Articles by Ian Simpson

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Ian Simpson, Senior Research and Policy Officer

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Forced to make a tactical vote? We shouldn’t have to vote for the least bad option

Every election, millions of us head to the polling station in a conflicted state of mind – should I vote for the party I most believe in, or should tactical considerations come into play? Often,...

Posted 20 Nov 2025

First Past the Post could catapult Reform UK into government

A new YouGov MRP poll, published on 26 September 2025, provides another snapshot of the chaotic democratic outcomes being caused by First Past The Post (FPTP) in our era of multi-party politics. Although only a...

Posted 02 Oct 2025

Small changes in support result in wildly different outcomes

Councillors keep winning with less than a third of the vote – what can England and Wales learn from Scotland?

Each week, usually on a Thursday, a number of local council by-elections take place around Britain. As with UK parliamentary by-elections, these take place when a representative either resigns or dies and there is a...

Posted 23 Sep 2025

Norway’s election shows how multi-party politics doesn’t have to mean random results

Norway went to the polls on 8 September for their general election. The Scandinavian country has now used proportional representation for over 100 years and the outcome of the election is a prime example of...

Posted 10 Sep 2025

Proportional Representation means voters get what they ask for

One year on from the General Election, the case for fair votes is stronger than ever

The fourth of July marks one year since the General Election of 2024. That election saw the most disproportional outcome in United Kingdom (UK) electoral history, with Labour winning a landslide House of Commons majority...

Posted 03 Jul 2025

Support for proportional representation hits record high according to new research

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) has, this week, published the latest findings from their British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey. The survey has been conducted almost every year since its launch in 1983 and...

Posted 25 Jun 2025

“60% of the British public support proportional representation”

Are we going to see Mayors elected with even lower levels of public support in 2025?

Four Combined Authority mayors will be elected on 1 May 2025, but changes to the rules could see mayors taking power with little public support locally. Voters are going to the polls in the following...

Posted 24 Apr 2025

Mayors could be elected with the backing of fewer than 30 percent of voters

First Past the Post has played havoc with Canadian federal elections

Earlier this year, we wrote about Justin Trudeau’s regret at failing to deliver electoral reform during his near decade as Canada’s Prime Minister, despite first coming to power with a manifesto commitment to end First...

Posted 24 Apr 2025

First Past the Post has randomly thrown up parliaments that bear little resemblance to how Canadians voted

First Past the Post again set to produce random results at English local elections

With four weeks to go before English local authority elections, which will be held on 1 May 2025, this week saw the announcement of candidates for each of the divisions or wards where local councillors...

Posted 03 Apr 2025

How are voters supposed to influence the decisions of their local council

Exploring the proportional outcome of Germany’s 2025 Federal election

With around 84.5 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous country in western Europe. A German Federal election, where representatives are elected to the Bundestag (Germany’s national parliament), is therefore always an important event. From...

Posted 24 Feb 2025