UK election result puts focus on electoral reform here

The British election result, giving Labour a clear majority with little more than a third of the vote, is likely to revive pressure for electoral reform, says Nigel Roberts, associate professor of political science at Victoria University.

"I suspect that what this result could do is bring it back and put it on the boil," he said.

If New Zealand's proportional representation system were applied to the British results, the share of seats in the House of Commons would more closely resemble the percentage of the votes each party had won nationally.

With 95 per cent of the seats declared last night, Labour's collective vote had fallen to just 36.4 per cent of the vote across Britain, but under first past the post had won 57 per cent of the seats.

Mr Roberts said that when Tony Blair first became Prime Minister he had commissioned a report on electoral reform which had not been adopted.

Greens co-leader Rod Donald, an electoral reform activist, said the result would "fuel the flames for electoral reform in Britain because the observation will be made very quickly that Blair has won with a minority of the vote".

"There will be serious questions about the legitimacy of the Government."

Agitation for electoral reform gathered in New Zealand after National, in two consecutive elections, gained power with more seats under first past the post with fewer votes than Labour.

In 1978 National under Sir Robert Muldoon won 39.8 per cent of the vote and Labour 40.4 per cent but National was delivered an 11-seat majority.

In 1981 National's majority over Labour was four seats when it won 38.8 per cent and Labour 39 per cent.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said last night that she was delighted Mr Blair had won a historic third term and said it was "a remarkable achievement". She had great admiration for the British Labour Party.

But National leader Don Brash said the victory was bad news for New Zealand Labour. "Frankly, the British Labour Governement is not as stuck in the past as the Clark Government, which does make them more electable."