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up to condemn Britain’s First-Past-the-Post voting system, describing it as “undemocratic”, “unrepresentative”, and “outdated”.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 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 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 this is just the most recent example of a system that is becoming less representative over time and contributing to collapsing trust in politics in Britain.
Read below what MPs said during and after the debate.
