Evaluate The Argument That The FPTP

Electoral System Should Be Scrapped

And Replaced With A More Proportional
Electoral System (30) Politics Explained
Essay Plan
Topic ➡ 2. Electoral Systems
Structure ➡ Three paragraphs with for/against and an overall judgement within each.
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Keep In Mind ➡ These are long plans as they’re intended to be revised from to cover the key
content you need to know for the exam. In the exam, you would need to adapt them for the
specific question you are asked and you certainly wouldn’t need to include everything, especially
not all of the examples. The judgements are also subjective and you don’t have to agree with
them!

Introduction
Key Definitions
First Past The Post is the current electoral system used for UK Parliament elections and local council
elections in England and Wales. It is a simple plurality system.

Paragraph One ➡ Representation and Proportionality

Arguments That First Past The Post Should Be Scrapped And Replaced
First Past The Post is very unrepresentative, as it is a simple plurality system that results in elected
MPs often lacking majority support in their constituency. This weakens the mandate of each MP,
leading to many voters feeling unrepresented and MPs lacking legitimacy.

Evaluate The Argument That The FPTP Electoral System Should Be Scrapped And Replaced With A More
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Proportional Electoral System (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan
 In the 2015 General Election, for example, Alasdair McDonnell of the SDLP won with just 24.5%
of the vote in Belfast South and only polled 14.7% of the electorate if the 60% turnout is taken into
account.

This lack of representation in constituencies translates to a lack of proportionality at the national level,
with votes not translated into seats with any real accuracy.

FPTP favours parties with geographically concentrated support and therefore massively under-
represents the majority of minor parties.

In 2019, the Liberal Democrats won 11.5% of the vote but just 11/650 seats (1.7% of the
seats). If the system was fully proportional, they would’ve won 75 seats.

Other electoral systems are much more proportional. For example, the Electoral Reform
Society calculated that if STV had been used in the 2019 UK Parliament Elections, the
Liberal Democrats (11.5% of the vote) would’ve received 59 seats instead of the 11 they
received under FPTP.

This contrasts with the SNP, who benefit from FPTP as their vote is geographically
concentrated. In 2015, they won 95% of Scottish seats with just 50% of the vote.

FPTP also results in a ‘winner’s bonus’, where the party with the most votes, even when they don’t
have a majority, hugely benefits.

In 2019, the Conservative Party won 56% of the seats and therefore a commanding majority with
just 43.6% of the vote.

Arguments That First Past The Post Shouldn’t Be Scrapped And Replaced
On the other hand, FPTP can be seen as representative as it has a strong MP-Constituency Link.

The relatively small size of most FPTP constituencies, and the fact that a single MP is responsible
for those who live within the constituency, result in effective representation of local interests and a
strong link between the constituency and MP. MPs handle correspondence from their constituents
and problems their constituents have and hold weekly constituency surgeries.

For example, in October 2022, 33 Conservative MPs rebelled against Liz Truss’ government and
abstained in a vote on banning fracking, despite the government ordering them to oppose it,
including many MP Mark Fletcher of Bolsover which had a strong local movement against
fracking in the area.

Further, the fact that it under-represents minor parties leads to the exclusion of extremist parties, who
are very unlikely to have success under FPTP.

In 2010, for example, the extreme right wing British National Party (BNP) won 2% of the national
vote, but didn’t finish higher than 3rd in any constituency.

In the 2009 European parliament elections, which used a proportional Closed Party List system,
by contrast, they won 6.2% of votes and 2 seats.

Judgement
Overall, whilst the MP-constituency link is certainly a benefit of First Past The Post that improves
representation, FPTP is on the whole a very unrepresentative system that is unfair to minority parties
in particular.

Evaluate The Argument That The FPTP Electoral System Should Be Scrapped And Replaced With A More
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Proportional Electoral System (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan
 As representation/proportionality is arguably the key criteria according which to judge electoral
systems, this leads to a persuasive argument that FPTP should be scrapped.

Paragraph Two ➡ Voter Choice

Arguments That First Past The Post Should Be Scrapped And Replaced
Voter choice is very limited under FPTP.

Voters only get one vote and can therefore only vote for one party, preventing them from showing
their political preferences more fully.

This contrasts with the Additional Member System when voters get 2 votes, one for a party
and one for a constituency member. They can therefore vote for a ‘split-ticket’ if they wish.

This leads to votes for the party that doesn’t win in a constituency being effectively ‘wasted’ and
to many voters resorting to ‘tactical voting’, which is where voters select a different party to their
preferred party (which has little chance of winning in their constituency) to try and prevent their
least favourite party from winning in their constituency.

Voters are therefore prevented from voting for the party they actually support.

YouGov data commissioned by the Electoral Reform Society (a pressure group) indicated that
32% of voters voted tactically in the 2019 election.

In a more proportional system, such as STV where voters rank their preferences, tactical
voting isn’t a problem.

Votes are also of greatly unequal value. Not only because a vote in a smaller constituency counts
for more than it does in a larger constituency, but also due to the difference between safe and
marginal seats.

In safe seats, many voters have little hope of seeing their favoured candidate winning, leading
to depressed turnout among certain voters. Little campaign focus by parties is on these
constituencies/voters.

In marginal seats, votes matter a lot more, leading to higher turnout. A great deal of campaign
focus by parties is on these constituencies/voters.

A good example of a highly important marginal seat is Thanet South, Kent, which has
been won by the winning party at every General Election since its creation.

Arguments That First Past The Post Shouldn’t Be Scrapped And Replaced
Whilst FPTP may have limited voter choice, it is extremely easy to use for voters, who only have to
select one candidate/party. The result is also usually known early in the morning after polling day and
the government is quickly formed, with a swift and orderly transfer of power.

In 1997, for example, Tony Blair arrived at Downing Street as the new Prime Minister at 1pm on
the day after the election.

The simplicity and familiarity of FPTP can be seen as key factors in the public support for it, as shown
in the 2011 Alternative Vote (AV) referendum, in which 68% of those who voted voted against
changing the electoral system, on a 42% turnout.

This rejected should be seen in part as a protest vote against the Liberal Democrats, though.

More complicated electoral systems can lead to ‘donkey voting’.

Evaluate The Argument That The FPTP Electoral System Should Be Scrapped And Replaced With A More
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Proportional Electoral System (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan
 For example in the 2019 local elections in Northern Ireland, In District Electoral Areas where there
were two candidates running from the same party, the candidate whose surname was first
alphabetically was elected 85% of the time, whilst the second candidate on the ballot paper was
elected only 54% of the time.

Judgement
Overall, a more proportional electoral system than FPTP would certainly lead to greater voter choice
than under FPTP, where it is limited due to it being a simple plurality system.

This being said, voters favour FPTP as it is simple to use. This support can be seen in the 2011 AV
referendum. On the basis of voter choice alone, therefore, FPTP shouldn’t be scrapped.

Paragraph Three ➡ Type Of Government Created

Arguments That First Past The Post Should Be Scrapped And Replaced
The key benefit of First Past The Post that is often cited is that it produces strong single-party
governments that are able to pass laws effectively.

These governments have a strong mandate and are able to carry out their programme of
government and bring about effective change.

In the 1980s, this enabled Thatcher to bring about widespread changes to the economy,
whilst in 1997 it gave Blair’s government the mandate to carry out extensive constitutional
reforms.

These government are also elected very quickly, with the result usually known early in the
morning after polling day and the government formed within 24 hours.

This contrasts with more proportional electoral systems which are more prone to causing
minority/coalition governments, which can be seen as weak as they are more likely to lead to
compromised/watered down policies and struggle to implement significant changes.

In the Welsh Assembly, for example, Labour has been in coalition with Plaid Cymru and the
Liberal Democrats at different times, whilst in Scotland the SNP is currently a minority
governments. Both of these governments are elected using the AMS electoral system.

Arguments That First Past The Post Shouldn’t Be Scrapped And Replaced
On the other hand, recently FPTP has led to some weak governments that haven’t had majorities. In
particular the 2010 Lib Dem-Conservative coalition and the Confidence and Supply Agreement
between the Conservatives and the DUP following the 2017 election.

Further, even though FPTP often leads to strong governments, this can be seen as a drawback
as these governments don’t have majority support from the population that could grant legitimacy
to this strength.

Coalitions also shouldn’t necessarily be seen as negative. Scottish governments, for example, have
often been coalitions/minority governments, but they have been stable and able to pass significant
changes.

Compromise can be seen as an advantage, as it leads to more considered, representative

policies.

Judgement

Evaluate The Argument That The FPTP Electoral System Should Be Scrapped And Replaced With A More
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Proportional Electoral System (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan
 Overall, the fact that FPTP leads to strong, majority governments shouldn’t necessarily be seen as an
advantage. These governments usually aren’t supported by a majority of the population and therefore
push major policy changes through parliament without legitimacy.

Whilst more proportional systems are more likely to lead to coalition governments, these
government are more representative and can be both stable and effective, as Scottish
governments elected by AMS show.

Overall Argument
Overall, First Past The Post should be scrapped and replaced with a more proportional electoral
system. Whilst it is true that FPTP is easy and simple to use for voters, this results in limited voter
choice and many votes being wasted.

The key reason why FPTP should be scrapped is that it is unrepresentative. Representation is the
key function of a democratic electoral system and FPTP not only under-represents minor parties with
significant support, but also over-represents the winning party, which is able to use its majority to
introduce major changes without the legitimacy to do so.

A more proportional voting system such as AMS strikes a much more effective balance. It is relatively
proportional and offers voters significant voter choice, whilst not being too confusing for voters and
still leading to stable and effective governments.

Other Possible Essay Questions To Practice

Adapting This Plan To Answer
Evaluate the view that the emergence of multiple parties in the UK means that the Westminster
electoral system must be changed. (30)

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Evaluate The Argument That The FPTP Electoral System Should Be Scrapped And Replaced With A More
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Proportional Electoral System (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan