A summary
Now, in the Twenty-first Century, we can finally give our MPs a vote in the House which is itself proportional to how the people voted. No need for the clumsy Alternative Vote systems that have been the only way to attempt this till now. This proposed reform builds on the speed and simplicity of the present single-vote system to
combine the best of First-past-the-post with a genuine PR system.
It could be achieved without major constitutional change, and would be made
possible by the introduction of electronic voting in the House (something which
has already been under consideration).
Simulated outcomes both of this PFPTP ProFirst system and of the now-rejected AV system can be seen by clicking on the items in the box on the left. In outline, the PFPTP ProFirst system works as set out below, and is given in more detail on the following pages.
- Keep the present first-past-the-post system intact, with the same (or fewer)
constituencies each with a single MP – the one, as now, who polled the largest
number of local votes.
- Each MP’s individual vote in the House would then have an assigned value or
“count” numerically equal to that MP’s electoral poll, but scaled by their
party’s share of the total vote throughout the country.
Thus an MP representing a party with few seats but a much larger proportion of
the popular vote and who personally had achieved a large share of the local
vote, would carry a voting power or “count” in the House much larger than that
of an MP belonging to a party with a large number of seats but a relatively
smaller proportion of the popular vote and who had only just scraped in on the
local vote.
The sum total of all MPs’ votes in the House would numerically and
proportionally equal the sum total of electoral votes cast for every party that won at least one seat. And the total of
each party’s MPs’ “counts” would exactly equal the total number of votes which
that party had received. Independent MPs would carry their own vote “count”.
This would mean that almost every voter would be represented, and could see how their
vote had contributed on every issue. Those who had not voted for the member
elected to represent their local constituency would know that their local MP did not
carry their vote at all in the House and did not benefit from it, but that all MPs of the party they voted
for did in fact together carry the whole of their otherwise “wasted” vote.
In other words, virtually every vote cast in the election would count exactly
proportionally at every division in the House. Voters would be re-assured that:
Your vote will Count ... and Count ... and Count ...