In new analysis, we describe 316 seats as ‘one party seats’ (50% of Britain’s total, i.e. excluding Northern Ireland)
Nearly 23m voters in Britain are in these ‘competition free zones’
In England alone, 300 seats are one-party zones – 56% of the total – covering 22,007,281 potential voters
The scourge of safe seats is made far worse by Westminster’s winner-takes-all voting system #MakeSeatsMatchVotes
In 2010 and 2015, the ERS predicted the result in over half of seats with around 99% accuracy
Recent research by the ERS has found that nearly 200 seats have not changed hands since World War II – a damning indictment of Westminster’s winner-takes-all system. YouGov’s analysis shows that less than 10% of seats are likely to change hands on Thursday.
Polling launched last week revealed that just 16 percent of the public believe politics is working well in the UK – and only 2 percent feel they have a significant influence over decision-making.
Can you imagine why?
204 seats are safe for the Conservatives (32% of total MPs / 64% of 2017 Con seats). There are 15,178,210 potential voters in these seats
104 seats are safe for Labour (16% of total / 40% of 2017 Lab seats). There are 7,208,558 potential voters in these seats
By region:
Eastern England has the most seats classed as safe - 78%. 3,398,009 potential voters in these seats
South East: 55 seats classed as safe (65% of SE total) – 4,209,510 potential voters live here
London: 45 seats classed as safe (62% of London total) –3,279,855 affected
Wales has just 12 seats classed as safe (30% of Wales total), with 650,373 potential voters live in these seats.
Scotland has just 4 safe seats (7% of Scotland total), with 264,836 potential voters in these seats
While we don’t know who’ll form the next government yet, we do know this: in hundreds of seats across the country, the result feels like a foregone conclusion
This election is being fought in the handful of ‘swing’ seats that hold the keys to Number 10
If we switched to a democratic, proportional voting system, where seats in Parliament match how we vote, elections would be far more competitive – and your voice would always be heard.
It’s time for a voting system where every vote counts equally, no matter where you are
We're calling on all parties to make proportional representation a red line issue in the event of a hung parliament
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As always, the parliament we ended up with looked nothing like the way we voted - this is because Westminster's voting system warps the results.
With First Past the Post, minuscule changes in the vote can have major impacts. The Conservatives gained a 7% increase in seats from 2017 – on a 1% increase in vote share - delivering their largest majority since 1987. The Lib Dems increased their vote share, but lost a seat.
As results are announced today for councils across the country, we are already starting to see some wildly disproportionate results.
It doesn't have to be like this, when Scottish council results are announced later, the seats each party get will be in proportion to how many people voted for them - as they don't use first past the post. ers.tools/local-democracy
The #ElectionsBill, which passed last night, will make it harder to vote for millions, while making it easier for the government to control the Electoral Commission. It’s a travesty that parliamentarians passed a Bill that erodes our precious democracy. mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…
The law will only make it harder for some people - older people can use bus passes and 60+ Oyster cards as valid forms of ID - but young people’s railcards, and student Oyster cards will not be permitted. bigissue.com/news/politics/…
The government overrode a compromise amendment, suggested by a Conservative Peer, that would have expanded the list of acceptable IDs - instead they adopted their own arbitrary and restrictive list.
The #ElectionsBill is having its second reading in the House of Lords today - there is a lot wrong with this bill, from spending millions to make it harder to vote, to reducing the independence of our Electoral Commission.
Around 2.1 million people lack the necessary identification for their voter ID scheme, according to the government’s own research. Checking millions of documents and supplying ID will cost up to £180 million a decade electoral-reform.org.uk/expensive-vote…
Poll workers will have the power to turn voters away if they think an old photo doesn't look enough like them. Unlike border police, poll workers are not specially trained to do this sort of work. Growing a beard or getting a bold haircut shouldn't disenfranchise you.
Following the retirement of Viscount Ridley there is going to be a Conservative hereditary peer by-election. The 45 Conservative hereditary peers in the Lords will be voting to select who will get a seat in the Lords for life as his replacement. parliament.uk/globalassets/d…
Candidates, drawn from a list of Conservative hereditary peers outside the Lords, submit short, often bizarre, statements such as the below to garner support.
This time though, one candidate has gone a bit further than usual, submitting a peculiar YouTube search link as his statement... youtube.com/results?search…