Voting Systems

• received 28.1% of votes
• received 28.5% of seats

23 - most councils are hung

54%, rise of 4% from 2003

38,000 spoilt ballots

Labour recieved 35% of the popular vote in 2005 yet governed for 5 years

1997, Tony Blair won a landslide victory of 419 seats producing a strong gov.

Under STV, coalitions are more likely - most councils, 23, are hung

However, suggested that a coalition gov can be argued to be better - argued no war in Irag if Labour shared power 

• 2005 General Election
• Lib Dems needed 96 000 votes for 1 seat
• Labour needed 26 000 votes for 1 seat

Means that smaller parties have difficulty being represented although extremist parties can be argued to have a detrimental effect

However, STV is fairer as due to proportionality as it gives smaller parties a chance

382 out of 650 seats are safe