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A-Level Politics - UK Politics > UK Politics - Electoral Systems > Flashcards

UK Politics - Electoral Systems Flashcards

1
Q

What is First Past the Post?

A

It is an electoral system where the candidate with the most number of votes is elected - victory is achieved even by having one more vote than other candidates. This can be known as the plurality system

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2
Q

Why was FPTP system in the 2024 general election regarded as disproportionate?

A

Labour was the main beneficiary of

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3
Q

How did labour benefit the most from FPTP in 2024?

A
  • they received just over 9.7 million votes, more than half a million votes down on 2019, yet their seat total more than doubled from 211 to 412
  • labour’s vote share climbed just 1.6% from 2019 to 33.7%. In 2017 under Jeremy corbyn, the party’s vote share was 40.0%
  • Keir Starmer’s own constituency support in Holborn and St Pancreas fell by more than 17% to 18,884
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4
Q

How did tories fair under the FPTP system in 2024?

A

Their vote share collapsed from 43.7% and 13.9mn votes in 2019 to 23.7% and 6.8mn votes and although their votes didn’t quite halve, the number of seats won fell to 121 which was under one-third of 2019s total of 365

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5
Q

What did reform UK do against the conservatives in 2024?

A

They decided to stand candidates in all constituencies meaning nationally, 14.3% of votes went to reform and in 170 of the 244 seats that conservative lost such as Poole, the vote was larger for reform than the margin of conservative defeat

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6
Q

What are the arguments for FPTP?

A
  • it is a very simple system for the voter which can encourage people to vote - this underpins the legitimacy of the result
  • strong government - traditionally FPTP provides a clear majority, promoting a more stable government as it gives the winning party a mandate to fulfil their manifesto
  • MP-constituency link
  • Centrist policies - FPTP ensures the majority of the UK is fairly represented in a two party system, therefore limiting extremists from gaining too much power
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7
Q

What are the arguments against FPTP

A
  • unequal votes as a voter in a safe seats’ vote will be worth less than somebody in a marginal seat so a voter might just vote for the party most likely to win the seat in their constituency
  • suppressed political diversity
  • only marginal seats matter
  • misrepresentation - extremists tend to be undermined, therefore reducing democracy as those who support them have a worthless vote and as parties are misrepresented it reduces voter choice and perhaps participation
  • wasted votes & tactical voting - voters may consider the most likely outcome of their constituency and vote for the ‘least bad’ party rather than their favourite
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8
Q

Why is there a pragmatic reason for the Conservatives to keep FPTP?

A
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9
Q

What are examples of FPTP hindering democracy?

A
  • 29.2% voted for Plaid Cymru in Ceredigion in Wales but they won the seat in 2017
  • 44% voted the the conservatives in Putney, who won on sub 50% of the vote
  • Clapham and Brixton hill in 2024 was at 56.5% for the labour winning candidate
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10
Q

What were the 2024 results in Hendon and how does it critique FPTP?

A

David Pinto of Labour won 38.43% of votes , beating conservatives Ameet Jogia who got 38.39, showing that only ‘marginal seats’ matter

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11
Q

How does FPTP work?

A

It operates on the basis of simple plurality - the UK is split into 650 constituencies and 1 MP is allowed per constituency

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12
Q

To form a majority government what must a party acquire?

A

326 seats out of 650 in the House of Commons

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13
Q

How are the arguments for FPTP discredited?

A
  • it isn’t decisive as two of the last four elections have been a hung parliament
  • it isn’t stable - in the last fifty years, UK governments have only last on average 60% of the time they could have which is less than PR-using countries e.g. Sweden
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14
Q

What are examples of votes being unequal under FPTP system?

A
  • In 2024, it took only 23,500 votes for labour MP’s to win a seat compared to over 820,000 per Reform UK MP and the Conservatives gained a seat for every 56000 votes per Tory MP
  • in 2015, UKIP gained nearly 4 million votes (12.6%) but only 1 seat and the SNP gained 4.7% of votes yet 56 seats. Similarly, reform gained 13.8 of the vote in 2024 yet only 5 seats
  • from 2010-2019 in general elections, both Lib Dem’s and Greens have had to gain significantly more votes/seat won e.g. in 2015, the greens needed 1,158 votes, whilst Lib Dem’s needed 302. Compared to labour who needed 40 and conservative who needed 34, this a a significant difference
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15
Q

How is the FPTP system misrepresenting?

A
  • In 3/5 last genreral elections, at least 50% of votes went to losing candidates and at the 2024 general election, a record high 58% of voters did not get an MP they voted for e.g. in constituencies such as Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, the MP was elected with less than 1 in 3 votes
  • in 2015, Alasdair McDonnell of the SDLP in Northern Ireland achieved 24.5% of the votes in his constituency of Belfast South and yet won the seat. In 2019, 12 seats were won with margins of less than 1%, with 1 seat being won with only 57 more votes
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16
Q

How have votes been wasted under FPTP system?

A
  • In 2024, 74% of votes were wasted which is the joint highest record with the 2015 election meaning that only 1 in 4 voters had a vote that made a difference
  • in 2019 71% of votes were wasted and 68% in 2017
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17
Q

Why do only marginal seats matter under FPTP?

A

There are such constituencies referred to as ‘safe states’, in which if you live there, your vote is worth very little as in that place, many seats haven’t changed in 100 years and have no opportunity to. Therefore, under FPTP, votes are decided by a few thousand ‘swing voters’ across a few constituencies

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18
Q

What evidence shows that only marginal seats matter?

A
  • If just 533 people had voted differently in 2017, there would have been a majority government
  • in 2019, 12 seats were won by less than 1% of the vote, 14 seats were won by between 1% and 2%, 141 seats were won by less than 10%, 18 seats were won with a majority of 60% or more
  • in 2015, 21 seats were won by more than 50% and this jumped to 35 seats in 2017 - showing the jump in the number of safe seats
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19
Q

Why is geography an issue of FPTP?

A

For example, in 2015, 2017, 2019, the SNP always dominated Scotland constituencies, however struggled elsewhere - in the 2016 Scottish parliament election SNP gained 63 total seats,with 59/73 constituency seats

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20
Q

Why may governments be seen to lack legitimacy under FPTP?

A

To win a constituency, only plurality is needed, meaning more people in total can vote against the winning candidate
- In 2024, Labour received only 34% of votes yet 412 seats due to a system called ‘winners bonus’ however this doesn’t correlate to Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party which gained more votes in 2019 than conservative but lost. Therefore this shows that Starmer’s government may lack legitimacy
- the Conservative Party took Bury North from Labour in 2019 by a majority of 0.22%

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21
Q

What are some examples of ‘safe seats’?

A
  • bootle - near Liverpool
  • Liverpool Walton - held by Labour with a 54.89% majority
  • Lewisham East - London - held by Labour with a 44.47% vote
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22
Q

What are examples of marginal seats in the UK?

A
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23
Q

What is tactical voting

A
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24
Q

What are examples of tactical voting?

A
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25
Q

How many votes did parties have to gain per seat in 2024?

A
  • conservative - 56,000
  • labour - 24,000
  • Lib Dems - 49,000
  • SNP - 79,000
  • Plaid Cymru - 49,000
  • Green - 485,000
  • reform - 823,000
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26
Q

Why may the alternatives to FPTP be an issue?

A

Scrapping FPTP with more likely lead to Coalition or minority governments forming which can sometimes be difficult when passing legislation or generally running the country - e.g. in 2010, Nick Clegg joined David Cameron in government however was often undermined, leading to a Lib Dem failure in the following election, despite pushing Cameron to push for same sex legislation etc,

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27
Q

What does the 2011 Referendum on FPTP show?

A

67.9% voted in favour of keeping FPTP

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28
Q

What is meant by proportional representation?

A

It is an umbrella term for a number of different voting system in which the proportion of votes a party receives is equal to the proportion of seats

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29
Q

What are the arguments for Proportional representation?

A
  • it may lead to an increase in participation due to there being less wasted votes
  • promotes coalition which could be positive
  • removes winners bonus
  • more political diversity
  • pluralism - range of parties
  • fairness - in 2024 under FPTP, reform gained 14.3% of votes yet only 5 seats?
  • more democratic
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30
Q

What are two types of Proportional Representation?

A

Party List and AMS (additional members system)

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31
Q

What is Party List?

A
  • it is the most proportional system of Proportional Representation, also known as National Party List, where each party lists a certain amount of MP’s for their party in a 650 seat House of Commons, and the % of votes that a party obtains becomes the of MP’s in parliament e.g. in a fictitious 100 seat parliament, a party obtaining 40% of votes will get 40 of the top MP’s on their list a seat in parliament
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32
Q

What are the arguments against Party List?

A
  • it generally leads to a coalition government. This can be seen in the 2021-23 Scottish parliament where SNP and Green’s formed a coalition
  • it raises an issue of legitimacy as there is no MP-constituency link, meaning MP’s cannot be held accountable by the public e.g. Mike Amesbury
  • could lead to extremist parties having more chance of gaining power
  • it gives too much power to parties, especially to party leaders and Chief Whips who elect the lists
  • it is ‘unwieldy’ - 650 MP’s in the UK would mean 650 names on a list which isn’t very practical as it is useless to the smaller parties such as the Green’s
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33
Q

What is AMS?

A

It is a ‘hybrid’ voting system that uses a combination of both FPTP and the party list system. This means the electorate must make two choices when they vote - the first for a candidate in their constituency and the second being an election of just a party that people choose as a way of ‘topping up’ the constituency vote so that parties are fairly represented

34
Q

What are the advantages of AMS?

A
  • it reduces the winners bonus system as the party list system makes the vote-seat correlation more equal e.g. the Scottish parliament election 2016 where Green got 6 seats from party list which was more than conservative and labour
  • removes tactical voting
  • encourages more parties to run which helps participation
  • retains MP-constituency link
  • shown by Scotland, coalitions may be stable
  • in Germany there is a 5% threshold to limit extremists
35
Q

What are the negatives of AMS?

A
  • more likely to form a coalition which may not be stable e.g. Wales and Scotland
  • if party list is a closed list then it gives too much powers to party leaders
  • it encourages extremists - in 2008, the BNP won a seat in the GLA which is very multicultural
  • different types of representatives may cause confusion and blur accountability - there is a constituency and a regional MSP
36
Q

What were the results of the 2003 Scottish parliament election under AMS?

A
  • Labour gained 663,585 constituency votes (34.6%) and 46 constituency seats however gained 29.3% Party list votes yet only 4 top up seats
  • SNP only gained 9 constituency seat’s however with 20.9% party list votes, gained 18 top up seats
  • Conservative, Lib Dem’s and Green were represented fairly
  • extremists such as the Scottish socialist party were fairly represented also , gaining only 6 total seats (4.7%) and 0 constituency seats
37
Q

What did the 2003 Scottish Parliament election lead to?

A

A coalition was formed between labour and Lib Dem as labour only gained 38.8% ,of seats, so failed to form a majority

38
Q

What were the results of the 2016 Welsh Senedd Assembly?

A
  • Labour won, gaining 34.7% of constituency votes and 27 seats,however only 2 top up seats with 31.5% party list votes
  • extremist party’s such as UKIP were undermined, gaining 12.5% of constituency votes yet 0 seats, however they gained 7 top up seats with 13% of the vote
  • smaller parties such as the Lib Dem’s were undermined gaining 1 total seats with 7.7% of the vote
39
Q

What happened as a result of the Welsh senedd election 2016?

A
  • there was only a recorded 46% turnout, labour didn’t get enough votes to form a majority with only 48.3%, so formed a minority
  • devolved party Plaid Cymru came second with 20% of seats
40
Q

What were the results like for the 2021 Greater London Assembly?

A
  • labour and conservative gained 44% and 36% of total seats
  • smaller parties such as greens did well - they gained 12% of the total seats with 3 top up seats from 11.80% party list vote
  • Lib Dem’s were undermined
41
Q

What were the effects of the 2021 London Assembly election?

A

Labour failed to get a majority so had to form a coalition

42
Q

What happened in the 2017 general election under FPTP?

A
43
Q

What is STV?

A

Known as ‘single transferable vote’ SV is a form of PR, created in Britain where rather than 1 person representing everyone in a small area, bigger areas elect a small group of representatives. On election day these names go into a ballot and voters rank them from best to worst (1-5). To get elected, a candidate needs a quota and if this is reached, any remaining ones go to 2nd favourite candidate. However if the quota isn’t reached, the least popular candidate is removed and their votes are moved to the voters’ 2nd favourite candidate and so on until the quota is reached

44
Q

What are the arguments for STV?

A
  • it avoids wasted votes
  • very democratic e.g. Impact on NI elections
  • it guarantees widespread representation both socially and politically e.g. Christian and Protestant representation in NI
  • better for smaller parties
  • widespread choice on MP’s
45
Q

What are the arguments against STV?

A
  • it is complex and requires political understanding of 5 candidates
  • it generally leads to coalition governments
  • it forces parties to behave in more consensus ways
  • it may weaken the MP-people link as constituencies have to be larger e.g. for Westminster elections, 6 members would mean just 100 constituencies such as Lambeth and Croydon (600000 population)
  • could lead to extremists however this is limited due to ‘thresholds’
46
Q

What are examples of the Impact of STV?

A
  • in its history, the Northern Ireland Assembly has been suspended 6 times - meaning nobody is sitting in parliament as parties in a coalition can’t decide on anything
  • the 2022 suspension came as a result of Brexit disagreements over the speaker, leaving it suspended for two years.
  • in February 2021, DUP MLA’s threatened to bring down the assembly and force an early election in protest at Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal which would put a border on the Irish Sea. In Feb 2022, First Minster of the DUP, Paul Givan, resigned
47
Q

What are other systems outside plurality and PR?

A

Majoritarian systems

48
Q

What is the AV (alternative vote) system and how does it work?

A

The voter puts a number by each candidate, from their favourite to their least favourite. After the votes are counted, if more than half the voters have the same favourite, that person becomes MP, however if no candidate gets over 50%, the counters remove who came last however rather than throwing the votes away, each vote is moved to the voters’ 2nd favourite preference and this is repeated until a majority is reached

49
Q

What are the advantages of AV?

A
  • it limits wasted votes meaning there is also less need for tactical voting - candidates will be incentivised to run less divisive campaigns as they will want to be their opponents’ voters’ second favourite
  • limits extremists
50
Q

What are the disadvantages of AV?

A
  • counting and processing votes may take a long time
  • may be disproportionate
  • the winning MP may lack support and therefore legitimacy as they may have only won due to 2nd preference votes
51
Q

Where has AV been shown to lack support?

A

The UK 2011 Alternative vote referendum in which the public were asked to vote for either FPTP or AV

52
Q

What were the results of the 2011 UK AV referendum?

A

There was only a 42.2% turnout which shows the lack of public interest in the different voting systems, however of those that voted, 67.90% voted for FPTP being retained and only 32.10% voted for AV - this shows its lack of support amongst the public

53
Q

What is SV and how does it work?

A

Candidates vote ‘x’ to mark their favourite candidate and then their second favourite but this isn’t compulsory. If no candidate gets over 50%, the top two continue to a ‘run off’ vote

54
Q

What are the advantages of SV?

A
  • it is a simpler process for the voter
  • it encourages a more positive style of campaigning as candidates desire the 2nd preferences of third parties
  • maintains local link
  • fewer safe seats, closer contests
55
Q

What are the disadvantages of SV?

A
  • It only lets voters express two choices, meaning it is possible for a high number of voters’ first choices to be excluded and for their 2nd preference not to be in round two
  • in almost 2 decades of the London mayor election, only in 2016 has a mayor won more than 50% of the total ballots
  • if the winning candidate doesn’t have 50% of the electorate in terms of 1st preference votes, a candidate can win with fewer 1st preference votes e.g. Sadiq Khan won the London Mayor election with 40% in 2021
56
Q

Where is SV used in the UK?

A

London mayoral elections and Police and crime commissioners in England and Wales

57
Q

What are some results of SV elections?

A
  • 2016 London Mayor election - Sadiq Khan of labour won 44% of the votes in first round and 57% in the second round and beat Zac Goldsmith of Conservative
  • 2000 - Ken Livingstone (independent) won with just 39% first round votes and 59% after the second round
  • in the 2024 Surrey Police and Crime commissioner election, it only had a 29.9% turnout
  • in the 2012 London Mayoral election, Boris Johnson won with 44% first round votes and 51.5% 2nd round round, narrowly beating Ken Livingstone who achieved 40.3% first round votes and 48.5% 2nd round votes
58
Q

What has happened in recent elections using STV?

A
  • 2007 Northern Irish election - coalition of SUP and Sinn Fein, a total of 64 seats and 56% national vote
  • 2016 Northern Irish election - coalition between DUP and Sinn Fein, total of 66 seats with 53% of the vote
  • 2022 Northern Irish election - Sinn Fein won 27 seats and the DUP won 35, but issues around protocol prevented a power-sharing government from being formed
59
Q

What has happened in recent elections using AMS?

A
  • 2011 Scottish election - SNP minority formed after achieving only 69 seats with 45% of the constituency votes and 44% of the regional vote
  • 2016 Welsh Election - coalition of labour and Lib Dem’s, after a total of 34 seats with 42% of the constituency votes and 38% of the regional vote being achieved. This gave Lib Dem’s far more influence than their vote gave, however this election also allowed UKIP to gain 12.5% of the constituency vote share, reflecting extremist party influence
60
Q

How have different electoral systems given parties fair/unfair representation?

A
  • under AMS, conservatives have had their wide spread support translated to regional seats, improving their influence which was minimal in Scotland since MT
  • small parties can be ‘over represented’ e.g. in 2007, SNP won 47 seats to Labours 46, but an SNP agreement with Green allowed them to form a minority - meaning Green exercised lots more influence than they gained electorally
  • elections in all devolved nations since 1998/99 show there are a number of parties who have a chance of forming a government e.g. the SNP won 56 seats in the 2015 general election, replacing labour in representing Scotland in Westminster
61
Q

What are key examples of third party influence?

A
  • televised leader debates prior to elections used first in 2010 with 3 party leaders and in 2015 with 7 leaders - in 2010, Nick Clegg’s impressive performances allowed him to form a coalition with conservatives
  • third parties can exert pressure on major parties and have influence without holding many seats e.g. UKIP in 2015, led to the conservatives calling for a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU
62
Q

What is the impact of UK electoral systems on voters and voter choice?

A
63
Q

What are referendums and how are they used?

A

A referendum is a vote given to the public (direct democracy) based on a single issue which is different to an election, in which voters’ vote for a candidate to represent them (representative democracy)

64
Q

How did the Brexit referendum take place?

A

UKIP placed lots of pressure on Cameron to hold it, to which he agreed, thinking most people would vote to remain. However in protest at the conservative government, this wasn’t the case which caused him to stand down.

65
Q

Why may a referendum be called?

A
  • a result of public pressure - this was shown with the SNP in Scotland during the independence referendum in 2014 and in the 2016 EU referendum which came after conservatives thought they would lose voters to UKIP
  • to resolve controversial issues in a party such as the conservatives with both brexiteers and remainers
  • it may be called as a part of an agreement between parties - the AV referendum of 2011 was part of the coalition between the conservatives and the Liberal Democrat’s
66
Q

What have been some key UK referendums?

A
  • 1979 Scottish Parliament referendum
  • 1997 Scottish Parliament referendum with tax-varying powers
  • 1997 Welsh Assembly referendum
  • 1998 London Mayor referendum
  • 1998 Northern Irish referendum
  • 2011 UK AV referendum
  • 2014 Scottish independence referendum
  • 2016 EU referendum
67
Q

What was the outcome of the 1979 Scottish parliament referendum?

A

51.6% voted ‘yes’ compared to 48.4% ‘no’ in a 63.2% turnout - however 40% of the overall electorate needed to vote ‘yes’ for this to be enacted, yet only 33% did therefore the act was repealed

68
Q

What was the outcome of the 1997 Scottish parliament referendum with tax-varying powers?

A

In a 60.4% turnout, 74.3% voted ‘yes’ compared to 25.7% that voted ‘no’ however only 63.5% voted ‘yes’ for the part with tax-varying powers

69
Q

Why was the 1997 Scottish parliament referendum introduced and what was the result?

A

The labour manifesto in 1997 committed to giving both Scotland and Wales a referendum over whether power should be devolved to the and due to majority, the Scottish parliament and National Welsh assembly was established

70
Q

What was the outcome of the 1998 Northern Irish Referendum?

A

There was an 81.0% turnout, of which 71.1% voted in favour of approving the Good Friday Agreement compared to 28.9% who opposed it, therefore ending the ‘night of troubles’ and confirming the Ireland Peace Process

71
Q

What was the outcome of the 2011 ‘FPTP or AV’ referendum?

A

There was a 42.2% turnout, of which 67.9% wanted to retain the FPTP system compared to only 32.1% who wanted an AV system

72
Q

What was the outcome of the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum and why was it held?

A

It was held due to pressure from the Scottish government and allowed 26-17 year olds to vote. The referendum gained an 84.6% turnout, however 55.3% voted against Scottish independence and only 44.7% for it

73
Q

What was the outcome of the 1998 ‘creating an elected London Mayor’ referendum and why was it held?

A

Labour made a push under Tony Blair for the further democratisation of the UK, and despite only achieving a 34% turnout, 72.0% of those voted for and only 28% against

74
Q

What are the consequences of referendums in the UK?

A
  • parliament always remains sovereign so governments aren’t required to follow the decision of voters (seen in the 1997 Scottish parliament referendum)
  • no referendum is legally binding as even if the government said it was, they could just enforce another law to repeal this
75
Q

What consequences came from the Brexit referendum?

A

MP’s such as Dominic Grieve claimed it was an ‘advisory referendum’ however other MP’s such as John redwood opposed this view

76
Q

What are examples of Referendum thresholds and what are the consequences of it?

A
77
Q

Why are referendums good for the UK?

A
78
Q

Why aren’t referendums good for the UK?

A
79
Q

What are examples of the advantages of FPTP?

A
80
Q

What are examples of the disadvantages of FPTP?

A

A-Level Politics - UK Politics (6 decks)

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