We had a referendum on changing the voting system in 2011: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_Alternative_Vot...
The change was rejected 68% to 32%.
The change was rejected 68% to 32%.
Frankly changing the voting system would require everyone that votes to understand the implications of the system itself. From what I remember talking about the AV people would think of one thing that's different, call it a problem and no amount of explaining would matter.
* the alternative was a bit rubbish, only a minor improvement to the status quo, compared with the systems already successfully in use in Scotland and Wales which combine local representation with PR.
* both main parties and their tame press convinced people that it would basically lead to a combination of anarchy, communism and fascism in order to maintain their hold on power at the expense of democracy.
If you don't believe me, what about David Axelrod:
"POLITICO: But what about the press? You say it has disproportionate power here. Do you think Britain’s conservative print media is more powerful than Fox News?
DA: Yeah, I do. I do think the parties approach media as partisan players. So you see parties disseminating messages through the print media in a way that is unusual.
DA: Fox is certainly very conservative, skews to the Republican side, but there isn’t a kind of lockstep between them and the Republicans. Fox tries to drive the Republican agenda more than reflecting it.
Here there are relationships between the parties and media outlets that are deeper so you see a lot of themes being previewed in the media in a way that you don’t see in the states.
POLITICO: Did you know what you were getting into?
DA: We discussed this when I signed on … I’ve worked in aggressive media environments before but not this partisan."
https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/peter-oborne/why-i-...