Power where it belongs

This makes it the first government with real moral legitimacy in 65 years.

Critics denigrate coalitions, but every party is a coalition within itself.

In every election from 1945 until 2005 our electoral system misrepresented us by twisting a minority of votes into a majority of seats. No single party has won a majority of General Election votes since Stanley Baldwin’s Conservatives in 1935.

Even in the 1983 and 1997 “landslides” Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair won only a minority of votes, but first-past-the-post made each a virtual dictator.

The fact that about 80 per cent of constituencies are “safe” seats is one reason why 35 per cent of electors abstain from voting. Electoral reform would encourage electors who vote tactically to vote with their conscience instead.

Critics claim a balanced Parliament lets minor parties manipulate major ones. Actually giving minor parties their fair share of power can increase pressure on all parties to act responsibly. Lib Dem support could stabilise at the level of third parties in Germany or elsewhere.

Overall votes in Oxfordshire in 2010 were Conservative 48 per cent, Lib Dem 27 per cent and Labour 19 per cent, but the elected members are five Conservatives, one Labour and no Lib Dem.

Ireland’s single transferable vote system has large multi-member constituencies. Oxfordshire might be one constituency returning three Conservatives, two Lib Dems and one Labour.

Alternatively, Germany’s additional member system has single-member constituencies plus regional top-up lists to give minor parties their share of seats. Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire’s 21 seats might become 16 single-member constituencies plus five top-up seats.

The executive part of Government has become too powerful and every Prime Minister too presidential. Real electoral reform could return some power from the executive to Parliament where it belongs.

Hugh Jaeger, Oxford