Chris Hurst

Liberal Democrat Councillor for Royal Wootton Bassett South ward Learn more

How much is a vote worth in North Wiltshire?

by chrishurst on 17 August, 2013

The answer is £0.87 apparently.

The Electoral Reform Society have studied how much the political parties spend on certain voters. Here’s the details:

We’ve crunched the numbers and thought you’d be interested in what we found – political parties spend 22 times more on some people’s votes than on others. It’s political inequality, plain and simple, and it’s caused by First Past the Post.

Research for our latest ERS report, Penny for your Vote?, shows that for the 2010 general election, parties spent just 14p per individual vote in Bootle, Merseyside, but spent a whopping £3.07 per vote in Luton South, Bedfordshire. Our research also revealed that the amount spent by the parties on attracting individual votes directly affected voter turnout on election day.

Shockingly, we also found that in 195 seats (30% of the total), no money was spent by any candidate on public meetings. In five seats, no money was spent by any candidate on advertising, and 348 candidates spent no money at all on their campaigns! 

Use our fun online tool to find out how much your vote is worth and then share it with friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Our full report explores and explains the link between marginal and safe seats, political party funding and our lop-sided voting system.

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