Darat said:
Just a quick point for everyone - remember a vote for anyone but Conservative or Labour is a wasted vote... 
geni said:
Not in either of the places where I live (although in one of them any vote is a wasted vote.
This is getting on to the question of the two-party system and its perpetuation by first-part-the-post elections. Maybe it would be better to start a new thread if we're going to have an in-depth discussion about proportional representation, but it is a relevant point.
Darat's point is really impossibly simplistic, which is presumably why he put in the smilie. This is because it ignores the question of the different political demographics of different constituencies.
Suppose you live in a constituency which is a Labour/Lib-Dem marginal. You hate Labour. Is a Lib-Dem vote wasted because the Lib-Dems are vanishingly unlikely to form a government? No, because that vote may keep out a Labour candidate, and so contribute to a Conservative victory, even though an actual Conservative vote would be wasted.
Tactical voting lives.
To be brutally honest, the votes of most of us count for diddly-squat because we live in "safe" constituencies. So, I know that the constituency I vote in will return a Labour MP. The margin is such that the SNP (the second party) don't have a realistic chance. So what do I do? Vote Labour just so that I have the satisfaction of voting for the winning candidate, even though I loathe the guy? Or vote Conservative just because they have a bit of a chance of winning overall on English votes, even though they'll be bloody lucky to save their deposit in the constituency in question? Or vote for the party I believe in, and at least contribute to their credibility as an outfit with some solid support?
It's a different equation in every constituency, and only a lucky few have the chance of actually influencing either who their MP is, or who forms the government.
I remember the shock of my first PR vote, at a Euro-election I think, when I suddenly realised that my vote was going to mean something, and that I was actually going to contribute towards putting a candidate of my choice into the parliament. Heady stuff. Once you give people that sort of power, their entire voting behaviour can change and really unexpected things sometimes happen.
Rather than straight PR (by whatever means) I'd like to see STV voting at constituency level. That would allow people to vote for the party they really believed in without throwing away their vote in the event of that party being poorly supported across the board. It might turn up some surprising things, especially with regard to the Lib Dems and the SNP. At the same time, it would retain the link between the MP and the constituency, and as the result wouldn't necessarily be PR across the country it's probable that irretrievably hung parliaments would be avoided.
Sorry, this probably needs a new thread if people are really interested in it, I just think it's a way of making everybody's vote count for more. As it is, everybody has to size up what the demographics are in their own constituency, and accept that they probably have no real influence in the final result.
Rolfe.
...) Party expected to win third term.