Fairer Votes

UKIP has joined the ranks of parties who are in favour of getting rid of the 'winner takes all' First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system that now applies only for Westminster elections and local council elections in England and Wales.

Now this is a good thing if you ask me, but it should be remembered that going into the election UKIP were staunchly opposed to any form of PR (proportional representation) and only changed their tune after the event which leaves them open to accusations of sour grapes.

Just like the Labour Party whose official policy is still to support FPTP even though this 'winner takes all' approach has devastated Labour in Scotland where the SNP have long supported voting reform as a matter of principle, rather than one of convenience. 

First-past-the-post is now a bankrupt voting system
I now have to think seriously about my future life, and what I want to do. I guess I face some tough decisions


By NIGEL FARAGE - The Independent



It is really quite difficult to work out whether the Ukip general election campaign has been a success or a failure. Every pundit predicted that our vote would melt away as the general election campaign neared its completion, and almost every media interview for the past few months began with the inevitable question about the “slide in Ukip support”.

And yet, despite an extraordinary last-minute swing towards the Conservative Party, spurred by the fear of the SNP dominating a Miliband government, the Ukip vote still numbered approximately four million.

This number is only just below what we managed to achieve under proportional representation in the European elections of 2014, in which we came first.

It is interesting to note that we gained nearly as many votes as the SNP, the Liberal Democrats, and Plaid Cymru added up together. This is the equivalent of half the panel on the televised leaders’ debates. But only one Ukip MP has been returned to the House of Commons – a situation which most reasonable people would realise highlights the flawed nature of Britain’s electoral system.

But I do think there was a switch in our vote, and we did lose some of our older voters back to the Conservatives because of the Labour-Miliband threat. In a way we knew this was going to happen, and we supplemented our vote with new voters, much younger voters, and in many cases, notably in Thanet, young female voters.

I was struck by how often on the campaign trail, I was greeted with, “Oh it’s you. Hang on I’ll get my wife, she loves you!” And struck by the sheer number of young, professional families who would come to the door, babes in arms, keen for a signed poster board for their windows, and pledging their support for Ukip at the election.

So despite what the daily newspapers told us about Ukip’s support, I know that it was our online campaign, as well policies that young people can truly identify with, that led to what I believe is a serious achievement.

It is my view that the first-past-the-post system is now totally bankrupt. It has turned general election campaigns into: “Please vote for me, I’m not quite as ugly as the other one” situations, rather than parties fighting over policy positions and serious issues. It has directly led to a campaign of total negativity and triviality.

There is also the question of what is fair and reasonable. For so many millions of voters to have just one representative simply cannot be right – and I believe that whomever is the next Ukip leader has a major campaign to fight on this issue.

This party, whoever its new leader may be in September, has to make us a campaigning force for genuine electoral reform and fairness in our politics.

I made a promise that if I did not win the South Thanet constituency at this election, that I would stand down as leader of Ukip.

As I came second, the only honourable thing to do was to fulfil that promise. I now intend to take a break from politics over the summer, and think seriously about my future life, and what I want to do.

I say that, though it nags in the back of my mind that this majority Conservative government has promised a referendum on Britain’s EU membership. I guess I face some tough decisions.