Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 9 June 1964.
I think that the effect of the hon. Gentleman's proposed Bill, if it became law, would be to encourage the least unpopular man to be elected in a constituency. There would be a movement towards the centre which would weaken the basic alternative choice which is the real advantage under a party system. The fallacy that independent Members do not get into the House is denied as we look around and see my hon. Friend the Member for Ebbw Vale (Mr. Foot), the right hon. Member for Wolverhampton, Southwest (Mr. Powell) and, indeed, the hon. Member for Carlisle himself. They do get into the House of Commons and the party system does not deny us the right of independent members.
The single transferable vote (STV) is a voting system that allocates seats in a parliament or committee in proportion to the number of votes recorded. This is in contrast to the first-past-the-post system, which may result in political representation failing to reflect votes cast. Under STV voters indicate their support for individuals who they feel will best represent them, unlike in list systems where they must choose a political party.
STV ballot papers include a list of the names of each candidate standing in the election. Voters are asked to place a number "1" next to their first choice candidate and a number "2" next to their second choice candidate, a number "3" next to their third choice and so on.
At the first stage of the count each ballot paper is awarded to their first choice candidate and candidates with the required number of votes (called the quota) are elected. If a candidate has more votes than the required number of votes a proportion of these votes may be transferred after considering the preferences expressed by the voters.
Candidates who receive very few votes are usually excluded and each of the votes is transfered according to the preferences expressed by the voter.
In Northern Ireland STV is used for European and local elections as well as for elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. STV is also used for local elections in Scotland.
The House of Commons is one of the houses of parliament. Here, elected MPs (elected by the "commons", i.e. the people) debate. In modern times, nearly all power resides in this house. In the commons are 650 MPs, as well as a speaker and three deputy speakers.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
