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this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2024
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I think the UK has a lot more swing voters than the US. In the US way too many people are Republican or Democrat people. They will vote for 'their' party or not at all. In the UK it's more fluid and not part of people's identity. Even a raging gammon changes who they vote for, as the Conservatives are finding out. Chasing that vote is losing them moderate votes.
We don't have the same kind of proportional representation, are nearly 100% first-past-the-post, and there are in-built advantages to the two major parties. Because of the shitty system, presidential elections generally necessitate voting for one or the other or the vote is split enough that one of those two that didn't have votes siphoned off wins.
At more local/regional levels, there are other parties out there that can be viable. We have primary elections (I'm not sure what the UK equivalent would be) and I know that some people are voting outside of the two main parties there. However, when the actual election comes, it's almost always two candidates and almost always from those two parties so it's voting for the least-worst. It sucks.
I think two party systems and FPTP need to go. In both UK and the US.
What I favour is Mixed Member Proportional Representation. Like NewZealand and Germany. But I want it PR mixed with Score/Range voting rather than FPTP.
The UK also needs decentralizing and federating. Maybe break up England into units similar to Scotland, Wales and NI.
We tried, but the same party now bleating that a Labour supermajority would be bad for the country was then obsessing over the cost of having better voting, thought we needed more bullteproof vests and incubators, and that majority governments made countries stronger.
I don't expect it to come up for review again under the other party in our two party system. What we were being offered wasn't fantastic, but it was better than what we had, and will be used as a stick to beat anybody calling for another referendum into submission.