The Right Alternative? Assessing the case for the Alternative Vote

Article

AV is a superior voting system to FPTP principally because it goes with the grain of contemporary political life in Britain: it is better at reflecting the diversity and pluralism of the modern electorate, something FPTP conspicuously fails to do.

The upcoming referendum offers voters the choice between moving to the Alternative Vote (AV) or retaining First Past the Post (FPTP). The evidence presented in this report and IPPR's previous publication - Worst of Both Worlds: Why First Past the Post no longer works - shows that there is a strong case for reform.

However, there is no such thing as a perfect electoral system and we should be careful not to exaggerate the claims of AV. It is not a proportional system and so does not give all parties a fair share of seats in parliament.

Download the full results of the ippr/YouGov poll which is used extensively in this report.

Related items

  1. Man Writing Code on Desktop Computer With Multiple Monitors Set Up and a Laptop in Creative Office

    Bottleneck Britain: How digital competition could power UK growth and sovereignty

    Artificial intelligence could be the UK’s biggest economic opportunity in a generation, but only if its gains are spread across the economy rather than pooled within a handful of companies.
  2. A photograph of the UK houses of parliament in Westminster, with a background of pound coins

    Taxing times: Policies, politics, and principles

    This paper sets out proposals for the path to a better tax system, which is able to meet the demands of both the public and a more dangerous world.

  3. Towards a Communities Agenda 2.0

    Andy Burnham’s arrival in Downing Street creates an opportunity to go much further on the communities agenda than we’ve seen up to now. So what should more ambition look like in practice?