Motion on Proportional Representation

The 2024 general election delivered a Labour government with huge responsibilities and historic opportunities. We agree with the government that there is a pressing need for change - and for a decade of national renewal.

There has also never been a clearer need to change the First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system. 2024 was the most distorted election result on record, delivering the most unrepresentative Parliament in British history.

Most voters got neither the person they voted for as their local MP (58%), nor the party they backed in government (66%). When most people know their votes make little difference, it undermines confidence in our political system and in democracy itself.

FPTP has been producing less and less representative results for decades and is now at crisis point. With politics more fragmented than ever, FPTP is capable of handing power to any party - even an extreme party - on less than a third of the vote. This is unsustainable and dangerous.

We agree with Labour’s members, Constituency Labour Parties, affiliated trade unions, and annual conference which all overwhelmingly support Proportional Representation (PR) for general elections.

The Labour Party already recognises that FPTP is ‘flawed’ and causing distrust in politics - and the Prime Minister is clear that restoring this trust is a priority. 

We agree with the dozens of Labour MPs who are calling for a National Commission for Electoral Reform to begin addressing this by carrying out a review and recommending a fair and democratic replacement to FPTP.

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