SO, 14 years of Tory rule or misrule, depending on one’s perspective, has come to an end.
Clearly there will be a big sigh of relief from many non-Tory voters. But for how long?
Sir Keir Starmer is in the unusual situation of being elected Prime Minister against a backdrop of being elected in his constituency with a much-reduced majority.
Starmer’s Labour Party won one of Labour’s biggest majorities in history, despite only getting a slightly smaller vote share than Tony Blair’s third successive election win in 2005, when they got 35 per cent – a point in the cycle when the New Labour project’s popularity was on the wane.
This year’s election also saw the combined vote share of 20.7 per cent for Reform UK and the Greens rewarded with just 1.4 per cent of the seats, in what has turned out to be the most disproportionate first past the post General Eelection in history.
What does Sir Keir’s big majority mean for the hopes of those who campaign for a fairer voting system, both inside the Labour Party and outside?
Arguably this is the acid test in his desire to show not all politicians are the same.
Proportional representation will mean some Labour MPs will lose their seats, as a little over a third of the vote will not reward Labour with 63 per cent of the seats.
It should not be forgotten however that the first past the post electoral system has historically rewarded the Conservatives more.
Since Labour relegated the old Liberal Party into third place in 1922, the Tories have governed about 67 per cent of the time.
This is not just a British thing. Political scientists have identified that first past the post and similar majoritarian systems do have a right-wing bias, and similar electoral patterns have occurred in other countries that have used majoritarian voting systems.
Tony Blair flirted with electoral reform, before seemingly deciding that first past the post suited New Labour just fine.
But then, they did not govern forever, and the pendulum did swing back to the Conservatives in 2010.
While it may be a big majority now for Labour, the overall situation Labour has inherited this year is very different to the one Tony Blair inherited in 1997.
Although Sir Keir Starmer has now said he will not change the voting system, there are plenty of warnings to tell him he should take a different decision.
We live in volatile times, and who is to say the Tories will not get back in in five years’ time or the election after that with another false-majority of their own?
If that happens, a lot of people will take note that Sir Keir did not act to stop it.
ANDY WATSON
Warrington
CONGRATULATIONS to Warrington South and Warrington North MPs Sarah Hall and Charlotte Nichols.
Surely, the issues most important to Warringtonians would be building Warrington’s new hospital, to keep pace with housebuilding; tackling the Warrington Borough Council ‘casino culture’ which has seen untold waste of taxpayers’ money entrusted to them, and led to a black hole in public finances effectively crushing future business prospects for the town; fixing Warrington’s swing bridges and other neglected infrastructure and heritage.
The town needs a war footing. It is a full in-tray for the new administration. It is, as Ms Nicholls has often said, Warrington deserves better.
TIM CLEWORTH
Warrington
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