Disadvanages of FPTP
Winner’s bonus
- exaggeration of the winning margin
-
e.g. Lab 2024: 64% MPs with 34% vote
- Lab 2019: 31% MPs with 32% vote
- doubles their seats with 1% more vote
Plurality
- Winner-takes-all
-
e.g. Hendon 2024 general election result
- Lab candidate: 15,855
- C candidate: 15,840
- 61.6% wasted votes
Favours big parties
- discriminates against smaller parties, disproportional outcomes
- rewards larger parties with more concentrated support (not widespread like Reform)
Advantages of FPTP
Strong, stable government
-
Traditinally FPTP produces strong majorities
- 164 in 2024 (Lab)
- 177 in 1997 (Lab)
-
Mandate theory (theories of representation): Allows governments to implement manifestos
- avoiding “messy” coalitions, avoiding compromises
- Winner’s bonus
- Counterpoint: 2010-2015 coalition, 2017-2019 minority government
MPs tied to their constituencies
- Burkean trustee theory
- Accountability + representation
Prevention of extremist parties
- prevents from gaining a foothold
- e.g. Reform
Simple system
- easy for voters to understand
- easy to run in an election
-
avoids complex mathematical formulae
- e.g. STV introduced for council elections in Scotland in 2007 led to thousands of spoilt ballots