Is the old two party system coming to an end?

But is 'decisive legislation' a good thing? Whether Conservative or Labour. Both tend to legislate according to party dogma, as opposed to the good of the people. Neither party, when in Government, has had the support of the majority of the electorate for many years. The early years of Government tend to concentrate on undoing the legislation of the previous incumbents; for good or ill. Surely consensual Government would be preferable to the current adversarial system that we have now.

Well put Dayvidg.

RSALLAN2002

About 20% of the electorate voted Labour yet they got a massive majority and feel they can do whatever they like, even if it wasn't in their manifesto. Far too few of us have a meaningful vote. The current system doesn't work. I won't be voting in a general election again unless the system is changed. If PR is best for Northern Ireland, why not the rest of the UK?

I agree. The current system is not representative of the views of the voting population. IMO it needs changing to reflect the views of the nation. A huge overall majority for any party on so few votes is a recipe for disaster. Just look back at the last 14 years old Tory rule. How many people did they represent?

About 20% of the electorate voted Labour yet they got a massive majority and feel they can do whatever they like, even if it wasn't in their manifesto. Far too few of us have a meaningful vote. The current system doesn't work. I won't be voting in a general election again unless the system is changed. If PR is best for Northern Ireland, why not the rest of the UK?

keepingquiet

I agree. Imperfect though FPTP is, it does make for decisive government especially if they have a large majority.

Coalitions, as we learned a few years ago, are not the way to get decisive legislation passed. Nobody gets anything done in a hung parliament either.

I might vote for STV, but even that has its downsides. PR won't ever work in this country because no party wants it, not even the LibDems would if they got a majority government.

But is 'decisive legislation' a good thing? Whether Conservative or Labour. Both tend to legislate according to party dogma, as opposed to the good of the people. Neither party, when in Government, has had the support of the majority of the electorate for many years. The early years of Government tend to concentrate on undoing the legislation of the previous incumbents; for good or ill. Surely consensual Government would be preferable to the current adversarial system that we have now.

I can never understand why someone is put in charge of a 'department', knows nothing about what they are in charge of. Why cant 'Fred Smith', no matter what party he affiliates with, who is a whizz with Education be put in charge of that department. Jane Jones, again no matter what party, who is awesome with finance and accounts, be Chancellor the Exchequer. Our current system of one party 'in charge' doesn't work, this has been proved time and time again. A prime example was Jeremy Hunt, in his 'career' he has been Chancellor of the Exchequer. Foreign Secretary. Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. Secretary of State for Culture. Shadow Minister for Disabled People. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Chairman of Health and Social Care Select Committee. How can one man have the necessary knowledge to lead all of these 'Departments' successfully?

There was only a Tory, Labour or Green candidate to choose between in my area, so I had a cup off tea and a slice of cake instead.

Mt61

I hope so! About time some of the other parties got a look in. Most of my friends who voted labour are looking at another party 😌

If any of the other parties ie LibDems or even Reform (heaven help us) got in they wouldn't promote PR because it would have been FPTP that got them in! Turkeys for Christmas springs to mind (though that reminds me of Brexit!)

We would be living in perpetual stalemate without any meaningful legislation.

But... if that's what people want then... they may well get it and then wish they hadn't.

I hope so! About time some of the other parties got a look in. Most of my friends who voted labour are looking at another party 😌

I agree. Imperfect though FPTP is, it does make for decisive government especially if they have a large majority.

Coalitions, as we learned a few years ago, are not the way to get decisive legislation passed. Nobody gets anything done in a hung parliament either.

I might vote for STV, but even that has its downsides. PR won't ever work in this country because no party wants it, not even the LibDems would if they got a majority government.

There isn’t going to be PR here. Parties only talk about PR being a good idea when they aren’t in power.

It's possible Labour could bounce back from a terrible start and win next time, or the Conservatives could destroy Reform by taking on most of their policies, but if not, the old two party system could fall apart.

Too early to tell. PR attracts some people but isn't a perfect solution: coalitions often have problems reconciling conflicting policies and pre-election promises to their supporters. Some conflciting policies are irreconcilable. This usually eventually results in horsetrading which does not satisfy supporters.

Which is not surprising at the moment. However, the national mood changes all the time, so there could very easily be a big resurgence from one or both parties before the next election. There isn’t going to be PR in this parliament, and even if it’s a coalition next time, it could well end up as a two party coalition, which has happened before and won’t rock the status quo, we’ll see, no doubt,

I think there is a big shift away from the two old parties and voters seem far less tribal than they used to be. Most people I speak to don't like Labour or the Tories.

I think it’s way too soon to predict what’s going to happen in five years time, a lot changes in politics in a week, never mind five years.

We’ll have to wait and see.
The CP were never going to be elected again, much the same as the LP, both when the CP took over and at the 2015/17 elections.
However, given the small number of voters which gave the LP their majority this year, and the large number of votes for other parties, you could be right.