We face years of being effectively a one-party state

THIRTEEN years ago, Britain held a referendum about our voting system. At the behest of the Liberal Democrats, then in a coalition government with the Tories, Parliament posed whether we should scrap the first-past-thepost electoral system in favour of the alternative vote, which would have counted second preferences.

- ROSS CLARK

The then prime minister David Cameron, who had already rejected the case for full proportional representation, stridently opposed any change and won comfortably by a majority of two thirds to one.

But, oh, how the Conservatives may be left ruing that decision in a couple of weeks' time.

Latest polls suggest the party may not even emerge from this election as His Majesty's Opposition. One poll from Savanta and Electoral Calculus predicts the Tories will emerge with just 53 seats, three ahead of the Lib Dems.

Any worse and it will be Ed Davey taking his position at the despatch box opposite Keir Starmer for the first Prime Minister's Questions, while most senior surviving Tories find themselves sitting way down the chamber.

Rishi Sunak may not be among them - the Savanta prediction has even him losing what was previously a solid Conservative seat. The same analysis puts Labour with 516 seats and the largest majority in modern history.

YOU could be forgiven for concluding Starmer and his party are wildly popular, but that's far from true.

Like the Conservatives, Labour have been steadily losing support during this campaign.