South West
The Conservatives performed well in 2015, winning 47% of the vote. Although under STV the Conservatives would have fewer seats, they would still have won 32 seats – 58% of the region’s MPs.
There were 701,845 wasted Conservative votes in the South West. Every vote for a losing Conservative candidate counted for nothing. Every vote for a winning Conservative MP giving a majority larger than a single vote counted for nothing. These are votes that could be used to support Conservatives elsewhere.
The Electoral Reform Society called the General Election result in 23 of the region’s seats months before the election happened.
At the local level, the use of FPTP-like bloc voting for councils is bad for taxpayers. Research conducted by Dr Mihály Fazekas from the University of Cambridge has demonstrated that in councils where more than two-thirds of the councillors are from the same party, regardless of which party, tend to be worse at securing procurement savings than electorally competitive councils.
Barbara Czoch says:
Are there any active members of CAER in the Bournemouth area?
I have an idea for an event: an afternoon on Bournemouth high street to raise awareness and support / keep the conversation going for PR. I had in mind some information boards, with some knowledgable people on hand to talk to anyone with questions, and some kind of street theatre to grab the attention of passers-by.
It’s easy too get Alun Dems and Greens out in support, but it would be good to make it as cross-party as possible.
How do I find like-minded people who would be interested in getting involved?