Letter: First Past the Post Still Has Its Merits

Published on: 17 May, 2026
Updated on: 17 May, 2026

WSC Election 2026 per cent vote

From Patrick Bray

In response to: How the Political Map Has Changed and How ‘First Past the Post’ Favoured the Lib Dems

In some ways the first past the post system does function well. We should not forget that the whole point of FPTP is that we vote for the person not the party.

If the person receives the most votes in the constituency or area then they are elected.

Why should a constituency or area vote for, ie give the most votes to, one person and receive another person because people in a neighbouring constituency or area voted differently?

There are voting systems that can combine party and individual votes but they require an informed and motivated electorate would probably result in similar discontent.

I think the danger of proportional representation by party is that we are living through a time where a huge swath of votes are cast not as a choice for an option but as a protest. Politics has changed and now more than ever is about popularist movement, spreading of discontent and narrow views easily circulated by social media rather than reasoned proposal of what an individual and party intends to do to better society.

In that way FPTP is a very important safeguard of our political system from extreme or popularist movements and the distorted digital lens that we are still trying to catch up with.

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