As the Dust Settles

I can't remember - or be bothered to research - how many Friday mornings I've woken up after a General Election to the thought that 'it's a new world out there today'.  As one person whose views I respect has written this morning, "all has changed, and yet nothing has changed ... it's business as usual."

Business as usual in the political world will still include such famous characters as Dennis Skinner, the 'Beast of Bolsover', and the neighbouring county has again returned Kenneth Clarke, both of whom I admire for speaking boldly what they feel ... and often causing amusement by so doing. From the same area, Anna Soubry will also be returning to the Commons; I felt that she summarised the resulting situation well: "what should have been certainty ... is now no overall control ... there is more confusion ... we are more divided."  It was a sentiment echoed by the defeated Nick Clegg, who referred to "a deeply divided and polarised nation" as he called for members of the new House to espouse co-operation, rather than continue to focus on what divides them.

The earliest General Election I can remember must have been in 1959.  I had persuaded my mother that I had to go to school as usual on polling day, but in reality I had gone off to play with my friends.  Unfortunately, my deceit was detected and I suffered the embarrassment of being dragged away from them and taken home to suffer whatever punishment that - blissfully - I can no longer recall.

The intervening occasions have passed with a varying degree of academic interest.  I have long been fascinated by numbers and how the fortunes of the various parties have interwoven down the years.  This year, for the first time, I've been personally involved and so my attention was more intense.  I was pleased to assist my local party at a modest level, but decided that I could be most useful at a nearby 'target seat' where, over a total of five days, I made new friends and learned quite a bit about the organisation that goes on behind the scenes at an election, while undertaking a variety of useful tasks.  Naturally I was disappointed that our candidate wasn't successful, but I'm sure she will live to fight another day.

At some point during these recent weeks, I was asked why I had joined the party in the first place.  After reflection, I realised that - quite distinct among the many policies it promotes and with which I agree - one thing above all others is of paramount importance to me.  I have never been represented in parliament by an MP whose views match my own.  I imagine this is the situation of many, many more across our land.  In 2007, I was in a position to follow the General Election in the Republic of Ireland by listening to RTÉ as I drove around the country.  I was intrigued by their electoral system and, as I followed this up by further research, I realised how much fairer it is than our own.

All of their representatives are directly elected by constituencies as are ours, but these are multi-member constituencies, electing three, four or five members each.  Votes for losing candidates and those for winning candidates that are in excess of the number required for election are re-distributed according to second or further preferences and the outcome is usually one in which at least one member from each of the major parties is returned by each constituency ... overcoming the frustration that has been my experience during all of my adult life.

It is now my convinced belief that such a system would go a long way to addressing that very divided state that we now find ourselves in, a state that has dogged our parliamentary history for decades ... in fact for all of the modern era since the Great Reform Act of 1832.

The measure of unfairness of our present system can be easily calculated. With one seat awaiting its third recount in the coming days, yesterday's election has given 92% of the seats to the two largest parties on the strength of 82% of the votes cast.  While these two figures could be said to be 'generally' fair, consider the effect on the remaining 5.6 million voters.  Over a million are not represented at all; of the rest, 35 seats in Scotland have used an average of less than 28000 votes each; the Liberal Democrats' 12 seats have cost almost 200,000 votes apiece and each of the remaining 23 seats (mostly in Northern Ireland) has required a more reasonable, though still excessive, 54,500 votes.

It has been reckoned that the 'wasted' votes in the 2015 General Election - those that either didn't elect anyone, or were in excess of those required to elect the chosen candidate - amounted to a staggering 71% of the total votes cast, down from 74% in 2010.

It's a matter that needs addressing - by minds and personalities far greater than mine - but to the benefit of the whole nation.