THE AMERICA ONE NEWS
Jun 2, 2025  |  
0
 | Remer,MN
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge.
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge and Reasoning Support for Fantasy Sports and Betting Enthusiasts.
back  
topic
The Economist
The Economist
11 Jul 2024


NextImg:Britain’s general election was its least representative ever
Britain | Disproportional representation 

Britain’s general election was its least representative ever 

The rise of multi-party competition will build pressure for electoral reform

IT CAN SOUND like so much bleating from bad losers. Some members of the Conservative Party, which has dominated elections since the 19th century by mastering Britain’s first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system, do not much like being on the other end of a drubbing. Labour’s majority is a “mile wide and an inch deep”, grumbled Boris Johnson, a former prime minister. Other Tories gripe that there isn’t “any enthusiasm” for the party that just routed them in the general election on July 4th. The implication is that voters have handed Sir Keir Starmer, the new prime minister, a huge majority by accident.

On one level, this is nonsense. The rules of the game are clear. The aim, in FPTP, is to come first in as many constituencies as possible; votes for losing candidates do not count. Labour’s critics on the left, who carp that the party won more votes nationally under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn in 2017 and 2019, similarly struggle to grasp this basic fact.

Explore more

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Disproportional representation”

Why are British beach huts so expensive?

Scarcity and sentimentality drive the market

How the Gaza war affected the British election

Deciphering the striking success of independent candidates


The new frontline of British politics is just lovely

From the “left-behind” to the “well-ahead”


Why are British beach huts so expensive?

Scarcity and sentimentality drive the market

How the Gaza war affected the British election

Deciphering the striking success of independent candidates


The new frontline of British politics is just lovely

From the “left-behind” to the “well-ahead”


Britain’s Labour government has declared war on NIMBYs

The battle is likely to define its success