UKIP, 5,000,000 votes 1 MP - SNP with 1,000,000 votes 45 MPs.

Not sure I need to add any thing on this blog post - the image says it all.

The figures are approximate from polls etc - but the underlying message is 100% clear - our democracy is broken. The UKIP vote will be about the size of the entire Scottish electorate! But that will still probably lead to UKIP getting one or two MP's while on one fifth of that vote SNP are expected to get over 40 MPs.

As long as voting is based on geographic regions having support focused in specific areas rather than spread will give an unfair advantage in getting representation. This will be true even with an alternative method of counting votes (like AV - which was rejected in a nation wide UK referendum a few years back).

Changing the way MPs are selected (moving away from or adding to the geographic element) has some merit - there used to be non-geographic constituencies so it is not a totally new idea.

However PR (proportional representation) is not a solution. PR means you are voting for a party - not a person - if your candidate is not elected your vote goes towards supporting the party - which basically means supporting the party leader. How would you feel if you voted for a decent local candidate who didn't get in then their party leader used your 'mandate' for some nonsense your candidate would have opposed tooth and claw?

I believe 'liquid democracy' is the way forwards (in one of its various forms) - you don't 'elect' a representative, you simply have the right to nominate a proxy for your vote in parliamentary divisions. Each 'MP' votes with the weight of the proxy's they have been given - you could give different people your proxy for different issues - so Farage on EU matters, someone else for devotion matters etc - and at the end of the day, if you really want, you can vote yourself, directly if you so wish.

But right now, if this result comes to pass and one million (rabidly pro EU and anti English) Scots get to decide the government of the UK, while many times that number of UKIP supporters get almost no representation at all there is going to be a revolution.

(first published at http://free-english-people.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/ukip-5000000-votes-1-mp-snp-with.html)