Abstract
Proportional representation is not in itself a system for elections, but rather a criterion upon which to evaluate the working of any one of a range of electoral systems which can be used for voting purposes. It is a principle or yardstick by which to test the degree of representative proportionality between citizens’ votes and successful party candidates. More precisely, what is looked for is the percentage equivalents between the total national votes cast for the respective parties’ candidates, and the number of seats won by the parties in the House of Commons. Proponents of proportional representation believe that there should be a direct and close correlation between total votes cast for each party across the country at a general election, and the number of seats won by each party in the House of Commons. Under a pure application of the principle, if half the voters in the country vote for the Conservative Party and one-third vote Labour, then half the membership of the House of Commons — 326 MPs — should be Conservative MPs and one-third of the House — 217 MPs — should be Labour. By contrast, in Britain, as Sir Ivor Jennings once succinctly put it, ‘Our system of representation produces the result that the size of a majority in the House of Commons may bear little resemblance to the size of the majority in the country.’1 No one in British politics today is advocating a scheme of electoral reform that is completely proportional between votes and seats (which would require what is called a national list system) and only two countries in the world (the Netherlands and Israel) possess such a method of voting.
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Notes and References
Sir I. Jennings, Cabinet Government (3rd edn, 1959), ch.1, and The British Constitution (5th edn, 1966), ch. 1.
How Britain is Governed (1930), p. 171.
Constitutional Fundamentals (1980), p. 10.
Sources: F.W. Craig, British Electoral Facts 1832–87 (5th edn, 1989), pp. 52–3, D. and G. Butler (eds), British Political Facts 1900–1985 (6th edn, 1986), and House of Commons information office.
On the history of electoral reform attempts, see D. Butler, The Electoral System in Britain since 1918 (2nd ed, 1962); V. Bogdanor, The People and the Party System (1981).
P. Dunleavy, H. Margetts and S. Weir, Replaying the 1992 General Election (LSE Public Policy Paper No. 3, 1992).
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Independent, 21 April 1993.
See G. Goguel, Chroniques Electorates: la Cinquieme Republique apres De Gaulle (1983); A. Cole and P. Campbell, French Electoral Systems and Elections (3rd edn, 1989).
Electoral Reform: Fairer Voting in Natural Communities (1982).
The Electoral System in Britain since 1918 (2nd ed, 1962), p. 184.
D. Owen, A United Kingdom (1986), p. 53.
What is Proportional Representation? (1984), p. 90.
P. Dunleavy, H. Margetts and S. Weir, Replaying the 1992 General Election.
The Report of the Hansard Society Commission on Electoral Reform (1976).
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See Labour Party, Second Interim Report of the Working Party on Electoral Systems (1992), appendix 2, p. 17. This recommendation was endorsed by the Party’s National Executive Committee, and appeared in Labour’s 1992 election manifesto at p. 23.
P. Dunleavy, H. Margetts and S. Weir, Replaying the 1992 General Election.
Based on calculations of P. Dunleavy, H. Margetts and S. Weir, ibid., and (on the supplementary vote) of Dale Campbell-Savours, Independent, 21 April 1993.
Amended table from E. Lakeman, Twelve Democracies (4th edn, 1991), p. 32.
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Generally, see V. Bogdanor, The People and the Party System (1981); J. Hart, Proportional Representation: Critics of the British Electoral System 1820–1945 (1992); D. Butler, The Electoral System in Britain since 1918 (2nd ed, 1962); M. Pugh, The Evolution of the British Electoral System 1832–1987 (1988).
1872, Bill 67; HC Deb., 10 July 1872, col. 890.
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For example, see Margaret Beckett’s comments reported in Independent, 15 June 1992; Jeff Rooker’s article on electoral reform, Independent, 6 October 1990.
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The 1993 Labour Party conference passed the following resolution (45.491 per cent For, and 42.021 per cent Against): ‘Conference welcomes the report of the Plant Commission and congratulates it on its thorough review of electoral systems... Conference favours constituency representation for the House of Commons and supports the commitments of John Smith, Leader of the Labour Party, for a referendum on the issue of electoral reform for the Commons.’ (Record of Decisions, composite 31, at p. 33.)
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p. 3.
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From P. Dunleavy, H. Margetts and S. Weir, Replaying the 1992 General Election (LSE Public Policy Paper No. 3, 1992), p. 3.
Liberal/SDP Alliance Commission, Electoral Reform (1982), pp. 5–6.
From Institute for Public Policy Research, A Written Constitution for the United Kingdom (1993), p. 226. The figures are based on 1987 electoral statistics.
Quoted in the Plant Report, op. cit., p. 27.
See D. Butler and D. Kavanagh, The British General Election of 1992, p. 220.
See ibid, pp. 218–19 and 338–9.
p. 57.
See pp. 205f.
HC Deb., 6 December 1933, col. 1744.
See pp. 397f.
See pp. 387f.
HC Deb., 17 May 1991, col. 603.
Guardian, 11 June 1992.
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Guardian, 19 September 1986.
Guardian, 20 February 1982.
See New Zealand Royal Commission on the Electoral System, Towards a Better Democracy (1986); New Zealand House of Representatives Electoral Law Committee, Inquiry into the Report of the Royal Commission on the Electoral System (1988). At the 19 September 1992 referendum, 84.7 per cent of those voting supported change, with 70.5 per cent of those persons favouring the mixed member proportional system. At the 6 November 1993 referendum, 53.8 per cent voted for the mixed member Proportional system, and 46.2 per cent voted to keep the first-past-the-post system.
P. Dunleavy, H. Margetts and S. Weir, Replaying the 1992 General Election (LSE Public Policy Paper No. 3, 1992), pp. 6/7.
A Written Constitution for the United Kingdom (1993), ch. 8.
See pp. 61f.
The form of draft legislation proposed draws upon work of the Institute for Public Policy Research, A Written Constitution for the United Kingdom (1993), to which Robert Blackburn was a contributor.
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Blackburn, R. (1995). Arguments about Proportional Representation. In: The Electoral System in Britain. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24090-6_8
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