I got involved in a debate, sort of. Labour has decided that FPTP weakens trust in politics, but that fixing it is not a first term priority; many careerists in the Party oppose changing the voting system but the argument against PR, that it enables the far right and claiming that PR’s supporters do so because of this is dishonest.
We should have PR because everyone’s vote becomes of equal value, Parties will then need to address all their voters, not just those that live in swing seats! Good PR systems do not require to be gamed to get the result a voter wants i.e. voters vote for whom they want and do not need to guess what others will do. Finally, government coalitions are negotiated after the election, in a Parliament, and with a mandate, not in secret, in Party offices.
In making this argument, I stated and believe that Parliaments must make governments. Some may argue and more frequently apply this to Executive Mayors, that restricting government making (or mayor/council leader making) to several hundred MPs and Mayors/leaders to even fewer councillors is undemocratic. I don’t agree.
I think governments should be elected/appointed by Parliaments, and so reject the need to balance a vote for government with a vote for an MP.
The German system makes each vote worth the same as others; although you might want to…
