What if the UK elections used STV from 1979 onwards?

Depends how it's introduced. If it has a threshold to prevent fringe parties getting in to Parliament, then it will possibly stop parties like the BNP, National Front and TUSC into Parliament. I expect Labour would split as in OTL, the SDP wouldn't need the Liberals and might possibly overtake Labour, the Tories would end up splitting over Europe in the 90s. We'd definitely see an SDP or Liberal government I think, either in the late 80s or the 90s. In the 2010s, the Greens gain a sizeable parliamentary presence, as do UKIP.
You don't have a threshold with STV. It is a system for being used in Constituencies albeit multi member ones, so the relevant issues are achieving a quota say 20 per cent plus one in a five member seat., and/or being transfer friendly. It is the later that tends to prevent extremists winning in STV as they rarely attract transfers.
 
I think it would help Enoch Powell more than anyone else. The majority of people in the UK agreed with the rivers of blood speech and he was popular enough to swing the 74 election to Labour, so I think he could make a decently large party.
no the majority of people did not support him although far too many did, and his impact on the 74 election was not particularly high, if it were there would not have been such an increase in the Liberal vote, who stood for everything he did not...
 
From my knowledge I just assumed that NF would gain a few seats due to them having quite a large following and I thought people would embrace it more due to the introduction of stv
no way the NF wins unless they get over 20 per cent first preferences they are very transfer unfriendly a bit like the traditionalist unionist voice in OTL Ulster.
 
I wonder how it might affect party internal politics.

The "all or nothing" nature of candidate selection will be softened significantly with multimember constituencies. There also might be a cultural shift where ''parachuted" candidates will be less tenable.
 
no the majority of people did not support him although far too many did, and his impact on the 74 election was not particularly high, if it were there would not have been such an increase in the Liberal vote, who stood for everything he did not...
Just about every poll gave the rivers of blood speech majority support. And something can have majority support and the liberals can still gain from opposing it, like the Iraq war in 2005
 
I wonder how it might affect party internal politics.

The "all or nothing" nature of candidate selection will be softened significantly with multimember constituencies. There also might be a cultural shift where ''parachuted" candidates will be less tenable.
On one hand there is that, but on the other it would likely trigger a huge mandatory reselection excercise at a time when the Labour membership was quite far to the left. It would also be a bit of a double edged sword for the two main parties. Although they would face the prospect of gaining seats in places where they never could have hope to have won before, their would also be constituencies where all the seats would have previously been monolothically Labour or Tory where that would no longer be the case. So a lot of sitting MPs would either have to look for seats elsewhere, or take their chances where they are and possibly lose out to other sitting MPs.
 
Just about every poll gave the rivers of blood speech majority support. And something can have majority support and the liberals can still gain from opposing it, like the Iraq war in 2005
hmm indeed but the Iraq war did not have majority support for very long. As for Powell there is very little evidence that he swung many votes. However there there was a discernible movement away from both Labour and the Conservatives with the overall 2 party vote reaching a post war low. This was not confined to the Liberals but also saw strong performances from the SNP and PC by historic standards. What is very certain is that he would not have gone off to Norn if he thought he could effect British politics and/or create a significant political movement in the UK as a whole. Forming a party needs money, officers. NCO's and troops, which the current crop of grouplets trying to get themselves together are finding out. A speech however well received does not cut it whether its taking up the banner of Mosley or opposing the EU. My final comment with some of the polls at the time was well its all in how you ask the question?
 
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