
Once again we are to be governed by a minority party.
In the mother of all parliaments we have a voting system that allows the minority to be in power. In living memory, no party has been elected that has had more than half of the popular vote. The Conservatives nearly made it in 1955 with 49.7% and you need to go back to 1931 for any party to have obtained a true majority. Again it was the Conservatives with 55.5%.
This is not a single party issue however. For example, in the 2005 election in which Labour won, only 61.4% of the electorate voted and nearly two thirds of people did not vote for the winners.
The position is highlighted excellently by the position in Scotland after this year’s general election where the Scottish National Party secured 83% of the seats in the country with 45% of the vote.
Add this to an unelected Head of State and an unelected Upper House, an established church and what we have in Great Britain is not democracy. We need a new electoral system.
Year | Con | Vote | Seats | % Turnout | % that didn’t vote for the winning party |
2019 | Con | 43.6 | 365 | 67.3 | 56.4 |
2017 | Con | 42.3 | 317 | 68.7 | 57.7 |
2015 | Con | 36.8 | 330 | 66.1 | 63.2 |
2010 | Con | 36.1 | 306 | 65.1 | 63.9 |
2005 | Lab | 35.2 | 356 | 61.4 | 64.8 |
2001 | Lab | 40.7 | 412 | 59.4 | 59.3 |
1997 | Lab | 43.2 | 418 | 71.4 | 56.8 |
1992 | Con | 41.9 | 336 | 77.7 | 58.1 |
1987 | Con | 42.2 | 376 | 75.3 | 57.8 |
1983 | Con | 42.4 | 397 | 72.7 | 57.6 |
1979 | Con | 43.9 | 339 | 76 | 56.1 |