Is Our Voting System Fair?
Opinion Piece: South Devon Primary
Our Tory MP is set to avoid electoral punishment suffered by council colleagues thanks to a flawed voting system.
Voters across South Devon have signalled their overwhelming rejection of Conservative leadership in council elections, but the Totnes MP is set to avoid a similar fate due to a
quirk in the voting system.
The Tories have lost control of South Hams District Council to the Liberal Democrats, who seized a huge 19-7 lead. Three Greens and one Labour councillor were also
elected. The result comes against the backdrop of a cost of living crisis presided over, and largely created by, thirteen years of Tory government. Domestic energy prices, food
inflation and higher mortgages all mean that households are feeling the pinch.
Voter frustration is also showing at a Westminster level. Totnes MP Anthony Mangnall is polling at 37%. Despite this low figure, however, he is set to be re-elected at the next
general election. ‘It is a failure of our electoral system that an MP unsupported by the majority can be on-track for re-election,’ says Ben Long of South Devon Primary. ‘Our first-past-the-post
system means that two thirds of South Devon voters will effectively be ignored next time we vote.’
Labour and the Liberal Democrats are jointly polling at over 50% of the vote in the constituency, but votes are split between them.
‘The progressive parties have much more in common than divides them,’ says Anthea Simmons, co-founder of South Devon Primary with Long and Simon Oldridge. ‘It’s tragic
that Totnes is likely to get an MP who is unsupported by the majority, representing a party that is failing to control rising living costs, failing to take meaningful action on the
climate crisis, and failing to protect our NHS.’
…it’s up to us to organise.
Oldridge agrees. ‘Despite what many people think, South Devon is not a ‘Conservative area’,’ he says. ‘We’ve endured 100 years of Tory MPs here because our
winner-takes-all system fails to deliver what voters actually want. Unlike in the council elections, the majority of voters will end up unrepresented. That’s why we’ve designed
the South Devon Primary to help people at the grassroots level make real political change in South Devon.”
In the run-up to the next general election, the South Devon Primary will enable voters to hear from the three opposition candidates — Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green — at
a series of Q&A sessions held across the constituency, then to vote for the candidate they think is best placed to win. The winner, having clear majority support, will be a
‘people’s champion’ for voters to rally behind. Losing candidates are likely to remain on the ballot paper, but their parties will be expected to cease campaigning and direct
limited funds into target seats elsewhere.
‘It should be possible to vote out MPs from parties that have become unpopular, as is so clearly the case with the Tories,’ says Long. ‘If our voting system won’t produce
democratic results, reflective of the constituents’ values and priorities, then it’s up to us to organise. That’s what the Primary is all about.’
What if the parties won’t commit in advance to standing down if they lose?
We are not asking the parties to commit to standing their candidate down if unsuccessful. Once we have a South Devon Primary winner, the losing candidates can
remain on the ballot paper, but we will expect the losing parties to respect the people’s choice and not to engage in campaigning. This is similar to what happened in the
Tiverton & Honiton by-election where there was general acceptance that the Lib Dem was the best placed candidate, and in Wakefield where the Labour candidate was the
clear choice. In both cases, the other parties disengaged and focused their efforts on other seats, and in both cases the opposition candidate won with a huge vote swing.
What if the tactical voting websites recommend another candidate?
We are in touch with these organisations via www.movementforward.org and will be keeping them updated on our progress. The South Devon Primary is, in a way, like a
highly informed tactical voting exercise. People will be voting tactically, but based on a far more comprehensive data set than used by these national sites. We have been
informed that the tactical voting sites are very likely to use our results to produce their advice. So in short, we are confident we will be fully aligned.
Have the opposition parties agreed to this?
We are in communication with the local opposition parties, and fully expect them to participate. We believe the opposition parties see this as a big opportunity. We have
committed to proceeding with the Primary as a ground-up voter-led initiative, rather than something driven by the parties. There has been a huge level of interest so far, and the
more people that get involved, the keener the parties will be to participate.
When will the actual voting part of the Primary take place?
It may be some months before Labour choose a candidate. We are uncertain whether the Greens will stand a candidate in this seat. The Q&A sessions will take place as soon
as possible after both of these candidates are in place – or after the Labour candidate selection if the Greens decide not to stand here.
What if one party is not keen to take part?
We are not expecting this scenario to arise. With the country facing incredibly tough times, South Devon Primary will be an invaluable forum for candidates to hear about the
issues that matter to people across the constituency. The Primary will give opposition parties a fantastic opportunity to get their message across well ahead of the election,
and we expect candidates to be keen to engage.