- SINGLE MEMBER CONSTITUENCIES
- Good MP to constiuent link.
- TWO PARTY SYSTEM
- It favours major parties that have strong nationwide support, which gives them a good chance of securing a parliamentary majority.
- New ‘outsider’ parties also find it difficult to break through. The UK Independence Party (UKIP) won its only seat at a general election in 2015 but this was poor reward for 12.6% of the national vote.
- In 2010, the Conservatives and Labour together received only 65% of the vote – a post-war low. Support for parties other than the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats reached a record 25% in 2015.
- The 2017 general election reversed this trend as the two main parties won a combined vote share of 82%, the largest since 1970.
- BIAS TO ONE MAJOR PARTY
- Rather than simply favouring the winning party, FPTP is biased towards one of the two major parties. The system favoured Labour from the 1990s until 2010. Between 1997 and 2005, the proportion of seats won by the Conservatives was lower than their share of the vote. Then in 2010, the Conservatives led Labour by 7% but fell 19 seats short of an overall majority.
- Reasons for bias: Tactical voting – Labour benefited from anti-Conservative tactical voting between 1997 and 2005. Differences in constituency size – The electorate in constituencies won by Labour in 2015 was, on average, 3,850 lower than in those won by the Conservatives. This is largely because of population movement from urban constituencies to suburban and rural ones. Differential turnout – Turnout is lower in Labour-held seats: 62% in 2015, compared to 69% in seats won by the Conservatives. Labour needed fewer votes to win seats between 1997 and 2010.