Do you think a party other than the two main parties could ever win office?

I think the whole system needs an overhaul. An MP is supposed to represent the people of their constituency, this is their main purpose. They shouldn't have to be a member of a particular
party.
I think we should do away with parties altogether, and have debates in Parliament before decisions are made.

I wish.
I have voted for others rather than the main two, in the past. But when you see how many others did when votes have been counted, it has been disappointing.

There has to be a seismic shift in thinking I think.
Not sure enough people, in the Uk anyway, are at that point yet.
Could be wrong. Hope I am.

I like the Swiss model of doing things.
Many referendums. Something like 10 a year sometimes?
Not sure if they have main parties or not.
But the Swiss people have a much more democratic way of doing things. In my opinion.

Here most parties are elected on preferences I.e. when a minor party fails to get in all their votes go to a major party that they have ‘preferred’. It’s not ideal, either, quite unfair in some ways.

Didn't Macron come out of nowhere with his party en marche, trouncing the major parties at the time, so I guess it could happen if that party galvanised enough support.

I've often thought our two major parties should both split in two, maybe they will both produce offshoots. Many a time I've heard MPs from both sides saying "we're a broad church" but there are dissatisfied factions within.

It won't happen under our First Past the Post system. We've seen new parties come and go over the years with very little success.

A new or minority party would have a better chance under PR when more voters would believe that their vote actually counted. Even then, they'd be more likely to be a junior coalition partner than the main party of government.

The Swiss referendum system has appealed to me too, fancythat. Not for every decision but certainly for important changes in the law.

I would agree with referendums but the Swiss havnt always been so forward thinking. Women only got the vote in the 70 s or 80 s, not sure of exact year but it certainly wasn’t long ago,

It was 1971 when men voted that women Could have the vote!
!