Does anyone else not like the voting system in this country? It virtually feels like your vote doesn't count (having lived abroad using a system where every vote counts!)

[foxinsocks]

Was thinking about this this morning.

We live in a very safe Lib Dem seat. I wouldn't say I'm a natural Lib Dem voter but can see the MP does his bit.

However, if we did want to vote Labour or Tory, it would be wasted. There is never much of an opposition here so they wouldn't tally enough votes and once the Lib Dem MP got in, that would count as one seat at Westminster.

Why does it work this way? Though I am british (having been born here), I spent many years living abroad where they had the every vote counts system. I'm not entirely sure how it worked (must look it up!), but let's say you were a die hard Tory and just happened to live in a safe Labour seat, even though your vote wouldn't influence the outcome of your MP, it would go to count towards a national total.

I think the voting system here contributes to voter apathy.

I agree about voter apathy and feeling like my vote doesn't count, except when voting for the Scottish Parliament, which at least is PR.

A lot of people would agree with you- such as the Independent Commission on the Voting System.

It works this way because it delivers almost unfettered power to any party that is elected. It makes coalitions very rare events in British life and therefore reduces the influence of small parties. I see that as a good thing, especially at the moment.

I personally feel that whether or not I voted for my MP, they represent me and that this works OK.

"I personally feel that whether or not I voted for my MP, they represent me and that this works OK."

Doesn't work for me, PR can and does work well in so many countries, I think governments get away with going to war when the majority of the country are against it, because we don't have proper representation.

I live in a safe Tory seat & can make no difference to that, but at least if I vote Labour it boosts their national total.

Would prefer PR, but I know so little about it - who would decide who my MP would be? Or would it be like the European Parliament elections where you vote in an area & have a selection of MPs?

thing is their national total means nothing. Doesn't mean any more representation iyswim

That's an interesting article choosy. Would you feel the same way (about your MP) if you were represented by someone like a BNP MP who got in by say 1 vote?

You're right foxinsocks, I wouldn't feel the same. I guess I feel that the chances of me having a BNP MP are lower because of the electoral system - that where coalitions are a real possibility, smaller parties have much more influence on government and therefore can offer a lot more to voters.

I think the danger with PR (so every vote counting) would be that the minority parties (like the BNP) may get more say (so if you had a very small percentage everywhere, if you added that up, it could gain a couple of seats on that alone). However, using them is probably a bad example of mine Choosy! As if you lived in an area where they were in the majority, you probably wouldn't be that happy with the area anyway!

(although I suppose that is the benefit of PR - that everyone feels they get some sort of representation, no matter who they have voted for so I guess you'd have to take the good with the bad)

I wonder if it would mean a hung parliament more often.

I think it is fine in principle. The voting system is simple and relatively transparent, if counting is performed as soon as possible after the polls are closed.

MPs representing constituencies on a first-past-the-post basis means that it is usually feasible to get rid of the genuinely corrupt and unpopular.

What worries me are that changes to the mechanics of voting make corruption easier (increased take-up of postal voting is rife for abuse, delayed counts mean ballots may get "lost"), and monitoring by party officials harder.

Any change to the system will almost certainly have the purpose of gerrymandering to ensure that what the establishment deems "wrong" results do not happen on split votes. Not good for democracy IMO.

But since the vast majority of our laws are made by the unaccountable EU all this discussion is rather moot.