Despite returning representatives with whom I violently disagree in this case, I violently believe in PR. That's how democracy is supposed to work, people's voices are supposed to be heard in the administration, whether I agree with them or not.
This is infinitely preferable to the FPTP nonsense in local councils and Westminster (well, one house of Westminster, we don't have any kind of say in the other house). The only council or parliament which I elect to, which has a voice in it which I voted for, is the European Parliament, as we have a LibDem MEP in my region. The only time in the UK I've ever had a national government or local council with any representation from people I voted for was 2010-2015 under the coalition, and 2010-2011 when Reading council was under a Tory-LibDem coalition.
I don't fear fruitbats like UKIP being represented in council or parliament, they just make big enough fools of themselves to put those of us without dried fruit in our brains off even further and push them in to the real obscurity they deserve.
Of course, if you just want unchallenged Labour/Tory administrations interminably, FPTP suits. It is an enemy of democracy, and as we can see from the stable and successful coalition from 2010-2015 and the failed Labour administration which preceded it, it (FPTP) is no guarantor of stability nor economic success. Both systems will equally produce rubbish governance, but at least in the case of PR it'll give us the rubbish we asked for.
|