produce a coalition even without the help of PR, making it seem like a broken system. Under the FPTP votes are seen as ‘wasted’ because of the view that winner-takes-all. People then feel that their votes don’t count and so lose trust in the system and do not vote. In PR systems like STV and Party list the votes are of equal value and are redistributed in a way that all votes count. Bringing this in to the Westminster elections could help gain the trust of citizens and so more people will vote.