I believe that we should use First Past the\nPost in all UK elections. The first and most obvious reason why this voting\nsystem must be retained is because it is just so simple. The candidate with the\nmost votes wins. This is clear and decisive, and does not waste any time with\nnumbered preferences as the STV system does. With First Past the Post voters\njust cast a single vote by placing a cross next to their preferred candidate\nand the one with the largest number of votes in the constituency is elected.\nThe simplicity and preferability of this becomes obvious when you examine some\nother voting systems. The Single Transferable Vote system is used in the UK for\nthe Northern Ireland Assembly elections. This uses multi-member constituencies\nand voters number their choices preferentially. For a candidate to be elected,\nthey need to achieve a quota and if a candidate does so on the first round then\nthey are elected and their second preferences are redistributed. This is\nclearly a poor system compared to First Past the Post, as when you vote for a\ncandidate you want them to win the seat, and second and third preferences\nshouldn\u2019t matter and aren\u2019t good enough, it makes \u2018winners of losers and losers\nof winners\u2019 as David Cameron said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Furthermore, First Past the Post is excellent\nat providing strong and stable Government as there are rarely Hung Parliaments.\nIt suits the British political system, which unlike other European Countries\nsuch as France, has always supported a House of Commons based mainly on two\nmain parties. These up until 1924 had been the Conservatives and Liberals but\nsince Ramsay MacDonald\u2019s Government Labour has been the main rival of the\nConservative party. First Past the Post provides the people with what they want\nas Tony Blair\u2019s sweeping majority in the 1997 election shows. This makes the\ncountry more stable as there is often a clear majority, from which a strong\nGovernment with a clear mandate from the people can form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First Past the post is also extremely cost-effective\nand can be counted easily. If we tried to introduce new voting systems they\nwould be very expensive, both by their nature, and also the massive campaigns\nthat would have to be funded to educate the public on how they work as they are\njust more complex and confusing then First Past the Post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final and most important reason why we\nshould retain First Past the post is that there is no need to stop using it.\nThe public are not calling for a change in the voting system, changes are\nmainly supported by the small parties who hope to gain more power by having a\nmore proportional system, such as the Liberal Democrat\u2019s. The apathy to this\nissue is clear when one looks at the result and participation of the 2011\nAlternative Vote referendum. There was only a 42.2% turnout from the public,\nand 68% voted \u2018No\u2019 anyway. Clearly the public are not very interested in this\nissue, and the ones who are with to retain our present system anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clearly then, First Past the Post is the best\nvoting system for our country. It is cheap, simple to use, supports our\ntwo-party system, and provides strong and stable government in line with what\nthe people vote. I see no need to change it at all, and clearly nor do the\npeople as the 2011 referendum clearly shows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"