ILLUSTRATION BY NICK TAYLOR
The two-party system that has dominated British politics since the war has been under threat for some time, as voters become increasingly disillusioned with politics. In each of the three elections between 2005 and 2015, the combined vote share of the Labour and Conservative parties was less than 70 per cent.
Brexit briefly repolarised the electorate, pushing the two parties to a combined 82 per cent in 2017—their highest since 1970. But as that issue fades, the pattern has reasserted itself. The combined total is back below 70 per cent in the polls. It is only our electoral system that has, so far, prevented a more complete, European-style fragmentation.