User talk:Jackgpounder

This is the user talk page for Jackgpounder (talk) 13:15, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

Wiki Exercise No1
The Conservatives - how did they win? The 2015 UK General Election was to be one of the most unpredictable in living memory. Prediction Poll, after Prediction Poll said that the public could not makeup their mind with regards to who should hold the keys to number 10. Most experts were predicting a Lab-Lib coalition - or to the horror of some - an minority Labour government propped up by the Scottish Nationalist Party.

The Exit Poll was released at 10 o'clock, David Cameron was in the lead. The political map of the UK was changing, in some parts, beyond all belief. Results from the BBC show that all four corners of the UK were telling a different story. Scotland turned yellow – 56 out of her 59 seats elected an SNP Member of Parliament. England remained royal blue – 319 out of her 533 seats elected a Conservative MP. Wales remained red - the Labour party took 25 of her 40 seats; and finally the DUP took 8 out of Northern Irelands 18 seats. Due to this, and to everyone's surprise, David Cameron and the Conservative Party won 331 seats – an overall majority in the House of Commons and subsequently formed the first Conservative government since 1997.

How did the Conservatives win a majority when none of the prediction polls gave them a hope of getting over 326 seats; and also how could a government that was mainly only elected in England have any legitimacy to govern the rest of the UK: especially in Scotland?

UKIP only won one seat, however, won 12.6% of the UK vote; the SNP won 4.7% of the UK votes cast and yet won 56 out of 59 Scottish seats – a landslide. The Conservatives are the UK government however only won 36.9% of the vote. This clearly calls into question the government's legitimacy and its authority. The outraged me and subsequently has led me to favor electoral reform – as I am sure it has for many others. Since the election of this government, which the majority did not vote for, we have seen a right-wing agenda being forced upon the United Kingdom - the so-called “mother of Parliamentary Democracy”.

This raises the question: does the UK need electoral reform? The answer in short: yes, of course. The report by the Electoral Reform Society, suggests that the number of seats that each party gained did not represent the number of votes cast, and the First Past the Post electoral system is failing the UK electorate. The report also highlights the fact that UKIP came third with the share of the votes cast, but returned only one MP. Showing that the number of seats each Party gained does not equate to the number of votes.

The fact of the matter is simple: the Conservatives did not win the 2015 general election. They won the largest number of seats, yes, but they failed to win the public's backing. Under a Proportional Representation electoral system (PR), the true result would have been clear. It should have been a Hung Parliament, and the result should have been a lot tighter. The two largest Parties, as usual, would have been the Conservative’s and the Labour Party, but most shocking of all UKIP would have been the UK’s third largest Party, with the Liberal Democrats in fourth place. The untouchable SNP would have gained 30 seats – a step down from 56. Jackgpounder (talk) 11:45, 16 February 2016 (UTC)