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Dear John,

Today’s Backbench Business Debate on Proportional Representation was a resounding success. It was another clear sign that momentum is building across Parliament for a voting system shake-up, that MPs are increasingly coming around to the idea that we need fairer – and more proportional – elections.

More than twenty members from across the House lined up to condemn Britain’s First-Past-the-Post voting system, describing it as “undemocratic”, “unrepresentative”, and “outdated”. Just one backbencher gave a speech in defence of the status quo.

It follows a “historic” vote ([link removed]) in favour of PR in December, when the House of Commons passed a symbolic motion with the support of 138 MPs, including 59 from the governing party. Following on from that, more than 11,000 people wrote to their MPs and asked them to attend today’s debate.

Parliamentarians echoed the calls of Open Britain, Fair Vote UK, the APPG for Fair Elections, and others, advocating for a National Commission on Electoral Reform. This public body would be tasked with recommending a replacement to the broken First-Past-The-Post system, which the governing Labour party’s policy forum accepts is a driver of “the distrust and alienation we see in politics.”

The public is also turning against First-Past-the-Post. Recent polling by Survation found that two thirds (64%) of the public want the government to address the flaws in the current voting system before the next general election. Earlier this month YouGov reported record support ([link removed]) for changing to a proportional voting system (48%) - and the lowest support for maintaining First Past the Post (24%).

Campaigners say the 2024 general election was the most distorted in British history, with Labour winning a landslide majority despite receiving just one in three votes. 21% of voters backed either Green Party and Reform UK, yet these parties won a combined 9 seats - or 1% of MPs .

The APPG for Fair Elections argues that ([link removed]) this is just the most recent example of a system that is becoming less representative over time and contributing to collapsing trust in politics ([link removed]) in Britain.

Read below what MPs said during and after the debate.

“PR is already used in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in different forms, as well as in the vast majority of democracies worldwide. So why not here? Evidence shows that PR leads to higher voter turnout and more representative governments.”

– Lisa Smart MP, Lib Dem (APPG Vice-Chair)

“Two in every five people didn’t even participate [in the last General Election]. Does this not show that actually we need to change that so more people engage in our democratic system?”

– Florence Eshalomi MP, Labour

"Now more than ever we must strengthen British democracy. We need Proportional Representation for general elections, and a National Commission for Electoral Reform would be an excellent first step towards fairer elections."

– Sean Woodcock MP, Labour

“We're now at an unprecedented situation where 554 MPs, 85% of us here, were elected with less than 50% of the voters who turned out.”

“The Government has a responsibility to face up to those problems and address them before the next general election, starting with the launch of the National Commission for Electoral Reform.”

– Alex Sobel MP, Labour (APPG Chair)

Increasingly, Parliamentarians can see the writing on the wall. Trust in politics is something that Prime Minister and his party have repeatedly pledged to address, and First-Past-The-Post cannot be ignored as a key driver of the public’s disillusionment.

The APPG for Fair Elections and its allies are offering the Government a practical and efficient solution: a National Commission for Electoral Reform to sketch out what a better system looks like.

We’ve never been closer, and the movement has never had this much momentum.

But it’s now up to us to match the energy *inside* Parliament by building an irresistible public demand for change *outside* Parliament. Together, we can make it happen, and build a democracy that works for everyone.

All the best,

Mark

Mark Kieran

CEO, Open Britain
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