Advantages and Disadvantages of FPTP

Question 1

Advantage: Simplicity

Answer 1

• easy to understand and operate
• ballot paper is simple
• electors only vote once and counting the votes is straightforward and
  speedy
• voters are familiar with the current system

Question 2

Advantage: Clear Outcome

Answer 2

• elections normally produce a clear winner

- party securing the largest number of votes often achieves a majority

Question 3

Advantage: Strong and Stable Government

Answer 3

• by favouring the major parties and giving the winning party an additional
  bonus of seats FPTP produces strong government
• single-party governments with working majorities exercise significant control over the legislative process
• can fulfil their mandate by enacting the policy commitments they made in their manifestos
• can act decisively in times of crisis

Question 4

Advantage: Responsible Government

Answer 4

• voters given clear choice between the governing party and the main opposition party
• the doctrine of the mandate obliges
  the winning party to put its proposals into effect

Question 5

Advantage: Effective Representation

Answer 5

• single-member constituencies provide a clear link between voters and their elected representative with one MP representing the interests of the area

Question 6

Advantage: Keeps Out Extremist Parties

Answer 6

• parties on the far right and far left have not prospered in the UK
• FPTP makes it difficult for them to win seats at Westminster

Question 7

Disadvantage: Disproportional Outcomes

Answer 7

• number of parliamentary seats won by parties at a general election
  does not reflect accurately the share of the vote they achieved
• the two main parties tend to win more seats than their vote merits
  with the lead party given an additional winner’s bonus
• a party can form a majority government having won only 35% of the vote
• third parties and small parties significantly underrepresented in parliament
  Since 1945- party coming second in the popular vote has twice won
  more seats than its opponent
  In 1951- Conservatives won more
  seats than Labour despite winning fewer votes
  In 1974- Labour won more seats and the Conservatives most votes

Question 8

Disadvantage: Electoral ‘deserts’

Answer 8

• creates electoral deserts (parts of the country where a party has little or no representation)
• Conservatives won 34% of the vote in north east England in 2017 but only 10% of seats; Labour’s 28% vote share in the south east gave them 10% of the region’s seats
• south west England, Liberal Democrats won 15% of the vote but
  just one of 55 seats
• Conservatives perform more strongly in southern and rural England than in northern and urban England
• Labour does significantly better in northern England and Wales than in the south

Question 9

Disadvantage: Plurality rather than Majority Support

Answer 9

• victorious candidates do not need to secure a majority of the votes cast
  2010- record 2/3 of MPs did not achieve a majority in their constituency
• low turnout meant that most MPs were supported by less than one in three of the electorate
• the proportion of MPs winning
  a majority of votes rose to 73% in 2017 as support for smaller parties
  collapsed
  In 2005- Labour won a parliamentary majority with 35% of the UK
  vote (1935 was the last time that the governing party won a majority of the popular vote)
  In 2010- Conservative and Liberal Democrats won 59% of the vote

Question 10

Disadvantage: Votes are Unequal Value

Answer 10

• does not meet the ‘one person, one vote, one value’ principle
• disparities in constituency size mean that votes have different values
• vote cast in a small constituency is more likely to influence the outcore
  than one cast in a larger constituency
• votes are wasted because
  they do not help to elect an MP

Question 11

Disadvantage: Limited Choice

Answer 11

• voters denied an effective choice as only one candidate stands for each party
• voters cannot choose between different candidates from the same party
• many constituencies are safe seats where one party has a lead
• supporters of other parties have little prospect of seeing their
  candidate win
• voters may engage in tactical
  voting
• evident at the 1997 general election

Question 12

1997 General Election

Answer 12

1997- Tony Blair’s Labour Party achieved a swing of 10.2% from the Conservatives giving 418 Labour MPs and majority of 179
- labour advanced across the country gaining marginal seats and safe Conservative seats
- Conservatives received 30% of the
vote left without MPs in Scotland and Wales
- Liberal Democrats won 46 seats
- Lib Dems and Labour benefited from tactical voting whilst lost 50 seats
- Labour voters switched to the Lib Dems to defeat Conservatives
- voters recognised that Labour and Lib Dems ideologically similar

Question 13

Disadvantage: Divisive Politics

Answer 13

• 1960s and 1970s argued brought adversarial politics
• small shifts in voting produced frequent changes of government
• led to instability as parties able to overturn policies introduced by rivals
• 1979 to 2010 contributed to
  long periods of one-party rule

Question 14

Disadvantage: no longer does what it’s supposed to

Answer 14

• Professor John Curtice argues less effective at delivering supporters view (single-party gov and winner’s bonus)
• less effective in persuading electors not to vote for smaller parties
• combined vote for Labour and the Conservatives lower in 2010 and 2015 than in other postwar elections
• support for the Lib Dems hit 23% in 2010,
• UKIP and Greens recorded their best ever performances in 2015
• Parties other than Labour and the Conservatives are winning more seats
  in the HOC
• Lib Dems over 50 seats between 2001 and 2010, SNP won 56 seats in 2015
  2017- parties other than Labour and Conservatives won 70 seats.
• number of marginal seats has declined (until 2017) so fewer
  seats change hands at general elections