Comments on: Election 2010 http://www.joshheald.me.uk/2010/05/election-2010/ Life in Yorkshire, with silly days out, thought and politics, and a wedding to plan! It doesn't seem grim to me... Fri, 07 May 2010 19:15:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Josh http://www.joshheald.me.uk/2010/05/election-2010/comment-page-1/#comment-488 Josh Fri, 07 May 2010 19:15:28 +0000 http://www.joshheald.me.uk/?p=61#comment-488 They've been thoroughly trounced, which is really encouraging. I'm not a big fan of the more tinkery forms of PR that create two types of MP, as we see in Scotland with one brand who are accountable to a constituency, and one who arent. I prefer full multi-member STV with no mucking about, which would (assuming each enlarged constituency returns between 3-6 MPs) probably mean that they got between 6-11 MPs, depending on how concentrated their vote was. I've not done the maths, that's just an estimate. It's all quite academic I think; we shouldn't arrange our electoral system to keep out small/fringe/extreme groups, we should campaign strongly against those who are dangerous, just as Hope Not Hate did so successfully this time around. We also have absolutely no idea how many people would vote for them under PR, how many protest votes would be made in another way, etc etc. At the end of the day, I'm very pleased that they have been pushed back in these elections, and I intend to help push them back further wherever I get the opportunity in by-elections, EP elections, and local elections. They’ve been thoroughly trounced, which is really encouraging. I’m not a big fan of the more tinkery forms of PR that create two types of MP, as we see in Scotland with one brand who are accountable to a constituency, and one who arent. I prefer full multi-member STV with no mucking about, which would (assuming each enlarged constituency returns between 3-6 MPs) probably mean that they got between 6-11 MPs, depending on how concentrated their vote was. I’ve not done the maths, that’s just an estimate.
It’s all quite academic I think; we shouldn’t arrange our electoral system to keep out small/fringe/extreme groups, we should campaign strongly against those who are dangerous, just as Hope Not Hate did so successfully this time around. We also have absolutely no idea how many people would vote for them under PR, how many protest votes would be made in another way, etc etc.
At the end of the day, I’m very pleased that they have been pushed back in these elections, and I intend to help push them back further wherever I get the opportunity in by-elections, EP elections, and local elections.

]]> By: Matt http://www.joshheald.me.uk/2010/05/election-2010/comment-page-1/#comment-487 Matt Fri, 07 May 2010 18:57:50 +0000 http://www.joshheald.me.uk/?p=61#comment-487 There are obviously different ways of doing PR, but the BNP got 1.9% of the vote overall, so they'd almost get an MP only if new constituencies had 50 MPs decided by PR. (That's not quite correct, but I think it's very roughly correct.) PR would probably encourage people to vote differently, but I don't know if the extreme parties would see more votes or less. In the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/election2010/council/html/region_99999.stm" rel="nofollow">local elections</a> they've lost 22 seats (so far, 125 of 164 declared). There are obviously different ways of doing PR, but the BNP got 1.9% of the vote overall, so they’d almost get an MP only if new constituencies had 50 MPs decided by PR. (That’s not quite correct, but I think it’s very roughly correct.) PR would probably encourage people to vote differently, but I don’t know if the extreme parties would see more votes or less.

In the local elections they’ve lost 22 seats (so far, 125 of 164 declared).

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