One of the defences offered for FPTP is that it is traditional and has worked well for many generations, so why change it?
Most of us know it doesn’t work well but it is less well known that it did not become universal within the UK until the 1950 General Election, which is within the lifetime of many people. Until then, many towns had two MPs, elected by F2PTP.
It hasn’t even become traditional since then. We have six voting systems in the UK! They are:
• FPTP for Westminster and some English and Welsh local elections;
• F3PTP and variations of it for some English and Welsh local elections;
• STV for local elections in Scotland and all N Ireland elections except to Westminster;
• AMS for Welsh and London Assembly elections;
• SV for Police and Crime Commissioners and directly elected Mayors;
• Closed lists in Great Britain for the European Parliament.
So FPTP isn’t traditional and it can’t be working all that well, or politicians wouldn’t have chosen other systems for so many elections.
The good news is that MPs usually reject FPTP when they choose a voting system to elect representatives other than themselves. One day, they may recognize, or be shamed into admitting, it isn’t the best way for them to be elected.
Glossary
FPTP = First Past The Post
F3TP = First 3 Past The Post. (F2PTP is also quite common and F5PTP has been known.)
STV = Single Transferable Vote in multi-member constituencies or wards
AMS = Additional Member System
SV = Supplementary Vote
STV Action 
Dear Anthony,
Regarding your new posting below, I understood that British tradition, up to 1880, was that less than a third of UK constituencies for the Commons were for just one MP. The present system is certainly not all that traditional.
See http://www.prsa.org.au/history.htm#UK_parliament
Regards,
Geoffrey Goode
President Proportional Representation Society of Australia (Victoria-Tasmania) Inc.
Re-established in 1943 to campaign for PR for the Senate and the House of Representatives A0048538N Victoria ABN 31 010 090 247
www,prsa.org.au
vtpre@prsa.org.au
+61429176725
From: STV Action Reply-To: STV Action Date: Thursday, 4 August 2016 at 23:52 To: Subject: [New post] Six voting systems
WordPress.com Anthony Tuffin posted: “One of the defences offered for FPTP is that it is traditional and has worked well for many generations, so why change it? Most of us know it doesn¹t work well but it is less well known that it did not become universal within the UK until the 1950 General”