Lib Dems call Adjournment Debate on PR
Electoral reform debated in the House of Commons
Earlier last month, the Liberal Democrat Constitutional Spokesperson, Wendy Chamberlain MP called an adjpurnement debate where she demolished the arguments for First Past the Post. This was the first time since 2016 that the need for equal votes was debated in the House of Commons, and it was long overdue.
With The Tories a million miles away from PR it was encouraging to see a glimmer of movement from the Labour Party who have scrapped its 'First Past the Post' voting for internal elections and adopted the system favoured by the Liberal Democrats; the Single Transferable Vote (STV) for its future elections to Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC, the equivalent of the Liberal Democrat Federal Board). The next step is to get Labour to back proportional representation for Westminster, too! According to Matter Votes Matter, Keir Starmer has committed to consulting members on PR and the Musicians' Union became the third Labour-affiliated trade union to back PR as policy. This was a direct result of action by a Make Votes Matter supporter as part of their unions for PR campaign.
Meanwhile, the Commons adjournment debate opened with Lib Dem MP Wendy Chamberlain making a strong case for PR, noting how First Past the Post creates the dissatisfaction, frustration and apathy that is increasingly endemic among the UK electorate.
"First Past the Post does not do a good job at all of representing voters' preferences; or the 'will of the people', as some like to call it." - @wendychambLD
#ChangeTheVotingSystem #ProportionalRepresentation
After rattling off what could be seen a 'greatest hits' of arguments for fair votes, she opened up the debate to include some of the less talked about aspects of the topic: diversity and the need for compromise.
"The fact that struck me was that every country where women make up over 40% of the legislature has a proportional electoral system. Electoral reform is not just about electoral math; it's a campaign for fairness that is key to dismantling the prejudices and inequalities that still plague our politics.
"Some commentators have observed that states with the best response to coronavirus so far are those with women leaders. The underlying factor is that these are countries with Proportional Representation and a focus on pluralistic decision making." - @wendychambLD
Mark Pack Liberal Voice
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