How UK voting system causes a damaging polarisation of politics

For some, this is unacceptable chaos that leaves the country in limbo with a lack of clarity over the winner. Yet, for me, it is something to admire.

Not only is the election more reflective and representative of the country’s views and wishes but it also forces politicians to reach out and talk to each other. And voters tend to vote for who they want, rather than who they think is best placed to beat the candidate they don’t like.

As for the time to count votes, well, do you want a quick result or one that reflects the public’s wishes?

Stable coalition governments

There is also something of a relief to the increasing polarisation that we are seeing in our politics – incidentally, a polarisation that is damaging our policies, politics and wider political discourse. This is an issue that has most starkly affected the USA, and the UK in the aftermath of the Brexit vote.

The elections in Ireland will most likely, once again, bring the two civil war parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gail, back into government with another junior partner. This has produced a series of stable administrations in Ireland whose economy is far outperforming that in the UK and where one of the biggest challenges the finance minister faced before the election was what to do with all the money.

In contrast, the UK that has struggled for almost a decade with poor governance at Westminster, where we have seen a series of either unstable governments under Rishi Sunak and Theresa May or ones that were actively damaging to the rights of UK citizens, its economy and overall international standing such as those under Boris Johnson, and briefly, Liz Truss.

Labour won fair and square

No one could argue that the Labour government is going to face that kind of instability, so far, however there are questions around its electoral mandate. Let’s be clear, Labour won the election defeating both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in England and my own party the SNP in Scotland.

It has a massive majority in Westminster. When voting with the Labour party, MPs join quite a long queue in the lobbies, and I am not challenging their legitimacy to govern. They won fair and square under the system we have.

That said, perspective is everything. The SNP had a bad election, receiving about 30 per cent of the vote, whilst Labour gained a landslide with two thirds of the seats on about a third of the vote. Labour won but they fell back significantly from where they were polling throughout the campaign with parties now on the opposition benches winning far more votes.

So, whilst Labour won, and won well, it does pose challenges. The party now needs to govern for everyone in the country, at a time when the UK is facing some very significant challenges both in terms of economic well-being and security. The system also means that when a party can win on a minority of the vote, there is very little reason to try and appeal to voters beyond the core base.

Lack of checks and balances

This was also apparent in the aftermath of the last UK ‘landslide’ election in 2019 when Boris Johnson sought to consolidate the pro-Brexit vote that polls have consistently showed is a minority in the UK, and a very significant minority in Scotland. This led to the hardest of Brexits which has left us all much worse off, and especially hit young people hard, the very demographic who rejected the Conservatives in general and Mr Johnson in particular.

Its very nature leads to a more polarised politics which is especially damaging when we do not have the democratic checks and balances at Westminster that other legislatures take for granted, with both the Upper Chamber and Head of State being appointed and therefore lacking the credibility that comes with being elected. It could get even worse with greater granularisation of political support in the UK.

Little wonder that it is just Westminster and a few English councils that keep first past the post. Throughout the years of chaos in Westminster, the parliaments in Cardiff and Edinburgh have gone full terms with very little instability and no snap elections. They did that because the governments had to reach out to the opposition in ways that are absolutely alien to the political culture at Westminster.

Minority SNP government needs allies

When drafting her Budget this week Scotland’s Finance Secretary was mindful that she must win support beyond the SNP. That makes it much more difficult both for the government and opposition. The government cannot introduce any measures it wants and needs to win over opposition MSPs.

At the same time, the opposition must take a responsible approach. Will Labour MSPs really vote down a Budget that delivers on tackling child poverty, by scrapping the two-child cap, and the well-being of the elderly, by reintroducing winter fuel payments?

This makes life a lot more difficult for our MSPs as well as their counterparts in Dublin, Belfast and Cardiff. But surely that is the point, the checks and balances are there to make life more difficult and ensure that the views of a greater proportion of the electorate is represented.

That might not bring much festive cheer to Irish parliamentarians as they spend Christmas negotiating, but it will mean better and more representative government for the electorate they serve.

Stephen Gethins is the MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry