ABSTRACT
The cause of electoral reform nevertheless made some progress in the immediate aftermath of the First World War. In 1918 single transferable vote (STV) replaced the cumulative vote for the purpose of elections to Scottish school boards, continuing until these were abolished in 1928. Despite the rogue general election results of 1922-29, there was little public interest at any time during the interwar years in electoral reform. One of the reasons given for the subsequent establishment of the Hansard Society's Commission on Electoral Reform in 1975, was the dramatic fall in support for the two major parties combined to below 80 per cent. This reflected growing support for Nationalists and a revival of the Liberals. From the 1970s the debate has been qualitatively different. The marginalisation of STV as an alternative and the rise of additional-member system (AMS) and list systems not only reflected the impact of entry into Europe in 1973 and the economic anxieties of the time.
