'Safe Seat'

IveSeenTheLight

wotsthat wrote: »

Anyway, the question was asked and answered in 2011 when we found that of the few people that were interested the vast majority favoured the status quo.

I disagree.
the AV referendum was an offering no-one wanted and designed to return a no change responce

Infamously dismissed by Nick Clegg as "a miserable little compromise"

Why not make it a viable contest of choice?

wotsthat

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

I disagree.
the AV referendum was an offering no-one wanted and designed to return a no change responce

We can't keep having referendums until the 'correct' answer is returned.

Nikkster

kathrynha wrote: »

0.742 in my area.


We are seemingly a key marginal. Had enough literature through the letter box to paper the whole house, and barely an inch of roadside verge can be seen for all the signs.

0.783 here. Also lots of bumpf through the letterbox - and a lot of it is personally addressed to me.

ukcarper

kathrynha wrote: »

0.742 in my area.


We are seemingly a key marginal. Had enough literature through the letter box to paper the whole house, and barely an inch of roadside verge can be seen for all the signs.

Totally different here no canvassers one leaflet through the post from main parties and one poster.

Also local elections choice between Conservatives and LibDems no other candidates.

antrobus

kathrynha wrote: »

...We are seemingly a key marginal. Had enough literature through the letter box to paper the whole house, and barely an inch of roadside verge can be seen for all the signs.

I'm in a supposedly bellwether marginal. (Always picks the winner.)

Lots of literature received from the Conservative candidate, quite a bit from Labour, two lots from the Lib Dems, and one each from UKIP, TUSC, and Green, but not that much in the way of signage.

kathrynha

Nikkster wrote: »

0.783 here. Also lots of bumpf through the letterbox - and a lot of it is personally addressed to me.

Same and I don't like it!
Also a number of phone calls

I am on the hidden electoral role, TPS, ex-directory, and always make sure I tick/untick the box so I opt out of junk mail, but seemingly political parties are exempt from the data protection stuff that is supposed to protect you from that, which doesn't seem right.

IveSeenTheLight

wotsthat wrote: »

We can't keep having referendums until the 'correct' answer is returned.

With respect to the AV referendum, it's not the answer that was wrong, it was the question

Nikkster

kathrynha wrote: »

Same and I don't like it!
Also a number of phone calls

I am on the hidden electoral role, TPS, ex-directory, and always make sure I tick/untick the box so I opt out of junk mail, but seemingly political parties are exempt from the data protection stuff that is supposed to protect you from that, which doesn't seem right.

I don't like it either!

Political parties can use the full register I think:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/en/uksi/2013/3198/schedule/3/made
'The electoral register lists the names and addresses of everyone who is registered to vote in public elections.

The register is used for electoral purposes – such as making sure only eligible people can vote – and for other limited purposes specified in law. The personal data in the register must always be processed in line with data-protection legislation.

Who uses the electoral register?

Election staff, political parties, candidates and holders of elected office use the register for electoral purposes.'

No-one has called me - I'm ex directory too, but it probably has more to do with the fact that I don't have a phone plugged into my landline (I only have a landline for the internet)

audigex

Your vote isn't irrelevant

If you look and say "My seat is safe, I won't vote" all you're doing is joining 10,000 others in your seat who do the same thing.

If you vote anyway, your vote makes that "safe" seat slightly less safe, so even if it doesn't make as much difference this time around, it may prompt others to bother next time.

As someone mentioned above, almost no seats are won by a single vote: most of our votes are "irrelevant" by that measure... there are only a few truly marginal seats in the entire country where a few hundred votes matter and your turning up or not may affect the outcome.

So by that measure, almost no votes truly change the result.... but they all matter: elections are decided by those who make the effort.

audigex

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

With respect to the AV referendum, it's not the answer that was wrong, it was the question

Very true

AV was rejected because Labour/Conservatives claimed that it would return fewer majorities and lead to unstable government, more coalitions and minority governments etc.

But now, considering we're stuck with that instability anyway with no sign that it's going away any time soon, we should probably lament the missed opportunity to have a properly representative parliament.

AV wasn't the right option, but if we're stuck with coalitions anyway, I'd rather see proper proportional representation. It's a bit silly how a party can get 5% of the vote, but no seats whatsoever, just because they get 5% of the vote in every constituency, rather than 51% of the vote in 5% of them.

FPTP encourages localised parties and "regional" voting (eg the North/South Labour/Conservative divide), which unfairly benefits the larger parties.