Votes that count

A couple of months ago, in less troubled times, I wrote a blog proposing an alternative voting system for the UK. It is a form of proportional representation yet holds a strong element of the first past the post system (FPTP) which at least gives a degree of local political representation. 

I wrote the article merely as an idea to show that there are other possible ways of creating a more representative political system rather than necessarily suggesting it is a viable way forward. Charles, a friend of mine asked what effect this system would have on the makeup of Parliament and so I decided to try and work through the numbers.

Using data from the Commons Library I have worked through the results of the 2019 general election and relocated seats according to my proposal. Any candidate that got more than 50% of their local vote was elected. All other candidates were ranked by party in descending order of the percentage of votes cast. The unfilled seats were then allocated an MP starting with the one with the highest percentage of votes cast for them. The party with the highest overall share of the votes got the first seat. The party with the next highest overall share of the vote was next and so on. This continued through all parties in descending order of votes until all seats were allocated. No party got more seats than its share of the popular vote. All numbers were rounded down.

The net result is in the table below:

The result has come out along the lines I had anticipated, though there are some discrepancies as the data set is not complete. For example I could not allocate 5 seats and I am sure that UKIP should have won one seat. The model does not take into account the intricacies of the voting system in Northern Ireland, nor does it include the Speaker. The proposed system has the following advantages over FPTP:

• Seats are allocated in line with the total vote across the country while retaining local MPs
• All votes cast count in that they contribute to the overall ratio of seats
• Voting for minor parties is no longer a wasted vote as it can lead to representation in Parliament though not necessarily in your constituency
• There is no need, therefore, to vote tactically
• It avoids a government with the minority of votes having the majority of seats.

Whilst my workings will have some inaccuracies, It gets my vote. Charles, I hope this makes sense.

How my constituency would look under this system, Y in the FPTP column is over 50% of the vote and therefore is as is currently, a number in the FPTP column is reallocated, neither is unallocated. The number in the FPTP column indicates at what point it was reallocated, from 1 to 225.