Replace First Past the Post with Single Transferable Vote

The 2024 general election produced a parliamentary majority of 170 seats from 34% of the vote. In 2015, UKIP received 3.9 million votes and won one seat. The Greens received 1.2 million votes and also won one seat. The SNP received 1.5 million votes and won 56 seats. These outcomes are not democratic in any meaningful sense.

First Past the Post systematically distorts voter intention. It creates safe seats where millions of votes have no effect on the outcome. It forces tactical voting. It punishes new parties and rewards geographic concentration.

STV (Single Transferable Vote) in multi-member constituencies preserves the constituency link, eliminates wasted votes, and produces broadly proportional outcomes while still allowing voters to choose between individual candidates rather than party lists. It is used for all elections in Ireland and for local elections in Scotland. Both systems work well.

The evidence is clear. FPTP served a two-party system that no longer exists. Continuing to use it is not tradition, it is distortion.