There鈥檚 an increasing disconnect between those who want to run the country and the rest of us who merely live in it 鈥 and it seems to be making us more likely to call for a change to the way we choose them in the first place.
Back in 1986, when the British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA) first asked people whether they trusted governments 鈥渢o place the needs of the nation above the interests of their party鈥, only 12 per cent of people said 鈥渁lmost never鈥, compared to 40 per cent who replied 鈥渏ust about always鈥 or 鈥渕ost of the time鈥.
Yet, its latest report, published this morning, turns all that on its head.
Now it鈥檚 those saying 鈥渏ust about always鈥 or 鈥渕ost of the time鈥 who account for 12 per cent, while those who say 鈥渁lmost never鈥 make up an eye-watering 46 per cent of respondents.
But as our trust in government has declined, our support for changing the electoral system so as 鈥渢o allow smaller political parties to get a fairer share of MPs鈥 has risen.
Back in 1986, for instance, just 32 per cent of us favoured change, with 60 per cent of us saying we wanted to keep the system as it is. Fast forward to today, and we see another near-complete reversal, with only 36 per cent happy with the status quo, while 60 per cent want change.
Cynics, of course, will point to what we might call the 鈥淵ou only sing when you鈥檙e losing鈥 effect: as the BSA鈥檚 report shows, our views partly depend on whether the party we favour did well or badly out of the system last time around.
Given that they got just four seats in the Commons 鈥 instead of the 41 that their share of the vote might have earned them in a perfectly proportional (PR) system 鈥 it will come as no surprise that 90 per cent of Green Party voters want to see a change.
Contrast that with Lib Dem voters. Their party鈥檚 tally of 72 seats wasn鈥檛 off the 79 seats it would have been entitled to under pure PR. Cue the proportion of Lib Dems wanting change falling from 71 per cent in 2023 to just 56 per cent now.
Likewise, before last year鈥檚 landslide, some 60 per cent of Labour supporters favoured change 鈥 and that鈥檚 now fallen to 55 per cent.
Predictably enough, Conservative supporters have travelled in the opposite direction. In 2023, only 24 per cent wanted to change the voting system to make it fairer. But, after a general election that saw the Tories bag only 121 seats instead of the 154 that pure PR would have given them, that proportion has now more than doubled to 52 per cent.
Still, that pales in comparison to Reform supporters 鈥 some 78 per cent of whom say they want a change (hardly surprising, given Farage and co ended up with just 5 seats at Westminster rather than the 93 they might have expected from pure PR).
All of which means that, for the first time ever, a clear majority of the country鈥檚 right-wing voters seem open to change. Meanwhile, a majority of voters as a whole seem more relaxed about the obvious corollary of such a shift: just over half of us now say we鈥檇 prefer a coalition to a single-party government.
Put that together with the possibility that Labour, if it鈥檚 as unpopular in four years鈥 time as it is now, could reach for PR as a last-gasp way of 鈥渟aving the furniture鈥, and the end of first-past-the-post (FPTP) might 鈥 just might 鈥 come sooner than we all think.
Whether that would help restore our trust in government, who knows? But it鈥檚 got to be worth a try.
Tim Bale is professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London and the co-author of 鈥楾he British General Election of 2024鈥 to be published this autumn