If Scotland is Tory-free in 2024, don't blame the SNP
Blame the first past the post Westminster voting system
In today’s Scotsman, John McClellan claims that the First Minister’s wish to see all Tory MPs voted out in the general forthcoming general election is tantamount to disenfranchising Scottish voters. Nonsense.
First, he doesn’t acknowledge the deep unpopularity of Sunak’s government and the concomitant decline in support for a party that has presided over a recession, falling living standards, rising inequality, increasing poverty and failing public services. Given this abysmal record, who in their right mind would vote Tory?
Second, the Scottish People haven’t voted for Tory since 1959 but have had to endure their execrable policies for half that time.
Third, in 2010 a single Scottish Tory MP was elected but there were no accusations that Scottish voters were being disenfranchised. Rather, the feeling was that the Tories deserved it.
Fourth, the reason Scotland may not elect any Tory MPs in 2024 is because of the first past the post (FPTP) voting system. If Westminster used a proportional representation (PR) system like the one imposed on Scotland, Scottish Tory MPs would in all likelihood be returned to the Westminster cesspit.
PR is why the Scottish Parliament has 31 English Tory and 22 English Labour MSPs out of 129. English Labour chose the d’Hondt PR system for the Scottish Parliament because they were sure it would never yield an SNP majority. But it did, which shouldn’t be surprising. Half of Scots support independence and Scots are to the left of the rest of the UK on almost every issue.
What’s disenfranchising voters is FPTP. Under this system, if a party wins large majorities in some constituencies, then those additional votes above the nearest challengers don’t help the party win any more seats. This means a huge number of votes go to waste because they don’t count towards the national result. The Electoral Reform Society revealed that nearly 23 million votes didn’t count towards electing MPs in 2019. It called the result “disenfranchisement on an industrial scale.” In that same election, English Labour returned a single Scottish MP.
The two main English parties, Tories and Labour, back FPTP, a system that routinely ‘elects’ parties to government who are not supported by the majority of voters. Sir Keir Starmer broke his manifesto pledge to bring in PR because FPTP is the best way for English Labour to achieve power. He doesn’t care about democratic representation.
It’s simple. To escape this anti-democratic dystopia and regain their voice, the sovereign Scottish People must end the failing union.
Excellent Article but one minor point: it wasn't the Tories who chose the d'Hondt PR system. It was Labour who were in power at Westminster and whose Cabinet contained a number of very competent Scots. Their interest in supporting devolution was centred around diminishing the burgeoning support for the SNP and, as you state, the choice of the d'Hondt method was to prevent the SNP ever having a majority in the new assembly.
I agree wholeheartedly. It is ridiculous that media didn't respond to the initial comment about disenfranchisement with "its FPTP that would cause this". Where is their political awareness?