POLITICS - UK POLITICS - ELECTORAL SYSTEMS ANALYSIS

whats a majority government

• one party has the majority of seats in parliament and form a gov

• labour currently in a majority government

what is a minority government

• a minority government is the biggest party in parliament but doesn't have a majority

• needs support of other parties to pass legislation

• Theresa Mays 2017 gov (dup confidence n supply)

whats a coalition government

• no party has a majority so 2 or more parties make an agreement to form a government

• ministerial positions shared

• con lib dem 2010

whats a confidence and supply agreement

• when a minority government secures the support of a minor party

• the minor party will support them in votes of no confidence and budget passing

• Theresa may did this 2017 dup

what effect have these systems had on government

• have increased the amount of coalition governments , mostly devolved regions

• westminster still usually single party maj gov except 2017 and 2010

• coalition govs incentivise parties to work together, contrast to Westminster adversarial politics

whats a criticism of the electoral systems affect on gov in the devolved nations

• critics argue the govs would be unstable

• has been the case in NI , although that's down to unionists and nats having to share power

• since devolution only 1 coalition collapsed

what coalition collapsed +why

• SNP-Green coalition 2021-2024

• over SNP minister scrapping climate targets

• SNP now lead minority gov

• collapse led SNP first minister humza yousaf

how representational are the results from FPTP + examples

• SNP very unreprestative , reform 14% 0.8% , not concentrated

• parties winner bonus , labour 34% vote but very strong majority

how representative are the electoral systems in devolved bodies

• stv produces highly representative results often achieving a consensus

• AMS causes somewhat representative results , 2/3 still FPTP but top up helps partly adress this

• still can cause unreprestative results

how do the different systems impact voter choice (GOOD)

• AMS,SV,STV give greater choice as can pick more than one candidate

• encourages people to support smaller parties rather than tactical voting that happens in ge

how do the systems impact voter choice (BAD)

• fptp one candidate, tactical voting , safe seats

• lower turnout in devolved maybe signal ppl find 2 complicated

why did labour support electoral Reform 1997

• lost 4 ge’s to cons

• when they won landslide became less enthusiastic , but to fuffil manifesto they did it in new devolved assemblies

how did lib Dems push for electoral reform

• as part of the coalition agreement Cameron agreed to have a referendum on AV

• lib Dems wanted STV but had to compromise

• the proposal of reform was heavily defeated in referendum

arguments for electoral reform in GE’s

• fptp not proportional , disadvantages smaller parties with wider spread support

• a more proportional system would mean the publivs views are more widely represented

• proportional systems offer greater choice to voters , reduces need for tactical voting

• more likely to lead to coalition govs which will have to compromise and work together , make politics less adversarial

arguments against electoral reform in GE’s

• fptp mostly produces majority governments meaning more stable governance and legislation passed easier

• fptp gives voters and mps a direct constituency link , accountable to local electorate

• fptp simple and known, diff more complicated systems may decrease turnout

• AV referendum 2011 heavily defeated , showing reform not desired