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This from Maggie Nelmes, Ventnor. Ed
I am writing to members of the House of Lords to ask them to speak and vote against an amendment to the Elections Bill at its Second Reading there on Wednesday 23rd February
This amendment was added at committee stage and thereby subject to little scrutiny, especially as the Second Reading in the Commons was cut short.
First-Past-The-Post
It concerns the proposed change of voting system for the election of mayors and police and crime commissioners, from Supplementary Vote (SV) to First-Past-The-Post (FPTP).
While the SV system is imperfect because it is not proportional, it is much better than the Government’s choice of FPTP.
Disproportionately favour the two main parties
Both systems result in single-member representation and disproportionately favour the two main parties, leaving millions who voted for minority parties disenfranchised.
However, SV gives voters two choices instead of one, and a small chance that, if their first choice is eliminated in the first round, their second choice could be elected in the second.
Will discourage millions from voting
Extending FPTP to elections now held under SV would only disenfranchise many more voters. Imagine the frustration that millions of voters feel, as election after election a single representative from the Conservative or Labour Party is elected to Parliament and their votes are wasted, especially when an MP can be elected with as few as a quarter of the votes.
This discourages millions of us from exercising our democratic, and ancestors’ hard-won, right to vote.
Claims it’s more accountable
Yet the Government claims that FPTP is more accountable than SV. They provide no evidence for this, and it is clearly not the case.
Elections held under SV have resulted in fewer safe seats than under FPTP, and a representative in a safe seat is able to ignore communications from those who do not support his/her party.
Not at all complicated
The Government also claims that SV is too complicated for voters to understand, resulting in more spoiled ballots.
If the instructions on the ballot paper are clear, this system is simple to understand – you select a first-choice and a second-choice candidate from the list.
FPTP the least accountable system
SV is a step in the right direction towards a more representative and democratic system of voting. A proportional system, such as we had in the European Union elections, where every vote counts, is what we should be aiming for, in all elections, for a truly accountable system.
There are various PR systems to choose from.
The least accountable system is FPTP.
Campaign groups
Groups campaigning against the Elections Bill for this and other reasons include Make Votes Matter, which is organising the Lords letter-writing campaign, Unlock Democracy, whose open letter to the Government can be signed online, and the Electoral Reform Society.
See their Websites for details.
