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More than 60 Labour MPs call for review of UK voting system (www.bbc.co.uk)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/uk_politics@feddit.uk
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As far as I can tell, this is referring to this proposed amendment of the Representation of the People Bill:

https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4080/stages/20676/amendments/10035247

So, not quite a petition for getting rid of FPTP per-se, but proposing an independent body is set up to determine the fitness for purpose of the current system, and suggest ways to make it fairer.

There's a little reading-between-the-lines needed.

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[–] 2 points 5 months ago (3 children)

STV is like putting a plaster on a gaping wound. It won't make the situation worse but it won't make the situation better.

In simulated voting you still end up swinging between a left-wing party and right-wing party with no subtlety in between. Single transferable vote works best when you have lots of small parties with genuine differences between them. People then have an actual choice on who to vote for. We have lots of small parties but they're all essentially one of the two big parties under a different name.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    We have lots of small parties but they’re all essentially one of the two big parties under a different name.

    Not only is this wrong, the libdems & greens are different parties to Labour, but it's also treating a symptom of having FPTP as some immutable attribute, when the political landscape is shaped by the voting system.

    Also STV is particularly well suited to restoring trust in democracy when there is a lack of trust in the establishment parties as it gives voters a direct say in their MPs rather than being controlled by the party as they are with list based PR or effectively are with FPTP.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago (1 child)

    Reform are literally the Tories, the Lib Dems side with whoever they think they can align with in order to get power so they're useless, and the Greens are just Labour without Blair. Oh and then there Your Party who have no real identity at all.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    That's still 4 distinct parties + your party, and that's under a system that favours 2 parties and doesn't allow for much nuance between or with the parties.

    STV would:

    • Allow people to vote for who they want
    • Allow parties to differentiate themselves behind a simple left/right spectrum
    • Allow people to vote for different factions within a party
    • Not punish independents

    All of which would help differentiate the parties, which even by your own description are not the same unless you don't think Blairism has had any effect on the Labour party.

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