Being economical with the truth

Last month the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020 was passed into law.

The day after the Act received Royal Assent, in a Ministerial tweet Chloe Smith MP, the Minister of State at the Cabinet Office, boldly stated that ‘Every voter deserves to have confidence that their vote counts the same, no matter where it is cast.’  She claimed the Act ensured this was the case.

If only this were true.

The reality is that the number of votes needed to elect an MP from each of the four parties that campaigned nationally in the 2019 General Election, was as follows:

• 38,264 votes to elect a Tory MP

• 50,837 to elect a Labour MP

• 336,038 to elect a Lib Dem MP,

• and 866,435 to elect a Green MP

This will not change as a result of the 2020 Act.

Indeed the latest polling evidence suggests that if the General Election took place today, Lib Dem and Green voters combined would make up just over 15.5% of the votes cast, but their parties would receive just 3 seats.  An appropriate share of Parliament’s 650 seats for Green and Lib Dem voters would be over 100 seats! 

I have asked the Minister to correct the Government’s assertion that all votes count the same.  They so very obviously don’t. 

If the Government refuse, the matter will be referred to the Advertising Standards Authority. 

After all, if the Government want to defend an arcane voting system which works hugely to their advantage nobody can stop them, but Unlock Democracy will not let them get away with claiming that everyone’s vote counts the same.  That is being economical with the truth.

Tom Brake

Director, Unlock Democracy