A week on from the General Election, Mary Honeyball asks whether First Past the Post has had its day and argues that participation in general elections in Britain will only improve when all shades of opinion are able to have their say.
Democracy could be a more fragile concept than most European countries, the United States and other places across the world which have followed western philosophy and practice may think it is. Government “of the people, by the people and for the people” is inevitably practised in different ways in different countries, and there is no universal template. The way democratic systems work owes more to national traditions than to abstract notions of equality and fairness. Nowhere is this more true than the United Kingdom, where government institutions have evolved over centuries. Following hundreds of years when the aristocracy sought to limit royal power, industrialisation produced a working class which sought to have its own fears and aspirations recognised. Unlike many countries, the UK was singularly successful in preventing a violent revolution. However, the post-war status quo is no longer accepted by the country as a whole and has, in fact, been crumbling since the Second World War. Britain has now entered another stage of evolution where the parliamentary system is beginning to fragment.
While a Labour triumph, Thursday’s election showed just how much the Conservative-Labour (mainly Conservative) hegemony is breaking down, while the turnout of only 60 per cent is a tangible expression of the level of voter disconnection from politics. For many years first past the post has failed to align the number of votes cast with the number of seats gained. This time, however, the disparities were glaringly obvious; Labour won on only 34 per cent of the votes cast. A massive majority allowing the government a great deal of freedom as to what is does in office, coupled with a fierce whipping system in parliament, comes perilously close to Lord Hailsham’s “elective dictatorship”. The same could be said of Margaret Thatcher’s government returned in 1979. No government elected by only one third of the 60% of people who thought voting was worthwhile can call legitimately call itself “of the people, by the people, for the people”. Although low participation has been a feature of British elections for many years, the United Kingdom as a whole appeared blissfully unaware of this “democratic deficit” until this election brought it into sharp relief. In fact, the Tony Blair landslide in 1997 was achieved with what was then the lowest post-war general election turnout of 71.4 per cent
To gain full democratic legitimacy, the way governments are chosen and the subsequent running of the country must reflect the lives and aspirations of the people they seek to represent. While not perfect, until the Second World War, the UK’s parliamentary arrangements were more or less in line with those of other democratic countries. Industrial and manual workers, in the broad sense of that term, worked with the system which became fully democratic in 1928 when universal franchise, including all women, was achieved. The First Past the Post system was accepted by the Labour Party who campaigned for, and eventually won, working class representation in Parliament. The first Labour government was elected in 1924, albeit with a minority of seats in the House of Commons. The system has, however, become increasingly tarnished. While turnout in 1950 was 84.4 per cent in the United Kingdom as a whole, it was down to 67.3 in 2019.
Now, in the 2020s, the social and political landscape is very different. Britain and much of the rest of the world needs to understand that, in order to achieve democratic legitimacy, the way people are governed has to relate to the way lives are lived. First Past the Post was valid for a country dominated by heavy industry and an emerging working and lower middle class. The industrial revolution led to the creation of towns and cities comprising distinct urban communities who increasingly voted Labour and, once the franchise was extended, were able to gain seats in the House of Commons elected by First Past the Post which favours these kinds of geographical conurbations. However, society has moved on. Heavy industry has been replaced by high-tech working, the internet and increasingly by artificial intelligence. Many of the old industrial areas are in decline. The new tech enterprises are often small and people no longer need to live near their workplace. When you add working from home into the mix, elements of modern life look like the pre-industrial era with the addition of electronic communications.
In order to encourage potential voters to put their cross on a ballot paper, the impact of the way we live now needs to be recognised. Until each and every vote counts, many people will feel voting makes no difference. Of course, the programmes of the various political parties can, and do, count. However, First Past the Post encourages uniformity of outlook. When the aim is to win a few “battleground” seats, which is the inevitable consequence of the First Past the Post system, the larger political parties will pitch their policies at those areas. It is notable that in the general election the smaller parties who campaigned on their own specific aims gained increased support. Participation in elections will only improve when all shades of opinion are able to have their say.
Mary Honeyball is Honorary Research Fellow at the Mile End Institute and was Labour Member of the European Parliament for London from 2000 to 2019.