Voter power in Shrewsbury & Atcham

0.242

Constituency marginality

Fairly safe

In Shrewsbury & Atcham, one person does not really have one vote, they have the equivalent of 0.242 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 Shrewsbury & Atcham compare?

The average UK voter has 1.27x more voting power than voters in Shrewsbury & Atcham.

Average UK voter power

0.305

The average UK voter only has the power of 0.305 votes. This is because most of us live in safe seats, where the outcome is pretty much certain regardless of how we vote.

Shrewsbury & Atcham ranks #311 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.

  • 1997 Lab
  • 2001 Lab
  • 2005 Con
  • 2010 Con

Constituency size

+7.41%

This constituency is bigger than average, which means a voter here is less likely to affect the national result.

Number of voters: 74,881

Average constituency: 69,718

2010 election data

56% of votes discarded

56.10% of those who voted in Shrewsbury & Atcham in 2010 did not vote for the winning candidate. These votes count for nothing in the First Past the Post system.

2010 General Election result

2010 General Election result in Shrewsbury & Atcham

Winner takes all

2010 General Election result in Shrewsbury & Atcham

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The Voter Power Index is based on research by NEF (the New Economics Foundation)

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
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