Arguments about Westminster’s electoral system — first-past-the-post (FPTP) — have been ongoing for several decades. However, following the 2010 general election, something new and important happened: it became hard to find anyone who could defend FPTP with conviction.
According to its critics, FPTP had been defective since the 1970s, failing to reflect both changes in voting behaviour and the advent of a multi-party system. Yet, at the 2010 election, FPTP even failed to meet the criteria of its own supporters. In other words, it failed to prevent a hung parliament and failed to ensure a ‘strong’, single party government — the traditional justification for the Westminster electoral system.
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