New: Visit our Blog!
Voter power index for Barking
Rank #575 of 650
Voter power in Barking
0.025
Constituency marginality
Ultra safe
In Barking, one person does not really have one vote, they have the equivalent of 0.025 votes.
The power of voters in this constituency is based on the probability of the seat changing hands and its size.
While you might think that every vote counts equally, where you live in the UK has a huge effect on your power to influence the election.
How does Barking compare?
The average UK voter has 10x more voting power than voters in Barking.
Average UK voter power
0.253
The average UK voter only has the power of 0.253 votes. This is because most of us live in safe seats, where the outcome is pretty much certain regardless of how we vote.
Barking ranks #575 out of 650 constituencies in the Voter Power Index.
UK constituency marginality
We can be almost certain that 60% of seats will NOT change hands in the general election (very safe or ultra safe seats).
Further information
Marginality
The more times a seat changes hands, the more marginal it is deemed to be.
- 1992 Lab
- 1997 Lab
- 2001 Lab
- 2005 Lab
Constituency size
+11.69%
This constituency is bigger than average, which means a voter here is less likely to affect the national result.
Number of voters: 76,432
Average constituency: 68,433
2005 election data
50% of votes discarded
50.39% of those who voted in Barking in 2005 did not vote for the winning candidate. These votes count for nothing in the First Past the Post system.
2005 General Election result
Winner takes all
Note: there have been boundary changes for this constituency since the last election. These are notional results.
Show your support
The Voter Power Index is based on research by nef (the new economics foundation)
Find out more about the Voter Power Index research
Support the Power2010 campaign to reform politics
If the UK had a proportional voting system:
- We would no longer have safe seats
- The power of votes would be much more equal
- All areas of the UK would have equal power to decide the outcome of the election
- Politicians would not be able to win an election by tailoring all their policies to a narrow section of the population