Lib Dems Push for More Time to Debate Voting Reform
3 min read
The Lib Dems have urged the Government to provide them with more time to debate Parliamentary reform as momentum builds to change the UK’s voting system.
The Elections (Proportional Representation) Bill won a vote in the House of Commons during its first reading in December by 138 votes to 136. It narrowly passed with the support of 59 Labour MPs.
It was the first time MPs had endorsed replacing the current First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) for Proportional Representation (PR).
A minority of private members’ bills become law, because they are put forward by backbenchers and not the Government. They face competition from other MPs' private members bills and may never receive a second reading.
Sarah Olney, Lib Dem MP for Richmond Park, said the Labour Government should “finally listen to the public” and give the Bill the time it needs to be scrutinised and debated in the chamber.
“Winning a vote in Parliament on proportional representation was a victory for democracy and for members of the public everywhere. They deserve their rightful say and for their vote to count,” she said.
“It’s long been clear that First Past the Post is not fit for purpose. The 2024 election was the most disproportionate in history, with a government winning two-thirds of the seats on one-third of the vote.
“The Labour Government needs to finally listen to the public, and give my Bill the time and support it needs to progress through Parliament and into law. Anything less would be an insult to everyone whose vote was effectively wasted at the last General Election.”
Keir Starmer is open to electoral reform having promised to give 16-year-olds the vote at the next election in his party’s manifesto in 2024.
The Prime Minister came under renewed pressure from his own party in November when Labour MPs joined a parliamentary group calling for the UK to move to a proportional voting system.
Many Labour MPs and activists are sympathetic to electoral reform, after a motion to commit the party to proportional representation passed at its 2022 conference.
However, the Prime Minister’s team have ruled out any action or commitment for the first term of a Labour government.
The UK held a referendum in 2011 on whether Westminster elections should use Alternative Voting (AV), where voters rank candidates in order of preference.
The ‘No’ to AV campaign won more than two-thirds of the vote with a turnout of 42 per cent.
Research from YouGov has found voters 48 per cent of respondents are in favour of adopting proportional representation, compared to 24 per cent who oppose it and 29 per cent who are unsure.
At the last election Labour won the second largest majority in political history after it secured 412 seats with 33.8 per cent of the vote.
If the voting system was based on PR, instead of FPTP, Labour would have only won 228 seats.
The Conservatives would have gained 139 seats while Reform would have won 100, the Lib Dems 73 and the Greens 71.
The Government was approached for comment.
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe