WESTMINSTER’S electoral system is creating imbalances in society with “random slithers” of voters such as homeowners having a disproportionate influence on election results, campaigners have warned.
The ditching the use of First Past the Post (FPTP) to vote in MPs is the subject of renewed debate ahead of the next General Election, with calls to move to proportional representation (PR) as used for Holyrood instead.
New research carried out by the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) has suggested it is why the impact of soaring costs of rent are being ignored by the main UK political parties.
A blog published by the campaign group has highlighted that across the UK, in the 30 most safe seats there are just 13 constituencies where there are more renters than owners – adding up to about 983 renters.
But in the seats with the smallest majorities – including Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, East Dunbartonshire, Moray and West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine – there are 325,000 more property owners than renters.
Thea Ridley-Castle, research and policy officer for ERS, wrote: “It makes sense then that parties are touting policies such as lengthening mortgage periods (Labour), bringing in funds for grants if your mortgage has increase by more than 10% (LibDems) and offering people on fixed-term rate the opportunity to lock in new deals up to six months ahead (Conservatives).
“They need to appeal to current mortgage holders and ensure owners that current house prices will not decrease, in order to win voter support in key marginal areas.”
She added: “When all voters are represented fairly in parliament through proportional representation, politicians can appeal to any group of voters to try and win their support.
“Safe-seats and therefore marginal seats, and the demographic make-up of those within those seats (in this case homeowners), are not the only ones which parties aim their policies towards.”
Researcher Stuart Donald has also highlighted issues with FPTP in a guest blog published by the Equality Trust, arguing it forces voters into being in one of two camps and is skewed in favour of right-wing parties.
“Because of the size of the middle class, if you only give them two parties to vote for then most of them – whether they are Tories consciously or not – being middle class means having something to lose, such as taxable income or a house,” he said.
“So they vote for no change which means low tax and low government spending, rather than the risk of voting for a party that is going to do stuff which you are not going to value.
“It is the basic point that skews the whole thing in favour of the right-wing parties – as the right-wing parties are typically the ones that will advocate low tax and no change.
“That doesn’t happen in PR countries as they have many more parties, and so people are not compartmentalised into these coalitions.”
Donald, who is an independence supporter, told the Sunday National the argument could be used to help convince Labour or “default No” voters of the case for Yes, as Westminster is unlikely to ditch FPTP.
He added: “There is idea that whenever you talk about electoral reform or FPTP people think it is that nice to have move to PR because it is a slightly better version of democracy than we have got today.
“But the story I am trying to tell is this whole system you can say is the driver for why we are so-right wing, why we can’t ever get a left-leaning progressive government.
“Whenever they get into power they can’t behave that way because they have to have an eye on the electorate.”
The ERS has a petition calling for an end to the “chaos” of FPTP, which has collected nearly 130,000 signatures out of a target of 150,000.
Willie Sullivan, senior director for Scotland at the ERS, said: “The unfairness of FPTP means that random slithers of the electorate have a hugely disproportionate influence on election results, and therefore the actions of political parties.
“Analysis shows that homeowners make up the majority of voters in many of the most marginal seats (from the 2019 election), which parties have to focus on to win.
“This highlights how FPTP can create imbalances in our politics that risk seeing large segments of the country being effectively ignored by politicians and parties; as we’ve seen with the current focus on homeownership.
“This is why we need a proportional voting system for Westminster where everyone’s vote counts and the voice of all people in all parts of the country is heard clearly in Parliament and in government.”
A spokesperson for the Equality Trust, which is campaigning on the issue together with pressure groups including Compass and Tax Justice UK, said: “The Equality Trust is proud to be an active player in a transformative campaign to steer away from the UK’s First-Past-the-Post electoral system, in a bid to achieve our mission of dismantling entrenched structural inequalities of income, wealth, and power.
“We envision a new democracy that uplifts seldom heard voices and champions fairness for every citizen.
“By advocating for electoral reform, we hope to see a society where every individual’s vote counts, prosperity is shared, and genuine representation becomes the cornerstone of a thriving and equitable nation.”
