UNIT 7: THE UK ELECTORAL SYSTEM

The Basics about the UK General Elections

More than 45 million people aged 18 or above vote for a new Member of Parliament (MP) for
the area in which they live (Constituency). There are 650 constituencies in the UK, each with
around 70,000 voters. Elections must be held at least every five years in Britain – up to the
PM to choose the date. UK elections are traditionally held on a Thursday.

Preparation for the British Elections

There should be at least three weeks of campaigning. Every party in the constituency must
have a candidate. Some candidates can be independent too. The different candidates can
engage in TV debates to prove their worth.

The First Past the Post Electoral System

Britain has a first past the post electoral system. In each of the 650 constituencies, the
candidate who gets the most votes wins (even if it is less than 50%). For example, if the
winner gets 36% of the vote they still take the seat. In the First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral
system, the votes are easy to count and the person with the highest number of votes often
becomes the representative of a particular constituency. The Party with the highest number of
seats in Parliament forms the government and its leader becomes the Prime Minister. For a
party to have a parliamentary majority, it needs 326 seats or more.

A Hung Parliament

If no party has such a majority then there is a hung parliament. The smaller parties can then
join forces to out-vote the government. This makes it difficult to pass laws. The first time it
happened was in February 1974. During that election, the Labor Party won the majority of
votes but was 301 versus 297 and it was short of a majority by 17 seats. The Labor Minister
Harold Wilson took office because the Conservative Party was unable to form a coalition with
the Liberal Party.

Options in a Hung Parliament

• Formal coalition (alliance with another party)

• Confidence and supply
• Minority government
• If none of these options work there would have to be another election
Recent Examples of Hung Parliaments

• Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government of 2010–15

• The minority Conservative government since 2017 which relied on a ‘confidence and
supply’ agreement with Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MPs from Northern Ireland
in order to stay in office.

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Current Strengths

Plurality rule is an ancient and hence thoroughly familiar system for British voters, dating
back to medieval times. It is simple for people to cast a vote (just mark one X against your top
party/candidate). Votes are easy to count, and voters can easily understand how the result
happened. In British conditions, plurality rule in the past tended to produce majorities for the
leading party. This ‘leader’s bonus’ then allowed single-party governments to be formed with
House of Commons majorities. Advocates argue that this produces ‘strong’ government
which is both what voters want and an important feature of UK democracy as a whole.

Current Weaknesses

Plurality rule always advantages the leading parties, those that can pile up enough votes to
create many ‘stronghold’ seats. In the UK, this benefits either the Conservatives or Labor
(depending who’s in the lead locally), and now the Scottish National Party (SNP) in Scotland.
The voting system heavily discriminates against parties with dispersed national support that
only run second or third in many seats – especially the Liberal Democrats (plus UKIP in 2010
and 2015), who secure millions of votes but few or no Westminster MPs.

Calls for Changing the Electoral system

The weaknesses of the First Past the Post electoral system has led many voices in the UK to
call for other electoral systems, including:

 Alternative Vote: This system is used to elect committees of the House of Lords and
House of Commons
 The Proportional representation system of Single Transferrable Vote (STV): It is
mostly used in local elections in Scotland and Northern Ireland.