With the seven way party debate tonight coming from ITV studios in Salford, Manchester hosted by Julie Etchingham, it is time to re-think once again about our voting system. The first past the post system worked ok when it was just was three parties Labour, Conservatives and Lib-Dems but now, in an age when there are seven parties vying for peoples votes across the UK, it is time to have a more representative style of voting system.
One of the deals struck between the Conservatives and Lib-Dems to go into coalition government together was the demand of the Lib-Dems that a more representative form of voting called 'proportional representation' be put to a public referendum during the course of a Lib-Dem, Conservative administration.
The Liberal party and later on the Lib-Dems had always pushed for proportional representation and when in government with the Conservatives the Lib-Dem's dream of having proportional representation put to the vote became a reality.
However, the public overwhelmingly rejected proportional representation, for reasons best known to themselves, and it seemed they favoured the old first past the post system. The Lib-Dems were of course knocked back by this; but of course like the SNP with their hopes of Scotland being free one day and it being put to the vote so the Lib-Dems may wish for proportional representation to have its days in the political sun once again.
Even though it's reckoned the Scottish National Party (SNP) may get 50-59 seats at Westminster or UKIP may get as many as 30, they will never be as big perhaps as say the Conservatives or Labour under the present system and that is why maybe the time for proportional representation should be looked at again in the near future, or something similar, to give smaller parties a level playing field with the bigger parties.
Julie Etchingham will certainly have her work cut out with seven party leaders going head to head, and it seems a shame the only two men who stand the chance of walking over the doorstep of Number 10 David Cameron and Ed Milliband never did actually go head to head. Instead, we had to put up with David Cameron and Ed Milliband speaking individually to audiences on various issues separately and not together in the same room, whether they met before they came on stage behind the scenes is another thing.
For the moment, anyway, we have the first past the post system and how the election will go or may not go will probably be influenced by debates like tonight's.
