Sir, – While the UK is undoubtedly a democracy, the first past the post (FPTP) electoral system produces results that are neither fair nor proportionate. In the recent election, Labour obtained 9.7 million votes, which was just over a third of the overall vote, yet obtained 412 seats, representing two-thirds of the seats in the House of Commons. In contrast, the Reform Party obtained just over four million votes that represented 14.3 per cent of the vote, yet only obtained five seats, which is less than 1 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons.
It should be recalled that in the 2015 general election, Ukip, the forerunner to the Reform Party, received 3.9 million votes, representing 12.6 per cent of the votes, but obtained just one seat. In the same election, the Scottish National Party (SNP) received 1.4 million votes, representing 4.7 per cent of the UK electorate, but obtained 56 seats. The SNP seats can perhaps be explained away by the concentration of their vote to Scotland.
However, the effective disenfranchisement of 3.9 million votes cannot be explained away and in the following year this disenfranchised vote undoubtedly contributed to the Brexit vote.
Unless the Labour Party is prepared to challenge the concerns of the Reform voters, far from providing the much-vaunted stability which the FPTP system is said to provide, the system is going to perpetuate discord and disharmony, and a very rocky road lies ahead. – Yours, etc,
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PAUL WALSH,
Skerries,
Co Dublin.