Party system fragmentation is incompatible with our electoral system

The 2010 general election was notable in multiple respects, and will be recorded by history as the election which saw Britain’s first post-war coalition government. Yet, perhaps just as notable is the breaking of the record for the vote won by ‘other’ parties outside the big three of Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. In this post, Chris Terry argues that this fragmentation of the party system is incompatible with the UK’s first-past-the-post electoral system.