The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Mysterious arithmetic fail

Posted on November 15, 2011 by

Ever since the SNP achieved what was thought by most people to be impossible – winning an absolute majority in the Scottish Parliament under its proportional representation system – the Unionist camp has discovered a sudden pressing concern about the perils of majority government (regardless of the fact that almost every UK Parliament in history has operated with an absolute majority on a minority of the vote, and that Labour and the Tories regularly proclaim this as a great benefit of the wildly undemocratic First Past The Post method thanks to its delivery of "strong" governments, and oppose any form of PR for Westminster).

This concern was given voice today in a report by the Electoral Reform Society, proposing a change in the rules governing Holyrood's system of proportional representation, to a format which – quite coincidentally – would have resulted in the SNP narrowly missing out on a majority in May. The society's justification for the change was that "democracy works better with more parties represented", which seems a hard argument to find fault with.

The odd thing about the report, though, is that the Sainte-Laguë system which it put forward as the solution would have done precisely nothing to increase the number of parties represented at Holyrood, as this analysis of the results by Better Nation shows. The existing parties/groups would have had their representations fiddled around with slightly, but the same six (SNP, Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem, Green and independents) would have won seats as actually did. The only difference would have been that the pro-independence Greens would have held the balance of power, wielding a disproportionate influence with their 7 seats over the 64-seat SNP, as they could have held them to ransom over any policy they chose as a price for supporting an independence referendum.

This blog is a supporter of PR, so that's all fair enough. But it's curious that this report has suddenly raised issues with Holyrood now, after 12 years, just at the point where the SNP has taken control over it. It'll be interesting to hear the Unionist parties' take on it, and how they'll square it with the FPTP system at Westminster. Is "strong government" good or bad? As with many things, we suspect the answer depends which side of the border you're on.

1 to “Mysterious arithmetic fail”

  1. An Duine Gruamach says:

    I wonder if they could remind me what system was used when the Greens had seven seats, the SSP six, and Canavan, Margo, Jean Turner, and the Senior Citizens were all in.  Just seems the voters – damn them! – didn't vote the way they were "meant" to.

    Reply


Comment - please read this page for comment rules. HTML tags like <i> and <b> are permitted. Use paragraph breaks in long comments. DO NOT SIGN YOUR COMMENTS, either with a name or a slogan. If your comment does not appear immediately, DO NOT REPOST IT. Ignore these rules and I WILL KILL YOU WITH HAMMERS.


  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,785 Posts, 1,221,598 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • Aidan on Too Tight To Mention: “Let’s rewind back a bit, go back to any WoS post from May or earlier and the plan was very…Jul 8, 06:18
    • Young Lochinvar on Too Tight To Mention: “Dangerous stuff. The more boxes that are ticked that say “ye just Cannae dae it” and that we are in…Jul 8, 05:07
    • Anthem on Too Tight To Mention: “Brilliant!Jul 8, 01:33
    • Dunx on Too Tight To Mention: “The UK has a veto in the UN Security Council, not the General Assembly . The GA is a talking…Jul 8, 00:41
    • Young Lochinvar on Too Tight To Mention: “I suspect not MB. The problem I have with the Jacobite rebellions is the whole “using” thing the exiled Stuart’s…Jul 8, 00:24
    • Young Lochinvar on Too Tight To Mention: “LOLz 🙂Jul 7, 23:57
    • Stuart on Too Tight To Mention: “Would that be the same UN General Assembly where the UK Government can wield a veto? Why yes it is!…Jul 7, 23:21
    • Xaracen on Too Tight To Mention: “Only one page on JPTI appears relevant, Aidan, and it doesn’t say what you asserted. JPTI states on its site…Jul 7, 22:52
    • sarah on Too Tight To Mention: “Liberation’s case has to be approved by the General Assembly of the UN. That is well known. The route to…Jul 7, 22:28
    • Oneliner on Too Tight To Mention: “Not My KingJul 7, 22:27
    • Confused on Too Tight To Mention: “I like to think of it this way : an analogy Scotland is like Auschwitz (rich industrial area, but not…Jul 7, 22:10
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Too Tight To Mention: ““The foundational function of the State is the monopolistic organization of the power of the sword over a territorial cultural…Jul 7, 22:07
    • James on Too Tight To Mention: “I quite agree, “Chas” is indeed a unionist prick. Well said.Jul 7, 21:56
    • Northcode on Too Tight To Mention: “Leah Gunn Barrett has this to say about the Darien Scheme. The Darien Myth and the Origins of the Union…Jul 7, 21:53
    • Mark Beggan on Too Tight To Mention: “Pity the Jacobites didn’t win. Young English nationalists would be talking of the slaughter of London, the burning of Winchester.…Jul 7, 21:46
    • Aidan on Too Tight To Mention: “@Alf – I constantly praise Scotland and talk up its strengths both here and in person. Can the same be…Jul 7, 21:37
    • Aidan on Too Tight To Mention: “@Xaracen – it’s on the JPTI website. If you want the actual wording you’ll need to email JPTI or persuade…Jul 7, 21:35
    • Alf Baird on Too Tight To Mention: ““they talk about our history and culture as being ancient guff but not one of them has ever presented anything…Jul 7, 21:19
    • Xaracen on Too Tight To Mention: ““The Committee on Decolonisation has said conclusively that the case of Scotland won’t even be considered in any session as…Jul 7, 21:14
    • Young Lochinvar on Too Tight To Mention: “Chas Well first because it’s interesting, second because it’s pertinent to much of the discussion going on here and lastly…Jul 7, 21:12
    • Aidan on Too Tight To Mention: “No it doesn’tJul 7, 20:59
    • Anthem on Too Tight To Mention: “Looking forward to hearing about it Sarah.Jul 7, 20:55
    • Chas on Too Tight To Mention: “Why? The past has passed.Jul 7, 20:55
    • sarah on Too Tight To Mention: “Liberation’s case to the UN continues.Jul 7, 20:43
    • Young Lochinvar on Too Tight To Mention: “I reckon with the current thread toing and froing on the subject of colonies and colonialism and the Act of…Jul 7, 20:42
    • Alf Baird on Too Tight To Mention: “““Resort to violence to keep control.” Can you give me a recent example of when The Uk Gov has done…Jul 7, 19:48
    • sam on Too Tight To Mention: “The riots in George Square 1919. These were protests about working conditions that so alarmed the UK gov that they…Jul 7, 19:46
    • agent x on Too Tight To Mention: “i find it very strange that how things have developed on here. “I am a proud Scot that demands Independence”.…Jul 7, 19:34
    • Dan on Too Tight To Mention: “One ponders how you managed to see and respond to a post within 1 minute, when it takes up to…Jul 7, 18:57
    • Chas on Too Tight To Mention: “The avatar that James uses belie his youthful sporting background. I know that he represented Scotland at both football and…Jul 7, 18:47
  • A tall tale



↑ Top