Newington's Patrick Traynor looks at electoral pacts and what they could mean for MPs elected on formal alliances.
On 7 May 2015, an estimated 2.8 million voters entered the voting booth and cast a vote in favour of a candidate who was not their preferred candidate. This was driven by the harsh reality of the UK’s first past the post voting system, which provides no reward for losing candidates and essentially renders every losing vote worthless. As such voters are increasingly drawn to considering pragmatic alternatives, such as tactical voting.
An idea gaining increasing traction is the possibility of electoral pacts and formal alliances being formed between political parties. The premise here is simple, that two or more parties, who broadly agree on a set of issues, unify around one candidate in a constituency and therefore no longer compete for the same set of votes. For example, pressure group Compass has been leading calls for the formation of a ‘progressive alliance’, between Labour, Liberal Democrats, Green Party and the SNP, which Prime Minister Theresa May has labelled a ‘coalition of chaos’.
However, at a national level, the major parties are all publically opposed to the idea of forming formal alliances and are committed to contesting every seat. The Labour Party has taken a hard-line stance on this issue, suspending councillors in both Surrey and Aberdeen for attempting to form alliances with other parties.
Despite that, a number of local pacts have sprung up. In Ealing, Labour’s Rupa Huq chances of defending a majority of 274 have been boosted by the decision of the Ealing Green Party not to field a candidate. And in 2015, the Green Party picked up 1,841 votes and fast forward to 2017the message to Green voters in Ealing is clear – vote Labour.
Alliances and pacts aren’t limited to those on the left. There are a number of seats in which UKIP are not fielding candidates, in a bid to unseat the incumbent Remain backing candidate. An example of this is Don Valley, where in 2015 UKIP received less than 10,000 votes. With the issue of Brexit at the forefront, the Conservative candidate Aaron Bell will be hoping to win over this support, to unseat Labour’s Caroline Flint.
Whilst the major parties have ruled out forming wide scale alliances, pacts in local seats have the potential to play in role in determining the outcome of a number of closely fought constituency battles. Furthermore, in the next Parliament there may be a number of MPs who owe their election to these pacts and agreements, and as such, might moderate their behaviour to maintain a broader, cross-party sense of appeal. For example, Rupa Huq is likely to remain a vocal opponent against the expansion of Heathrow and Conservative MPs in seats where UKIP have stood aside, may seek to repay their support with a hard line stance on Brexit.
