House of Commons to debate PR

Written By Joe Sousek

Parliament is set to hold a full debate on Proportional Representation for general elections on Thursday 30 January.

The news follows six months of rapid and exciting progress on electoral reform:

  • In September, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Elections was formally inaugurated.

  • In November over 100 MPs - most of them Labour - called for the government to launch a ‘National Commission for Electoral Reform’

  • And in December, the House of Commons voted for PR for the first time ever, with the support of 59 Labour MPs, following a brief, ten minute debate.

But while it’s a major symbolic victory that MPs voted to back PR, the 10 Minute Rule Bill that was passed is unlikely to find parliamentary time to progress further.

That’s why members of the APPG for Fair Elections - Chaired by Labour MP Alex Sobel - applied to the Backbench Business Committee for a full debate on electoral reform in the Commons Chamber. We’re pleased that this debate has now been agreed.

If you support PR, use this tool to write to your local MP, asking them to attend this important debate and support the call for a National Commission for Electoral Reform.

Tell your MP to attend the debate ➤

In other news, YouGov has recently recorded record high levels of support for PR - and a record low for First Past the Post - on their long-running tracker. This follows similar findings by the British Social Attitudes Survey just before the general election.

And Polly Toynbee has a great article in the Guardian making the case for Labour to take action on electoral reform - and joining calls for a National Commission to address the electoral system before the next general election.

Joe Sousek

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