But Britain lacks the common European proportional voting system that allows smaller parties to thrive. “Britain doesn’t feel stable anymore,” said Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London. In 2005, Tony Blair won a large majority for Labour in the House of Commons with 35 percent of the vote. Taxation would have been the highest ever in peacetime Britain, according to the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies. The two major parties’ vote share fell to about 65 percent in the previous two elections, with the rise (and now the fall) of the Liberal Democrats and UKIP.

Source: New York Times June 11, 2017 10:30 UTC