Electoral Reform – The Future is Fairer
The notion of ‘reforming’ is frequently bandied around in politics and is often aimed at institutions or processes which are alleged to be clunky, unfair, or downright dysfunctional. The House of Lords has historically been a popular recipient of calls to reform, whilst more recently the spotlight of ‘reform’ has been shone on the Civil Service following its response to the pandemic.
However, there is one lesser-discussed, albeit integral, part of the political machine which warrants wider attention with regards to reform – the electoral system, specifically the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system used in our General Elections. This ancient, unrepresentative way of voting is designed to over-exaggerate the power of the most popular party of the day at the expense of all other parties, and indeed all other voters.
Our use of a ‘one-person-takes-all’ system for legislative elections is uncommon. Of the 43 countries in Europe for example, 40 use some form of a proportional representation (PR) electoral system – we are joined only by France and Belarus in this regard, the latter hardly being a model democratic state.
The arguments against FPTP are plentiful. It distorts votes to produce election results that don’t even closely mirror the ‘will of the people’ – the 2019 election saw the Conservatives win 56.2% of the seats from 43.6% of the votes, with Labour winning 31.1% of the seats from 32.1% of the votes; not to mention the even more starkly disproportionate results for smaller parties. It undermines voter choice through encouraging voters to cast their ballots for parties they think are more likely to win a particular seat, as opposed to encouraging voters to vote for their preferences. Further, it reduces democratic accountability through the creation of ‘safe’ seats, penalising citizens who are unfortunate enough to have differing views to the majority of their neighbours and have an interest in their vote truly counting.
So why don’t we do as many other countries have done (e.g. Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Cyprus, Malta, South Africa) and scrap the FPTP system in favour of a PR system, such as the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system, which increases proportionality, voter choice and local representation? The phrase “turkeys voting for Christmas” comes to mind – the turkey being an incumbent Government which has shown little hesitation to intervene in democratic processes in the name of self-interest; proposals in the Queen’s Speech to introduce voter ID checks that will suppress non-Conservative voters are the latest example of this.
The only viable route to upgrading our electoral system to PR is through the Labour Party leadership taking on this policy, which they are coming under increasing pressure to do. The excellently-run Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform (LCER) and Make Votes Matter groups have particularly galvanised members at a local level to take forward policy motions supporting PR at their CLPs – 216 CLPs (33%) have now passed policy motions supporting PR. This remarkable level of CLP support in a short period of time is borne out of widespread member appetite for better elections – polling shows that three quarters of members want Labour to commit to PR in the next manifesto.
Organisations within Labour’s political spectrum are similarly starting to put their weight behind this cause too – Momentum will campaign for PR at this year’s Conference following their democratic policy primary and ASLEF, the train drivers’ union, has committed to pushing for PR to be a “flagship policy” in the next Labour manifesto.
There are also several Labour MPs who are leading the charge in support of PR. John McDonnell, Clive Lewis, Alex Sobel, Daniel Zeichner, Rachel Maskell and Sam Tarry – who Labour in Communications are hosting a Q&A with on 11th June – are leading advocates in the PLP for PR, to name but a few Parliamentary supporters. The creation of an Electoral Reform APPG in February reflects the growing momentum around the cause and is another important step in this campaign.
However, the Opposition MP who’s support for PR will carry the most weight is of course Keir Starmer. In last year’s Labour leadership campaign, Starmer stated: “millions of people vote in safe seats and feel their vote doesn’t count … that’s got to be addressed by electoral reform”. His exact position on the matter hasn’t since been laid out; something which isn’t necessarily a bad sign for electoral reform campaigners, given this is not the only policy area where an exact position hasn’t yet been established.
The worth that Starmer could offer to the electoral reform movement is clear, yet it is equally important to note how much his support of the movement could also benefit the Labour Party, never mind the country as a whole. Benefit not just in the sense that Labour are likely to hold greater power under a PR system, but also in the sense that a commitment to electoral reform could sit at the heart of a bold, exciting and appealing Labour agenda in 2024. Ahead of Conference in September, which should provide a good indication of where the leadership sits on this issue, it is clear that public opinion consistently sits with reforming the electoral system – a recent Best for Britain poll puts public support of reform at 52%, compared to 17% against it.
A Labour Government in 2024 is the only practical mechanism for implementing a fairer system in the next five years. A commitment to electoral reform in this election could provide an electoral boost for the party through smaller parties, potentially left and right of centre parties, standing aside in seats where they will split Labour vote share, in a similar fashion to how the Brexit Party held back when challenging the Conservatives at the last election. Whatever one’s political views, it is a sad indictment of our democracy that parties must consider standing aside to give voters a lesser of two evils option. A PR commitment from Labour in 2024 could surmount obstacles within the constraints of the FPTP system through encouraging smaller parties to pledge one-off support to Labour in certain seats, on the condition that a Labour Government would put an end to this marginalising way of voting.
Regardless of electoral pacts, it will be tough for Labour to win in 2024. Yet there are reasons to be optimistic about the future prospects for electoral reform given the tide of public opinion and the continuing change in the demography of society which has led us to outgrow our blunt electoral system. The Labour Government in Wales provides inspiration for what a UK Labour Government could do in this area – the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill passed by the Senedd in November includes a range of reforms to ‘revolutionise’ democracy in Wales, including extending the franchise to 16–17-year-olds and allowing local authorities to scrap FPTP.
In time, it is likely that our elections will indeed be fairer, and it should be the Labour Party that wholly embraces this.
Joe Holden
Lexington Communications