Seeker

According to Timothy Garton Ash, in an article in today's Guardian newspaper "In the current parliament a staggering 433 out of the total of 650 MPs were elected on a minority of the votes cast in their constituencies. Sixty years ago, for comparison, just 39 out of 625 were elected on a minority vote." I find this truly shocking. We, in the UK, have a system no longer fit for purpose. No wonder there is such widespread apathy among British voters, when a situation persists where people feel their votes don't count. This is particularly the case in constituencies with so-called 'safe seats'. The current electoral system for MPs for the House of Commons works best where there are only 2 dominant political parties.  That has not been the case in the UK for a long time. We have 3 and many more smaller ones. The system is that whoever gets the most votes wins (First Past the Post) even if that person has a minority of the total votes cast. How can that be fair...

I'm finding it hard to decide how to vote in the UK Parliamentary Election on 6 May. That makes me one of the floating voters the 3 main political parties in England are each hoping to scoop up into their ship. I've followed their leaders' televised debates with interest, but I can't vote for Conservative, Labour or Liberal Democrat party (- order strictly alphabetical, not preferential). There are no candidatates standing for any of these parties in the constituency in which I live. This is because of the quaint tradition of facilitating the return of The Speaker of the House of Commons (who has to be impartial). If you don't know who this is or what this means, official information is here . There seem to be 11 candidates standing for the Buckingham Constituency, including some standing for minor parties and several standing as Independent candidates. I will not be voting for those standing for the BNP, Monster Raving Loony party, UKIP or Cut the Deficit P...