this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2024
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UK Politics
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General Discussion for politics in the UK.
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You'd merge constituencies together and have multiple representation. For example: 5 neighbours become one region and elect 5 people.
An additional benefit is that people have a choice of representative to go to when wanting to consult "their MP". None of this "I want to talk about the homelessness problem in my area but my MP is a Tory" issue.
So let me understand the proposal. We merge MP regions so each Labour/Tory candidate is running against their respective Labour/Tory candidate in another region in addition to the opposition in their opponent's in their existing constituency?
I assume the purpose of this system is it allows an independent to capture votes from multiple areas, so fringe groups will get minor representation instead of the least popular candidate from the major parties?
[Edit] And if you only have a candidate in your area for your favourite party doesn't tow the line and is marginally racist, you can vote for another candidate for that party that fits your taste?
I think you've got it. Yes.
It's called multi-member constituencies and we used to do it before 1950 but only in some areas. We even did a small number under STV, but it never became the universal norm. We just divided those constituencies down to single member o es to make everything the same.
What I'm saying is that we moved the wrong way. We should have normalised everything by moving everything to multi-member and retained STV (not the other systems on that page).
The biggest argument against is that in rural areas the size of a single constituency could become very large. For example: would Wales large parts of Wales fall entirely into a handful of constituencies, or the north west of Scotland? On the other hand, it would simplify things in urban areas.