--- /dev/null
+[[!meta title="Speaking of Proportionality"]]
+[[!tag politics ge15 fptp electoral-reform]]
+
+One thing that's been noted about this election is the unusual
+disparity in ranges of numbers of votes required to secure seats
+between parties. To some extent this is because the SNP had a
+"roaring" good election and won 56 out of 59 seats that they contested
+(giving them very little chance to "waste" votes). On the other side
+UKIP contested an awful lot of seats for very little effect; but here
+I present this figures in a very slightly easier to read form. Maybe
+later I'll produce an infographic.
+
+For reasons the Speaker, if seeking reelection as Speaker, is
+traditionally regarded as neutral and not contested (in fact both UKIP
+and Green did contest his seat); so I'm taking my base unit as the
+number of votes required to elect one John Bercow - 34,617. For each
+of the parties who won at least one seat, how many Bercows did it take
+to elect each MP on average? These figures have been slightly rounded
+for presentation
+
+| Party | Bercows | [//]: # |
+|-----------------:|:--------| [//]: # --------|
+| Speaker | 1 | [//]: # 1 |
+| Conservative | 1 | [//]: # 1 |
+| DUP | ⅔ | [//]: # 0.666 |
+| Green Party | 33⅖ | [//]: # 33.44 |
+| Labour | 1⅙ | [//]: # 1.164 |
+| Liberal Democrat | 8¾ | [//]: # 8.72 |
+| Plaid Cymry | 1¾ | [//]: # 1.75 |
+| SDLP | 1 | [//]: # 0.96 |
+| SNP | ¾ | [//]: # 0.75 |
+| Sinn Fein | 1¼ | [//]: # 1.27 |
+| UKIP | 112⅛ | [//]: # 112.12 |
+| UUP | 1⅔ | [//]: # 1.66 |
+
+[//]: # Alliance 1.78
+[//]: # TUSC 1.05
+[//]: # Other 6.282
+In addition the Alliance Party got 1¾ Bercows and no seat, and the TUSC
+got just over 1 Bercow and no seat. Other candidates between them got 6¼
+Bercows without any seats.