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Percentage of homosexuals in the population

A letter to the Daily Telegraph which was published on 28th August 2000.

Steve Norris repeats the myth that one in 10 of the population is homosexual.  This proportion may apply to media circles in London, but in this matter as in so many others, central London is completely untypical of the country as a whole.

The authoritative study of nearly 19,000 randomly selected adults across the country published in Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1994) showed the proportion of male homosexuals was about 1.3 per cent and the proportion of female homosexuals about 0.6 per cent, which together make about one in 100, not one in 10 of the population.

Contrary to Mr Norris’s other mantra, a political party does not need to be “inclusive” of every self-defining minority in order to win a general election.  In the past three elections the winning party secured 44 per cent, 42 per cent and 43 per cent of the votes cast, or an average of just 31 per cent of the electorate.

The problem for the Conservative Party is not its supposed lack of “inclusiveness” but its real lack of articulated policies which make sense to the main body of its potential support.  On taxation, immigration and asylum seeking, healthcare, roads, most European matters other than the euro, on industry, crime and social security, it is difficult to see what (if anything) the Conservative Party intend to do in these key fields should they be elected next year.

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British voting system

A letter to the Daily Telegraph which was published around the 1st October 1998.

Margaret Beckett’s comment (report, Sept. 29th) on our present voting system – “The British people understand it and know how to use it to get a result they are prepared to live with” – is borne out by the votes and seats obtained over the 15 general elections since the war.

If you add up all the votes cast and seats obtained by the Conservative and Labour parties from 1945 to 1997, you find that 39,500 votes provided Labour with a parliamentary seat, while the Conservatives needed 40,000, i.e. seats have been almost exactly proportional to votes in the long run.

Given that the British people, in the main, voted for either a Labour or Conservative government, our much maligned system has thus exactly reflected their choices.

Of course the Liberals’ view is different, but they have had over 50 years to persuade the electorate that they can constitute a national government alternative to either Labour or Conservative.  Since these two parties are themselves overlapping coalitions, the electorate have clearly concluded they do not want a third coalition overlapping the other two in the centre.  Lord Jenkins’s report will doubtless present a ponderous series of arguments about “fairness”, but its essential thrust will be to overturn the electorate’s verdict, repeatedly given.

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