Proportional Voting Powers for UK MPs

[jedaisoul]

The lack of an outright majority for any party in the recent UK General Election has raised the issue of proportional representation (PR) once again. The coalition government is proposing to hold a referendum on Transferable Votes, but I'm not sure that addresses the real problem: under-representation at Westminster of the minor parties. Also, I think that, for all its faults, the "first past the post" system has some important benefits. So I've written a paper suggesting a way of introducing a measure of proportionality whilst retaining the "first past the post" (FPTP) electoral system.

 

I include below the abstract from the paper. The whole paper can be read and/or downloaded here.

 

ABSTRACT

 

This paper suggests a way of improving the proportionality of representation in parliament without changing the "first past the post" electoral system. The idea is that, instead of each MP having one vote in parliamentary divisions, they would have voting powers proportional to the percentage of the votes cast for their party in the general election.

 

This would make all votes cast for parties represented at Westminster of equal value in parliamentary divisions. What it would not do is enfranchise the 1.75 million voters who, in the 2010 general election, voted for parties which did not win a seat at Westminster. That said, it could represent a significant improvement in the proportionality of representation at Westminster.

 

I hope that this will stimulate a debate on the topic...