What if we had proportional representation ?

[AutismHelp1980]

If reform didn’t exist then looking right now the Tories would have more votes (adding reform’s to their’s) than the Labour Party but as we are FPTP it’s likely Labour will have still won, but they didn’t have the most votes?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/results

The Conservatives have always opposed voting reform.

Current share of the vote is Labour 33.8%, Conservative 23.7%, Liberal Democrat 12.2%, Reform 14.4%, Green 6.8%.

@Cangar I think that is based on 60% of people eligible to vote, rather than who actually bothered to vote.

Ah makes sense thank you

Very true. I didn't vote for who I wanted, I voted tactically like millions.

I think that country before party line I heard replayed doesn’t extend to PR

When you look at 9.6m to 4m and numbers of seats to 4 it’s quite dramatic

There was a referendum, result was didn't want it. If Reform party wants another go at that referendum, then I suppose we can do another Brexit one as well 🤷‍♀️

Correction - 80% either didn't want them, are too apathetic to care, or live in constituencies where they needed to vote tactically.

We have PR already. In Scotland and Wales

It still still delivers governments most people don't vote for.

Labour have been in power in wales since 1999 and the SNP in Scotland since 2007. Neither are supported by a majority.

PR is not a magical answer.

Labour have always had to govern either in collaboration with or in formal coalition with Plaid Cymru though, they've never had an absolute majority. In fact right now it's an issue that PC have withdrawn from the agreement because of Vaughn Gethin's antics.

It always bemuses me that people object to PR both on the grounds that it will lead to weak and fragmented government, and on the grounds that it hasn't stopped one party domination in Wales and Scotland!
Realistically, Wales is largely a left leaning country (PC also being broadly left), and Scotland has been dominated by the independence issue, & this has been reflected in their governments since 1999.

If we didn't have FPTP we'd have coalitions every time. The Labour party would fracture into left of centre and far left, the Conservatives would fracture into right of centre and hard right (which they kind of have with Reform).

No system is perfect, but this result shows several things - firstly that Labour's landslide is a protest vote against the Conservatives, secondly that people just want a change, and thirdly that there isn't any particular enthusiasm for Labour.

This has to be one of the more pointless hypotheticals?

If we had PR, if Reform didn't exist, if all people who voted Reform would have voted Tory instead...

If all of your stipulations were true, voting would have been very different. You can take the same behaviour and change almost all of the criteria

Yep but they are parts of uk wide parties that are more responsive to the realities of Westminster.

I agree with others that you can't assume that all Reform voters would have voted Conservative.

However, it is also the case that under our FPTP system the party that wins the most seats doesn't necessarily win the most votes.

Obviously they usually do, but in February 1974 the Tories won 46.4% of the vote compared to Labour's 43.1%. Labour formed the Government because they won more seats (301 compared with 297 for the Tories).