You may have noticed that the recent Labour Party conference debated electoral reform with a proposal to remove the First Past the Post system for elections to the Westminster Parliament and replace it with Proportional Representation.

80% of the party membership voted in favour of reform.

Sadly, the motion in favour of change was defeated by block votes from the bigger trades unions. Labour leader, Keir Starmer did not contribute to the debate, and support from him might well have swung the outcome the other way.

To be fair, policy issues of this kind are rarely debated in Trades Unions, and Covid has made it even less likely that such discussions would take place. If you are a trades union member and support electoral change, perhaps you could propose a motion in favour of reform in your branch? The musicians union, by the way, was a notable exception and voted in favour of reform….I’d become a member, but I fear they wouldn’t have me.

Perhaps however, in the meantime, you might like to give Keir Starmer a gentle shove by signing this petition from Make Votes Matter. You don’t have to be a Labour party member to do so: in fact support from non-members for reform is quite likely to be even more influential. Party members have already spoken clearly.

I’d say it’s the most important reform which is needed to create a different and better kind of politics in the UK, but if you’re unsure of the matter, then you could consider taking a look at a previous post on this blog which makes the case for comprehensive reform of both the voting system for the House of Commons and the way in which members are chosen for the House of Lords.