Ten Minutes On... What Britain's Local Elections Reveal About Electoral Systems

TEN MINUTES ON…

Britain’s local elections have exposed something bigger than a bad night for Labour or the Conservatives: the collapse of the old two-party system itself. In this episode of Ten Minutes On…, Guy Burton explores why Britain now looks more like a fragmented five-party democracy — and why the UK’s First Past the Post electoral system is struggling to cope. From Reform UK’s surge and the Greens’ rise to the bizarre distortions of the 2024 general election, this episode examines the growing gap between public opinion and parliamentary representation. It also looks beyond Britain to Canada, France, Japan, Chile, Israel and the Netherlands to ask a much larger question facing democracies around the world: are electoral systems losing legitimacy? And if so, what happens next?

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