Happy Polling Day! Dear Roger, Today, millions of people are heading to the polls to vote for their local councillors. Some are voting with hope. Many others out of fear, choosing the least-bad option to block the party they oppose the most. As usual, many thousands are casting their ballot knowing that their vote is unlikely to make a difference. But something feels different this year. All over the media, we’re seeing and hearing the same words: the two-party system is over. This was already visible in last year’s local elections, and the general election the year before that. But this year, it’s undeniable. It’s clear that this is not a blip. Multi-party politics is here to stay. The First Past the Post voting system suddenly looks terribly out of step. “Local elections could see council seats won on record-low vote shares,” warns Sky News. “Britain enters the era of seven-party politics… threatening the UK’s constitutional certainties,” says Financial Times (article behind a paywall). Yesterday on Times Radio, Andrew Neil warned that another general election held under First Past the Post could deliver such disproportionate results that they would cause a political crisis. Even the New York Times has written about “a new era of multiparty politics” in the UK. In the media, in Westminster and on the doorstep, more and more people are connecting the dots. First Past the Post is failing. Our democracy urgently needs an upgrade. This morning, our Director of Policy and Public Affairs Alberto Smith was quoted in a long article in the New Statesman about the growing calls to update the voting system. | 
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