politics....

[Kristinexx]

How does the westminister electoral system differ from the other electoral systems used in the UK?

[banjo]

Firstly, as I'm sure you are aware, the 'Westminster' electoral system is a majoritarian system called 'First Past the Post' whereby the candidate with the most votes wins.  This sounds fine, but in practice, its quite disproportionate, as there tends to be a large amount of 'wasted' votes.  One of Blair's pledges in the 97 manifesto was to have a referendum on electoral reform (one of the reasons why Labour were able to seduce the Lib Dems), but of course this very electoral system has proved incredibly useful for Labour, and will continue to do so.

 

As FPTP is so blatantly disproportionate, the gov't decided to compromise somewhat and have proportional system for elections to the devolved regional assemblies and for Europe (though from what I remember that's pretty much the Party List system). 

 

Basically, Proportional Representation is used for elections for the Northern Ireland (STV), Scotland & Wales (both Additional Member System) .  I think its been recommended that STV be used in Scotland and Wales. With PR, 'every vote counts'.  The systems vary in how they do it, but they basically incorporate what's happening nationally, not just what's happening within individual constituencies when the seats are handed out.

 

If this is an essay question, I would say you need outline what First Past the Post is, and then compare it to a PR system (such as STV or AMS), and then say how crap it is, and how it makes a mockery of the term 'Western Liberal Democracy' as in many elections, the party that forms the government rarely has the majority of the public vote (1992 is a classic example, and 1997 too I think).  So you'd need to compare 'Westminster' with the systems used for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Europe and London Mayor.

Sorry I've gone on a bit - I'm also in a bit of a rush so apologies if any of its incoherent!!

[banjo]

You can get good info from Electoral Reform Society website, and Electoral Commission for statistics - there's loads of info out there its just a matter of finding it!

 

Good Luck!!

[Kristinexx]

thanx, it does reali all make sense now! thanx again for your help