Vince Cable v Rupert Murdoch

[grumpyhack]

How long now before a General Election?

[llcoolphil]

How long now before a General Election?

[diddly-dee]

The biggest problem we have with the electoral system in this country is the constituency system, which means that all but a few thousand votes don't count.

If you are, for example, a Labour voter and you happen to live in a rock sold Tory constituency then come an election your vote will probably make no difference to the outcome. The same is true if you are a Tory in a rock solid Labour constituency.

So, therefore the only places where votes will make a difference are marginal constituencies. However, even in marginals there will be a core of people who always vote Tory, Labour or whatever. So, within marginal constituencies the only voters who will make a difference are those undecided or swing voters.

With the present system we might as well just poll those people and let them decide the outcome and everyone else can stay at home.

Until we have a PR system where everyone's vote counts people will ask 'why bother?'

Mind you, even if we have a system where votes make a difference, that will only be to decide which party (or parties) form the government. Once elected they can still ignore the views of the people for the next four years.

[diddly-dee]

October 2011. You heard it here first!

[rabid]

Anyone getting sick of hearing the Liberals bleating on about how the Telegraph has 'damaged the relationship between MPs and constituents'? What's the matter? Do you want a guarantee that you can bullshit people in confidence?