There is now a chance to change the voting system before the next election.  We need to connect with MPs who do not yet support electoral reform but have constitutional reform on their agenda.  We need to change the political culture and to make votes count.  There are electoral deserts for even the main political parties.  And voting and politics have become more volatile.  

We had hoped for a Democracy Bill in the King’s Speech in July 2024.  Just because that didn’t materialise does not mean that these reforms will not happen: Votes @ 16; Removing or changing what qualifies as Photo ID; Citizenship Education so young voters can ask questions and discuss democracy in schools; Lords Reform which does not just remove hereditary peers and pruning the numbers of Life Peers although that would be great start but to have a Senate of the Nations and Regions; English Devolution not just extending Elected Mayors to cover new Combined Authorities; rescinding the move to First Past the Post to elect Mayors and Police & Crime Commissioners so we again use a preferential system; and the idea of basing voting not on the registered vote but to introduce automatic registration along with lowering the age of the Franchise.  

There is also talk of introducing STV in English local Government, either as done wholesale in Scotland or by local authorities opting in as in Wales.  Political Funding of Parties is bound to raise its head in terms of Party Donors in the current Second Chamber and their access to the Prime Minister.  Before we hold any more Referendums we need more discussion of whether they are mandatory on close outcomes or we need to think in terms of being advisory unless two thirds of the Electorate, not only the Turnout, vote in favour. As soon as we think of wider electoral reform we realise we need to knit reforms together perhaps in a UK Constitutional Convention.  

Because nothing will happen before Summer 2029 unless the Labour Government supports and/or MPs vote for it, we need to build support in the new House of Commons and the electorate for a more proportional voting system to elect MPs. Nothing is certain about a Labour Second Term but many of us have noticed that 2024 was the most disproportionate general election with a six percent swing wiping away Labour’s Majority on a Low Turnout with many Abstentions.  Let’s do something with that once in a lifetime opportunity and change the way we vote.  We have multi party general elections with a two party system which has broken our democracy and the feedback on mistakes is far too long.   

This means that Labour allies are essential including the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform so we need to factor in “Turkeys do not vote for Christmas”.  We need to move away from mathematical nicety to Participatory and Emancipatory arguments, like Making Vote Count.  We need to see that out Political Culture needs to change and move away from the Binary, Adversarial, winners and losers, of first past the post to seeking and building consensus for change.  First past the post falsely creates divisions and with accurate and organised tactical voting does not give us the right answers except that the Conservatives were not popular after 14 years. 

I believe that working with people who agree with us is not only wise it is the only way to deliver change.  I learned much from Charter 88 in 1988 after I stood as a Labour candidate. When from 1990 until 2020, I was the Parliamentary and Political Officer for the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform also serving on Labour’s National Policy Forum until after the 2001 General Election, as we transitioned from Opposition to Government, working with Make Votes Count until it closed and with Make Votes Matter from its inception. From Spring 1997, I advised Robin Cook on electoral reform and on reunifying the island of Cyprus. Making Votes Count for the Jenkins Commission in 1998 is still a good read! Also on devolution as Vice Chair of the Electoral Reform Society, the Campaign for English Regions and organising the South West Constitutional Convention and being an Official Observer when Scotland introduced STV for local government.  At present, I attend the Steering Group of Labour for a New Democracy representing Chartist Magazine and have just reviewed Head North by Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram. Here’s their manifesto: 

The HEAD NORTH MANIFESTO 

A Written Constitution 

A Basic Law

Reform of the Voting System 

Removal of the Whip 

A Senate of the Nations and Regions 

Full Devolution 

Two Equal Paths in Education 

A Grenfell Law 

A Hillsborough Law

Net Zero to Reindustrialise the North   

Political structures matter because they shape the future but some of them need to be left in the past.  Wider democratic reform is complementary to changing the voting system. What helps us all and which we can share is experience of the past, knowledge of Labour in government, a network of PR supporters, new arguments on cultural change and emancipation, contacts in academia, journalism and in the trade union movement and relentless support for democracy, strategy and hope. The only cure for the disillusion, distrust and alienation from our Democracy as presently practised is more Democracy. Let’s work together to make unlocking democracy a reality!