Thought

[andrewducker]

Electoral Reform is coming, at some point. Labour had it in their manifesto, as did the Lib Dems.

As soon as it does, The Conservatives are fucked, because they just don't get that big a share of the vote.

It's therefore in their best interests to show that they can be part of a coalition government. Because electoral reform will lead inexorably to an end to monolithic governments. If they want to be part of the ruling government of the UK in the future then they need to show that they can be good partners and work well with others, or they're essentially consigned to history.

I wonder if that's why they were willing to compromise so far with the Lib Dems.

Comments

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

Some sort of electoral reform is coming, but it's not going to be full PR.

And the Conservatives in the past have had a far larger share of the vote. It's just that this time around they were not that popular. Doesn't mean they can't easily return to the sort of vote percentage they received during the 80's. Even John Major managed to get a larger share of the vote in 1992.

Share of popular vote - Conservative Party

1970 - 46.4%
1974 - 37.9%
1974 - 35.8%
1979 - 43.9%
1983 - 42.4%
1987 - 42.2%
1992 - 41.9%
1997 - 30.7%
2001 - 31.7%
2005 - 32.3%
2010 - 36.1%

[andrewducker]

Of course, 79 was the end of the Winter of Discontent - so you're seeing a massive anti-Labour vote, which you might not see in the same way under a more proportional system.

I agree that AV isn't the same as PR - but you'll likely see more people voting Lib->Lab or Lab->Lib. Or at least you would have done, before the latest alliance...

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

To me it's really hard to tell what people would vote if they didn't have to tactical vote, or felt that their vote was actually doing something ... as I'm in a safe seat I can vote my heart rather than my head, because my tiny voice is drowned out by the rest.

But in full PR, each voice joins a section of the choir ...

The percentage of the vote for Conservatives makes an interesting graph on this site

What I'd like to see is the comparative percentages of the vote for the parties at each election for, say, the last 50 years, in a graph. Anyone spotted one?