Election ballot box

More than 36,000 people have signed a petition calling on the UK government to hold a referendum on introducing proportional representation for elections.

The petition is hosted on the official parliamentary petition platform. Petitions which receive more than 100,000 signatures can trigger a debate in parliament. Those that receive 10,000 or more receive a formal response from the government.

On December 6, the government responded to the petition, saying: “The Government has no plans to change the voting system for UK Parliamentary elections.”

However, the petition notes that “A YouGov poll in January 2024 found that only 26% of people preferred the current FPTP system with 45% preferring PR so we think there is clearly a need for a re-evaluation of our electoral system.”

It also adds that: “In the latest 2024 General Election the biggest gap on record has emerged between the share of the vote won nationally by parties and the number of seats they have.”

Image credit: Element5Digital – Creative Commons