Should proportional representation be introduced for elections for the House of Commons

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Should proportional representation be introduced for elections for the House of Commons

Advantages

  • Minority parties would be more represented - as their percentage of votes received would be converted into the percentage of seats they would have in the HoC.
  • Example - the green party who in 2016 only hold 1 seat but the Ulster Unionist Party hold 2 seats but received less votes
  • Due to people feeling more represented as there votes will mean that they are more likely to hold seats to give them more representation in government, turnout is more likely to increase
  • Example - The liberal democrats would therefore hold more seats in the house to represent their supporters.
  • With using the PR system it would prevent a single party from winning during the elections which would mean reduce the chance of a 'elective dictatorship'.
  • Example - Tony Blair was able to use his position as PM to enter the Iraq war in 2003 despite the strong disagreement from the public and backbenchers.

Disadvantages

  • It may give British extremist parties  a higher chance of gaining seats in the House of Commons to have influence over the decisions made for the country.
  • Example - giving more chances to the British Nationalist Party know for it extreme right wing ideas.
  • If no majority winner is produced and always forming a coalition it will lead to an indecisive and weak government.
  • Example - in 2010 the coalition government formed between the Conservative and Liberal Democrats led to many decisions in favour of the right wing party rather than policies that benefited both sides of supporters.
  • The Proportional Representation may lead to weakened or destroyed relations between MPs and their constituencies.
  • With the FPTP system people within constituencies have easy access to their representatives and are able to go to them with any problems they have. The PR system may ruin these relations making people feel like they can't go to them in order to try and make changes that help them in their community.

Evaluation

And though people may believe that a reformation is needed in the way we elect our government, it can be seen that the PR system will introduce its own problems just like the FPTP system we already use, so looking we could always find a system that may bring more advantages to way our government would be elected.

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