Why are British left-wingers so enthusiastic about proportional representation?

[minionofmidas]

I would like to point out that one of those three posts is in favor of the Scottish/Welsh system... which is very far from actual PR. It gives a rather hefty bonus to the largest party (D'Hondt and you not just get to keep overhang, the other parties are actually reduced to make room for your overhang!), it includes a safeguard against the underrepresentation of low-turnout regions - which is the most valid counterargument against pure pr - and in Wales especially (yeah, yeah, I know only Scotland was mentioned) has a way-too-high threshold for my tastes.
That happened to be the comment by the poster least like that middle class, left-liberal subset of Labour and most like the Labour Party at large...

[minionofmidas]

I didn't mean liberal in the economic sense (or as an insult at all). I'm not sure Al did, either.

[minionofmidas]

Even still it's an uncomfortable generalisation, which I don't adhere to. I'm sure PR is a middle-class issue - with the social liberals on one side, and the market liberals on the other - but that's hardly surprising when politics itself is increasingly becoming a middle-class interest.

Which is true, which is true.

Especially the kind of politics-as-hobby you'll find on a politics forum on the internet... which is sorta QED, but only sorta.

[minionofmidas]

Of course, the patterns talked about (plus a small side pattern of England vs ROB) are very apparent here. Yeah, I know the referendum was on AV, not some (non-pure form of) PR. It affected the margin, but I fail to see a rational argument that it affected the pattern much.

[minionofmidas]

Given http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament_election,_2009_%28United_Kingdom%29

I don't think only leftwingers are pro-prop.


Simply, FPTP is a prehistoric system, the most unfair, the less exciting (for hardcore election-night fans^^) and... and simply the worst system in the whole universe.

No. You would like to think so given how bad FPTP is, but worse systems are possible.
And exist. Including in Britain.

I present to you - multi-member fptp!