AN SNP MP has called for an end to the First Past the Post voting system in the UK after accusing the Labour Government of not delivering on a multitude of promises.
Stephen Gethins has said he has been “disappointed” with the Labour Government, who secured a huge majority in July despite attracting just a third of the vote.
In an interview with That's TV Scotland, he called them out for not delivering on closer ties with Europe or reforming the House of Lords.
Citing the Irish system of voting, he insisted that while proportional representation is “hard” for politicians, electoral systems should ensure voters’ views are reflected in the makeup of a parliament, pushing parties to work together and negotiate.
Gethins, who represents Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, said a lot of people are disenfranchised by the Westminster system which inevitably means either Labour or the Tories always form the government.
He said: “We’ve just had an Irish election whereby the incumbent parties appear to have been returned, but that’s not the point.
“We have an Irish system that is much more representative of the views of the public than the UK system is.
“First Past the Post that we’ve only now really got at Westminster means that a party can win on the minority of the votes. For example, we have a huge Labour majority of two-thirds of the seats in Parliament on just a third of the vote and that disenfranchises lots of people and makes it less likely people will participate in the democratic process.”
In the Irish election earlier this month, Fianna Fáil remained the largest party after winning the most seats in the Dáil – the lower house of parliament – with 48, while their governing partners Fine Gael returned 38.
The two parties began talks this week about the possible formation of a government.
"The whole point is not to make it easy for politicians, it's to be more reflective and representative of the public that we serve."@StephenGethins has called for a change to be made to the UK electoral system which would see a more representative electoral process. pic.twitter.com/TNIX6jf6fa
— That's TV Scotland (@ThatsTVScotland) December 12, 2024
Ireland uses a proportional system with each voter having a single transferrable vote – a system which is used in Scottish council elections.
Voters choose to vote for as many, or as few candidates as they like, in order of their preference. The voter’s first preference vote is always counted, but crucially their second (and further preferences) may be counted if their preferred candidate is eliminated at the end of a round of counting, or is elected with a surplus.
Gethins said he felt the Westminster system did not reflect the views of the public when the SNP returned 56 out of 59 Scottish seats in 2015.
“I said that’s unrepresentative of Scotland and similarly its unrepresentative elsewhere,” he added.
“I’ve found an incoming Labour Government to be a bit disappointing because so many things they’ve talked about in the past they’ve just not done – House of Lords reform, bringing us closer to Europe, making things fairer with things like the winter fuel allowance, all of which didn’t happen.
“But what election reform allows you to do, as we’ve seen in the Scottish Parliament, is it means more minority governments, so it means more coalitions, it means political parties need to talk to each other.
“That’s hard for those of us who are politicians but the whole point is not to make it easy for politicians, it’s to be more reflective and representative of the public that we serve.”
