Metropol

I've decided that despite voting Lib Dem I'm not sure now having worked out the impact PR would have had on the House of Commons whether I really still could support it.

The change in seats would be:
-71 Conservative
-69 Labour
92 Liberal Democrat
-4 Democratic Unionist Party
5 Scottish National Party
-1 Sinn Fein
1 Plaid Cymru
5 Green
20 UK Independence Party
12 British National Party
2 Ulster Conservatives and Unionists - New Force
1 English Democrats
1 Traditional Unionist Voice
6 Others

The above uses the results from BBC Election website. The others maybe slightly flawed as I don't know how many candidates are included and so it may not be that under PR 6 of those would be elected. Around 45,000 votes equal one seat based on the turnout this time.

The key concern for me is it would lead to the BNP having an element of legitimacy. 12 MP's.

The fact them racists would be represented isn't a good enough argument, against it. They'd still be seen as the outcasts in parliament and it's true democracy.

wells wrote:The fact them racists would be represented isn't a good enough argument, against it. They'd still be seen as the outcasts in parliament and it's true democracy.

I agree yes it would be a true democracy. It just makes me feel uneasy, however I also guess that the additional publicity that they might receive would allow people to attack their views further and could actually benefit in reducing their share of the vote.

I'd assume there would be a system whereby a party would need to at least receive a certain percentage of the vote in order to qualify for a seat (say 5%). Therefore parliment would be safe from extremists

Aidy wrote:I'd assume there would be a system whereby a party would need to at least receive a certain percentage of the vote in order to qualify for a seat (say 5%). Therefore parliment would be safe from extremists

Well on that basis Parliament would be filled only with the three main parties. This would mean no representation for the Scottish and Welsh Nationalists along with all the Northern Ireland parties; and we wouldn't have our first Green MP.

This year UKIP received 3.1%, BNP 1.9%, SNP 1.7%, Greens 1%.

Yes, I think if you're going to do things based on percentage, there's no sense saying 'we'll all be equal, as long as you have over 10 per cent of the vote'. That's just silly.

That all we and good by you seem so have mist the point,

Seats to vote take place in a more local level, thus SNP and PC would have seats as there come in at 19.9% / 11.3%

This mean, BNP, UKIP, greens can all still win seats as im sure there can win 10% in the local area. in there level area! This happens in.

With PR the way John Cleese described for the SDP/Liberal alliance, one would have something like 3 or 5 votes... so the Greens and UKIP would probably see more support.

I will support PR if only the party with the largest number of seats forms the government.

The same coalition for ever and ever and ever and ever, and ever?

With a load of shitty little single-issue parties taking up valuable seats?

No.

Chie wrote:I will support PR if only the party with the largest number of seats forms the government.

The same coalition for ever and ever and ever and ever, and ever?

With a load of shitty little single-issue parties taking up valuable seats?

No.

There has to be a threshold though - otherwise it'd be possible and probable that a party with well under a third of the votes would assume control. We're not the States, we have 3 major parties and likely increased support for the minors.

Ironically, the Conservatives would probably have passed the threshold if we did have PR, of course people would also feel less inclined to vote for them.

WillPS wrote:

Chie wrote:I will support PR if only the party with the largest number of seats forms the government.

The same coalition for ever and ever and ever and ever, and ever?

With a load of shitty little single-issue parties taking up valuable seats?

No.

There has to be a threshold though - otherwise it'd be possible and probable that a party with well under a third of the votes would assume control. We're not the States, we have 3 major parties and likely increased support for the minors.

Ironically, the Conservatives would probably have passed the threshold if we did have PR, of course people would also feel less inclined to vote for them.

Strangely in the EU where PR is, the party with the largest share of the vote forms the government