Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Harringay Voters Amongst Least 'Powerful' Voters in the UK

A website set up by the New Econmoics Foundation shows that the votes of people voting in Harringay are in the bottom 5% of votes in terms of counting towards the result of the general election

The website lets voters check to what extent their vote matters in the context of Britain's first past the post system.

NEF say;

In the 2010 election, more than half of all voters voted against their winning MP.

Their votes simply didn't count.

In the UK, the only voters with any real power to choose the government are those who live in marginal constituencies.

Indeed, voters in the most powerful 10% of constituencies will wield more than 30 times as much power as the least influential.

The rest of us have little or no power to influence the outcome of the election.

In fact, statistical analysis by the NEF (the new economics foundation) shows that one person in the UK does not have one vote... ...it's more like 0.30 votes.

In some ultra safe constituencies the value of your vote falls to practically zero. Find out how powerful your vote is in this general election.

Link: voterpower.org.uk

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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on April 21, 2015 at 16:21

Stuart, of course you are welcome to remain on your 'fat bum' if you want. But if you do, don't open your mouth to complain over the next five years, if things don't quite turn out how you wanted/expected.

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Permalink Reply by John D on April 21, 2015 at 10:30

I would just like Lammy to know that there is at least one resident who doesn't think the sun shines out of his erm ...( backside )

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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on April 21, 2015 at 11:31

But the point is.. until there is true PR, your vote is worthless. Casting it, is just like burning a 50 pound note. And therefore Lammy or any other incumbent with a safe seat just don't care a toss what you vote.

Under our voting system, you would be able to vote for his party to form the government, but not for him as your local MP if you wanted to.

That's what your antiquated electoral system does (or doesn't do) for you.

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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on April 21, 2015 at 11:59

Stephen, I agree with the points you've been making about our clunky electoral system – that we're stuck with for the time being.

A Belgian friend phoned on the weekend and was interested in how our election was going. When I explained the various coalition possibilities and the length of time (set aside for negotiations) between election day and the State Opening of Parliament, she said, Ah, you're becoming like Belgium!

My only hope is that in this general election, the multiplicity of choice of parties up and down the country might encourage more citizens to realise that their personal vote is likely to matter more – sometimes, much more – in an electoral system that contains at least a major element of PR.

I understand that NZ's hybrid system is modelled on Germany's.

Clive Carter
Councillor
Liberal Democrat Party

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Permalink Reply by John D on April 21, 2015 at 17:58

I hope not. In 2010-2011, Belgium was without an elected government for 589 days because of the electoral system and the multiplicity of parties which resulted in it being impossible to form a workable coalition.

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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on April 21, 2015 at 19:31

Oh yawn, the same old (tory) bunnies..

Belgium's problems have nowt to do with the electoral system and well you know it, John D.

It's a country with three national languages and three distinct parts. I suppose the German speaking part wouldn't mind much being part of Germany again. They were stolen detatched by 'the Allies' as part of the 1919 Versailles treaty. The Walloons would perhaps also not mind being more attached to La grande nation. But the Flemish speaking part, are I believe, not taken seriously by their Dutch counterparts. So therein lies the problem.

Their Royal Family is descended, just like the British lot, from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ancestors.

The days of non coalition governments in the U.K. look over too. So the old system is just going to continually churn out weakened minority governments, rather than one-nation governments of compromise instead of confrontation, which is of course, John D's favourite pastime.

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Permalink Reply by John D on April 21, 2015 at 22:30

Thank you Stephen for the reminder of the ancestry of the British and Belgian royal families. I had overlooked the likely Saxe-Coburg- Gotha distortion of the will of the British people.

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Permalink Reply by Gordon T on April 21, 2015 at 20:18

Yes, complicated - I can't see in the record that the absence of an elected government for those 589 days caused the collapse of government/democracy/economy (I didn't notice insurrections either) - less is more?

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Permalink Reply by stuart on April 21, 2015 at 13:02

I agree

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Permalink Reply by JJ B on April 24, 2015 at 1:10

Make that 2 please...but he cetainly thinks it does. At the Selby centre hustings all he could say in his final round up was "vote for me to get the Tories out". Fat chance. I think he doesn't stand for anything in particular except himself. If you read his Out of the Ashes book you can see he is uninspired and uninspiring. He jusjt doesn't seem to have a real command of the bigger picture.
His actions towards the smaller people don't match his words. I won't repeat what I shouted at the hustings. But the 'dissonance' that came out of his mouth about building affordable housing and not building high rise ghetto estates and what is being pushed thru in his constituency by a Labour regime was just too, too much to not react. He just makes me so angry. You can see why Tottenham is in the state it is in. It is so poorly represented at national and Borough level!
Won't vote Labour, won't vote Lammy.
From a card holding member ofh the french socialist sister party of Labour.