A democracy, in its purest sense, is a method by which the public defer their decision making to politicians. The very word comes from the Greek ‘demos’, people, and ‘kratia’, power. Elections, it follows, are the bridge between the public and politics. The thing is, it’s never quite that simple.

Behind your ballot lives a vast bureaucracy. In essence, this exists to answer the fundamental question: How to transfer votes into representation?

To give you a bit of context, 43 out of the 45 countries in Europe seem to agree, all opting for Proportional Representation systems. The UK has got this wrong. Is it the Brexit spirit, the ‘Global Britain’, the ‘Britannia Unchained’ mindset that separates us from our contemporaries on elections? Quite frankly, the answer is no. The UK, long before joining, and eventually leaving, the EU, has had a First Past the Post electoral system.

Essentially, this means that the candidate in a constituency with the most votes wins. This sounds logical, yet in practise, it is another story. Take an animal kingdom. If Bear gets 35% of the vote, Rabbit 32%, Leopard 32% and Giraffe 1%, then since the Bear has the largest share, he now represents the kingdom. Yet not only did Bear only have 1 in 3 voting for him, but Rabbit and Leopard voters receive no representation, despite making up 64% of the vote.

Only in an animal kingdom, you would think. Take the 2005 general election, where Blair received only 35% of the vote. Or in 2015, the Conservatives won with just 36.9% of the vote. I could continue. In fact, in the post war period, no government has ever achieved more than 50% of the vote. A system that sets about to please the majority now looks to be rather lost in the woods.

First Past the Post has been responsible for much of the democratic malaise we see rampant today. In 2004, in the presence of unprecedented levels of apathy, the choice not to vote, the Government commissioned the Power Inquiry. As we all know too well coming from the ‘safe seat’ of Hertford and Stortford, there are simply some seats where voting may seem pointless. Take Horsham, a constituency that has been Conservative since no less than 1880. Jeremy Quinn, their local MP, got 56% of the vote in 2019, hence the other 44% were denied representation. How can this possibly be democratic?

Not only did the fallout of FPTP warrant the Power Inquiry, but the findings suggested that a move to proportional representation would increase political participation.

I find it hard to understand why FPTP remains unchallenged, it was only in last week’s budget where Rishi promised to be ‘honest and fair in all that we do’. The truth is FPTP is profoundly unfair both to the public and politicians. Take 2019, where the SNP racked up 3.9% of the vote, receiving a whopping 48 seats in return. Then we have the Greens, 2.7%, yet only 1 seat. Now, I understand that the Greens legalising all drugs doesn’t sit at the top of most of our agendas, but this is blatantly unfair. 

So, with such convincing evidence against First Past the Post, there remain two questions. What’s the alternative, and why isn’t it in place already?

The solution is Proportional Representation. In a very modest fashion, Proportional Representation is largely what it says on the tin. On a national scale, if a party get 3% of the votes, they receive 3% of the seats…voila. The election plea, “Every Vote Matters” finally rings true, there are no “safe seats” and every voter gets an equal representation. There is no illusion why 43/45 of European states adopt this practise - it is fair, transparent and egalitarian.

Yet, conventional wisdom would suggest PR creates many parties in power, hence slowing down the cogs of lawmakers. Logically, this may be true - but at the expense of compromise. Politics today is as polarised as it has ever been, too much energy is devoted at political party points scoring - a viewing of Prime Ministers Questions is all that is needed to grasp that concept. What better system is there than PR to lance the boil that is plaguing modern politics?

Proportional Representation is often dismissed by individuals as it would remove the constituency link to an MP. This is also untrue. In fact, PR has been shown to work all over the UK. The Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh Governments and the London Assembly all have PR for their elections. They each use the Additional Member System where PR maintains the Constituency MPs – so it can be done.

On the international stage, the five most stable countries according to the Fragile States Index all use PR (Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark and Finland). If Britain is to live up to the business capital, the Brexit-believing Cabinet proclaim it to be, the UK needs to be seen as stable. Proportional Representation will serve that purpose.

So, why hasn’t it been put in place already for general elections in the UK? Unfortunately, a simple lesson in public choice theory is all that is needed to understand this. Labour and the Conservatives currently benefit from the FPTP ‘winners bonus’, and hence, in a true Machiavellian sense, opt to keep the archaic process in place.

I return to my original definition of democracy as people and power: it is time the government stops acting in favour of the party they belong to, and act in the interest of the country. Democracy is in a state of emergency. Last year Cambridge University found that 57% of the world democratic electorate were dissatisfied - a report that also found satisfaction in proportional democracies was markedly higher. 

There is a growing view that FPTP isn’t providing for the electorate of today. Since majoritarian democracies are no longer serving the 51%, an existential hole has been left at the heart of the political institutions we have been taught to admire.

Proportional representation is the antidote. Not only does it have the potential to shift the political paradigm from polarisation to compromise, but it holds the key to re-franchising and rejuvenating the very strata of the UK electorate who have for so long been downtrodden by the political process. It is not only European countries that use PR, but there are also former UK colonies that once had FPTP - Australia changed to PR 1948, New Zealand in 1993. At least 80% of OECD countries use some form of PR: ‘Global Britain’ is simply behind the curve.

 But what can you do about it? If you disagree with this article, write an opposing one to be published and send it to editor@thestudenteconomist.co.uk, and if you agree, Join Make Votes Matter East Herts, an organisation that is campaigning locally for proportional representation and looking to engage with students like you. Oh, and get on it, because we might just need all 51% of you.

Message from Make Votes Matter East Herts Founder Stephen Skinner:

Our launch meeting is on Zoom on 18th March 8 pm. Interested? Then email this address for more details.

Email: mvm.eastherts@gmail.com

www.makevotesmatter.org.uk

Twitter: @makevotesmatter

Facebook: www.facebook.com/MakeVotesMatter/