Subscribers - The Lesley Riddoch Podcast
from Lesley Riddoch and Fraser Thompson
Podcast Extra - Has the UK reached its far right tipping point?
You last listened April 11, 2026
Could Proportional Representation cut Nigel Farage down to size?
It sounds unlikely, because European neighbours with PR systems have not managed to vanquish the far right from politics or government. But according to researcher and West Lothian-based Yesser Stuart Donald, they have managed to contain the far right, forcing them to negotiate and compromise away their most extreme ideas.
Conversely, the polarising power of First Past the Post, which delivers unassailable Commons majorities on a third of the vote - fuels extremism and inequality.
Stuart has written two papers for the think tank Compass and Fraser started by asking what motivated his work.
Links
Stuart Donald for PR
Lifting the Lid on Britian's Pressure Cooker Politics
https://www.compassonline.org.uk/publications/lifting-the-lid-on-britains-pressure-cooker-politics-how-inequality-and-neoliberal-capture-broke-first-past-the-post/
https://www.compassonline.org.uk/publications/lifting-the-lid-on-britains-pressure-cooker-politics-how-inequality-and-neoliberal-capture-broke-first-past-the-post/
The Temper Trap - How Proportional Representation tames the populist right
https://www.compassonline.org.uk/publications/the-temper-trap-how-proportional-representation-tames-the-populist-right/