blackn1ght@feddit.uk 3 days ago
I’m definitely all for PR, but hasn’t FPTP hurt smaller parties like Reform/UKIP in the past? There was an election where UKIP received millions of votes but only secured a couple of seats. PR could potentially make it easier for parties like Reform to gain power.
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Yes. One of the only benefits of FPTP is that for most of its history it has stopped tiny, insane, extreme, populist parties getting a foothold, and instead encouraged relative stability. For all the issues we have, the UK has been a phenomenally stable democracy over the years.
That is no longer a protection against Reform, as they’ve broken past the “not being popular enough to gain any traction under FPTP barrier”.
pstils@lemm.ee 2 days ago
Tbh I think actually it produces the opposite of stability. In the U.K. we get lurches from left to right every decade or so. In most places with PR that’s just not possible due to the necessity of coalition formation. Often these coalitions are in stalemate: the main criticism of PR is that it produces ineffective government. If anything, FPTP is too effective: it’s almost always fewer people voting for the government than not, yet they get absolute power.