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Opinion and comment from Sampford Courtenay
Have you a strong opinion on something that you'd like to share? Important or trivial, local or national, this is the place to do it. Email admin@sampfordcourtenay-pc.gov.uk or phone Julie Carpenter on 07866 605184 to discuss.
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Proportional representation – a personal view
By Ishbel Gordon
Our first past the post (FPTP) voting system makes Parliament unrepresentative. One party received 37% of the vote and 51% of seats, while three parties got 24% of the vote but share 1.5% of seats. FPTP violates the democratic principle of majority rule and causes problems like the costly policy reversals we keep seeing today.
The UK has never had a say on proportional representation (PR). As David Cameron himself said, the Alternative Vote (AV) Referendum took place in a system less proportional than FPTP. The rejection of AV could not possibly be a rejection of PR. In fact, so few voters wanted either system on offer that the turnout was just 42%.
Parliament will debate the petition To make votes matter, adopt proportional representation for UK general elections on 30 October 2017. To find out more and to request a video and transcript of the debate, visit https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/168657.
What do you think? Respond to Ishbel by emailing admin@sampfordcourtenay-pc.gov.uk