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I was reading 'Prime Minister Boris and other things that never happened' a few months back, and one of the earlier chapters was devoted to what would have happened if the UK parliament had followed the recommendations of the 1917 Speakers Conference that advocated introducing the Single Transferable Vote for elections to the Commons. The author essentially puts up one of the biggest butterfly nets I have ever seen, arguing very little would have changed, taking the rather absurd position that vote percentages 50 years later would be similar to what they were in OTL, without taking into account factors such as the new parties that would be produced, or the impact of second preferences, or even the divergences in political careers (Clement Attlee, for instance, would probably have never been PM had more Labour figures survived the wipeout of 1931).

So, I thought I'd see if I could get the thoughts of people here on what might have happened. Lets say the House votes for STV, and the first election it is used in is held in 1918. Some thoughts to consider would be: What would be the impact on British politics in the long run? How would it shape the party system? Which of the smaller parties around in this period might have survived in the medium to long term? And in the short term, what effect would it have? Would the Tories be so willing to dump Lloyd George and call an election if a coalition with Asquith and Labour was a viable alternative for him? Would the liberals still reunite as in OTL, or would Lloyd George pursue a more formally independent party?
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