Thursday 10 May 2018

STV in Scotland and FPTP in Wales. Which is best?

There is a sharp contrast between the make up of the local  authorities in Wales (First Past the Post) and Scotland  (Single Transferable Vote).

Both Nations have unitary authorities and it is clear that Labour are dominant in Wales, although they are thin on the ground  in Gwynedd, Ceredigion and Isle of Anglesey and having an MP I'n one  and the Tories despite getting a fair bit of support in Parliamentary Election have no councillors in Caerphilly, for example
Last update 4 May 2018.
Council Control Web Total LAB PC CON LD GP Other Vacant Upcoming by-elections
Blaenau Gwent IND IND URL 42 13 1


29

Bridgend NOC LAB... URL 54 26 3 8 1
16

Caerphilly LAB maj URL 73 50 18


5

Cardiff LAB maj URL 75 40 2 20 11
2

Carmarthenshire NOC PC... URL 74 22 37


15

Ceredigion NOC PC... URL 42
20
8
14

Conwy NOC IND... URL 59 8 8 16 4
23

Denbighshire NOC CON URL 47 13 9 15

10

Flintshire NOC LAB... URL 70 34
6 5
25

Gwynedd PC maj URL 75 1 41
1
32

Isle of Anglesey NOC PC... URL 30 2 14
1
13

Merthyr Tydfil IND maj URL 33 15



18

Monmouthshire CON maj URL 43 10
25 3
5

Neath Port Talbot LAB maj URL 64 43 15
1
5

Newport LAB maj URL 50 31
12 2
5

Pembrokeshire IND IND URL 60 7 6 11 1
35

Powys NOC IND... URL 73 7 2 20 13 1 30

Rhondda Cynon Taf LAB maj URL 75 47 17 4 1
6

Swansea LAB maj URL 72 48
9 7
8

Torfaen LAB maj URL 44 29
4

11

Vale of Glamorgan NOC CON... URL 47 14 4 23

6

Wrexham NOC IND... URL 52 12 3 9 2
26



Such is the nature that the two major UK parties don't even put up a candidate in most wards in these council's elections.

 Compare this with Scotland where Labour's gaps are largely due to a tradition of Independent councillors .
Council Control Web Total SNP CON LAB LD GP Other Vacant
Aberdeen NOC CON+ALAB[s 1]+IND co URL 45 19 11
3
12[s 1]

Aberdeenshire NOC CON+LD+IND co URL 70 21 23 1 14 1 10

Angus NOC IND+CON+LD co URL 28 9 8
2
9

Argyll & Bute NOC CON+LD+IND co[12] URL 36 11 9
6
10

Clackmannanshire NOC SNP min[13] URL 18 8 5 5




Dumfries & Galloway NOC LAB+SNP co URL 43 11 16 10 1
5

Dundee NOC SNP+IND co URL 29 14 3 9 2
1

East Ayrshire NOC SNP min URL 32 14 6 9

3

East Dunbartonshire NOC LD+CON co[14] URL 22 7 6 2 6
1

East Lothian NOC LAB min URL 22 6 7 9




East Renfrewshire NOC SNP+LAB+IND co URL 18 5 6 4

3

Edinburgh NOC SNP+LAB co[15] URL 58 17 18 12 6 8 2

Eilean Siar IND IND URL 31 7 2


22

Falkirk NOC SNP min[16] URL 30 12 7 9

2

Fife NOC SNP+LAB j.l.[17] URL 75 29 15 24 7



Glasgow NOC SNP min[18] URL 85 39 8 31
7


Highland NOC IND+LD+LAB co URL 74 19 10 3 10 1 31

Inverclyde NOC LAB min URL 22 6 2 8 1
5

Midlothian NOC LAB min URL 18 7 5 6




Moray NOC CON+IND co URL 26 9 8 1

8

North Ayrshire NOC LAB min URL 33 11 7 11

4

North Lanarkshire NOC LAB min URL 77 33 9 33

2

Orkney IND IND URL 21




21

Perth & Kinross NOC CON+LD+IND co URL 40 15 17 1 4
3

Renfrewshire NOC SNP min URL 43 19 8 13 1
2

Scottish Borders NOC CON+IND co URL 34 9 14
2
9

Shetland IND IND URL 22 1



21

South Ayrshire NOC SNP+LAB+IND p.w. URL 28 9 12 5

2

South Lanarkshire NOC SNP min URL 64 25 14 19 1
5

Stirling NOC SNP+LAB URL 23 9 8 4
1 1

West Dunbartonshire NOC SNP+IND URL 22 10 2 8

2

West Lothian NOC LAB min URL 33 13 7 12

1


Recently there ave been cases of Labour and the Tories in Scotland forming a pact to keep out the SNP as happened in Aberdeen  (where they were expelled) and others where there seems to no action taken,.

One argument for the situation in Wales is that whilst it does not reflect the strength of the party at a Parliamentary  or Assembly election, it does the reflect the members on the ground.

It was a common practise for the Welsh Tories to select an aspiring candidate from outside Wales in unwinnable  seat whose longest span in the constituency and only sent out the free delivery election communication, was election day, where they outvoted Plaid who  had people constantly working on the doors,

Under STV parties do not have to select  45 candidates for Aberdeen for instance and concentrate on those parts of the city where they are strong ,  or rely on UK political "votes" to elect them

Is it possible that some candidates in Scotland won with virtually   no campaign.

This could be avoided however if the number of candidate nominations were raised to between 100-200  on the electoral registrar.

Parties largely of course support STV   when they are in a minority but when they become the largest party are frustrated that they fail to get overall control.

The only cases in Scotland that are labelled NOC are those run by Independents. .

 The Tories for example are the largest party in  Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries & GallowayNOCLAB+SNP coURL431116101
5


But are kept out of power by a Lab+SNP coalition .


Is this fair?

Short of a additional ballot paper in which voters list their preferred "partnership"
I don't really see a way round it.

I support STV because I believe it is more democratic; but it would lead my friends in Gwynedd having to put up with Tory councillors.
Is that a price worth paying?















1 comment:

Alan said...

Time will tell. I find Scotland's council makeups and deals fascinating.

It's the price of fairer democracy. If we still used FPTP, all those NOC/coalition councils would probably be in one party or another's hands. It doesn't hurt to spread the political responsibility around a little.

I haven't heard of any of our councils becoming deadlocked the way Northern Ireland has over its executive. So they're getting on with the job - sometimes poorly, sometimes well.

Tory councillors popping up here and there can be an unpleasant experience, but that's the price of balancing a democratic deficit. Better to have a right wing proportionately represented than grossly under or overrepresented.