Election ballot box

A group of cross-party MPs have used a Backbench Business Debate in the House of Commons to push the government to address what one of them called Britain’s “flawed” voting system.

More than twenty MPs condemned Britain’s First Past the Post system, describing it as “undemocratic”, “unrepresentative”, and “outdated”, with just one backbencher giving a speech in defence of the status quo. Parliamentarians also called for a National Commission to be established to recommend a replacement to the current system.

Leading the debate, Labour MP Alex Sobel, who Chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Fair Elections, called First Past the Post: “A voting system that means millions of people’s votes don’t count. A voting system that most people don’t want to continue with… that’s why I urge the government to take this first step, by establishing a National Commission for Electoral Reform”.

Labour MP Florence Eshalomi added that turnout at last year’s general election dropped below 60%, adding: “That means two in every five people didn’t even participate. Does this not show that actually we need to change that so more people engage in our democratic system?”

Lib Dem MP Lisa Smart, the APPG Vice Chair, said: “PR is already used in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in different forms, as well as in the vast majority of democracies worldwide. So why not here? Evidence shows that PR leads to higher voter turnout and more representative governments.”

Speaking after the debate, Labour MP Sean Woodcock MP said: “Now more than ever we must strengthen British democracy. We need Proportional Representation for general elections, and a National Commission for Electoral Reform would be an excellent first step towards fairer elections.”

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.

Image credit: Element5 Digital – Creative Commons