I have no problem with the BNP - or any other minority party - getting a seat or two if that's the way the national vote goes. That's the nature of democracy. We don't have to agree with what they say but we should defend their right to say it (not sure about Voltaire's "to the death" bit though
).
The problem with PR is the conflict between national and local results. How do you divide up parliamentary seats according to a national result while also giving local people the MP they voted for? This goes beyond the question of who gets lumbered with the BNP/PIE/MRL/Flat Earth/Anybody Else You Can Think Of member. Many constituencies will end up with somebody who came second, or even third, unless ---
There is a way. I believe it's called the Additional Member system. You add extra MPs, starting with those who came the closest behind the elected ones, until the House of Commons matches the national vote.
The obvious drawback is that you have a lot of extra MPs - so we would need a bigger chamber to get them all in.
On a slightly different note, I would be quite happy to see lots of minority MPs, especially independents, in Parliament. When I first became aware of how our government worked (which would be back in the sixties) I quickly got fed up with the endless arguments of us-and-them party politics.
All they seemed to do was slag each other off while carefully avoiding anything that didn't allow them to 'get one over' on the other lot. That excluded most of the things I cared about: licensing laws, free radio, segregated schools, censorship, fox hunting.
I could go on if I dredged my memory banks a bit deeper. You often hear politicians bemoaning the lack of interest in politics among young people. Well I can't speak for the current crop so you'll just have to ask them what they want from their politicians- but I warn you that you might not like the answers!
But things are actually looking up. It is becoming increasingly difficult to tell one party from another so maybe the days of party politics are coming to an end. Move over you boring, dogma-driven party stooges and make room for some free-thinking politicians who actually listen to their constituents!
Perhaps that's too much to hope for in my lifetime.
