Nigel Farage lets rip at 'brutal' voting system as he explains how Reform could have ended up with ONE HUNDRED new MPs

Nigel Farage lets rip at 'brutal' voting system as he explains how Reform could have ended up with ONE HUNDRED new MPs
Millie Cooke

By Millie Cooke


Published: 08/07/2024

- 13:27

Updated: 08/07/2024

- 15:43

The Reform UK leader noted that for every one of his MPs there are '800,000 votes behind them', while for every Labour MP there are 'fewer than 30,000'

Additional reporting by Charlie Peters

Nigel Farage has slammed the British voting system as "brutal", warning the Labour Party that the "argument for electoral reform is going to become very strong."

He said there is a "clear majority of the British public who now think the system doesn't work".


He noted that for every one Reform UK MP there are "800,000 votes behind them", while for every Labour MP there are "fewer than 30,000".

Speaking to GB News in Clacton after his election victory over the weekend, which saw Reform UK return five MPs to the Commons, Farage said: "The First Past the Post system is absolutely brutal.

\u200bNigel Farage

Nigel Farage has slammed the British voting system as "brutal"

PA

"We could have got over 4 million votes and no seats under this system, but if we had PR [proportional representation] we'd have nearly 100 seats."

He added: "For every one Reform MP there are 800,000 votes behind them. For every Labour MP there are fewer than 30,000.

"First Past the Post can stop parties with big vote shares getting a small number of seats, but equally it can give the Labour Party, with a third of the vote, two-thirds of the seats.

Asked if he would work with the Liberal Democrats to campaign for electoral reform, the new MP for Clacton said: "I'm perfectly happy to work with them on it. Its something they've campaigned on for decades.

"There is a clear majority of the British public who now think the system doesn't work.

"The results prove the system doesn't work. And the low turnout shows that so many people cant see the point in taking part in these elections."

Reform UK returned five MPs at the General Election, after receieving just over four million votes.

Labour, which secured 412 seats, got 9.7 million votes.

The Tory Party won just 119 seats after receiving 6.8 million votes.

Meanwhile, the Lib Dems won 71 seats with just under 3.5 million votes.

The Electoral Reform Society claimed it was “the most disproportional in British electoral history”.

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