How we can smash Britain’s two-party system for good at the next election (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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George Monbiot suggests that Labour shouldn't be supported because they're now pushing right-wing policies, in his view.

So he thinks people should tactically support progressive parties who support electoral reform (Lib Dems, Greens, SNP, Plaid Cymru), which may hopefully then lead to electoral reform, so that we end up with proportional representation. Then Brits will have more choices than effectively just two parties for future elections.

Thoughts?

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[-] [email protected] -3 points 4 days ago

Look at countries that have it. They're no better off than countries with FPTP. It sounds good in theory, but if you do some game-theoretical analysis of the system, you'll see that, just like any other conceivable electoral system, it has edge cases that can lead to anomalous outcomes, and you can be sure that those who work the system will exploit those.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

I think the Netherlands and Germany both have proportional representation and their parliaments have a bigger mix of parties, representing the interests of different sections of society.

I don't favour PR because I think PR would be a better vehicle for my personal political views. I favour PR because I think a more democratic system is by itself a good thing. Under PR, every vote counts. But under FPTP, if you vote for a smaller party that has no chance of winning your constituency, your vote is essentially worthless.

this post was submitted on 27 May 2025

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