Blog
Where to from here? The Discussion
What – All Members Discussion – Where to from Here? When – Wednesday 24th April Time – 19:30 Where – Online – Click HERE Where to from here? At our February AGM we ran out of time for an open discussion on the way forward for PR, so we agreed to hold this stand-alone all-member…
Read MoreArguments for First Past the Post – and why they’re wrong
LCER campaigns to change the way we elect the House of Commons to a Proportional Representation system (PR) for three main reasons: 1) First Past the Post (FPTP) leaves the majority of voters in the UK (around 70% at the last General Election) with a vote that makes no difference to the final result. We…
Read MoreFrom Brighton to Liverpool – Labour’s march towards electoral reform
After revealing unprecedented demand for Proportional Representation from the Labour Party membership at last year’s annual conference, the Labour for a New Democracy (L4ND) coalition has stepped up campaigning across the whole labour movement. Over the last year we’ve seen dramatic progress amongst affiliated trade unions. The case for electoral reform across the entire Labour…
Read MoreFulfilling the legacy of Robin and Mo at Party Conference
Labour campaigners for voting reform under 40 only know its greatest campaigners, Mo Mowlam and Robin Cook, from history books or talking with their parents. Don’t knock that. Andy Burnham puts his conversion partly down to his dad, see his pitch for levelling up at www.chartist.org.uk. What made Mo and Robin so distinctive as politicians?…
Read MoreWill this finally be PR’s Conference?
On Saturday 25th September the 2021 Labour Party Conference gets under way. 144 CLPs have submitted the Labour for a New Democracy (L4ND) motion – the greatest number on a single issue in Conference history. They will be composited on the Saturday with any other motions on Electoral Reform – we are confident that the…
Read MoreWinning Locally is a Step Toward PR
I am standing for election as a local councillor this year because I know that Labour needs to stand candidates and campaign to win in all elections whether at local level, for mayoral positions, police and crime commissioners and in general elections. We need to demonstrate that Labour in power whether controlling local authorities or…
Read MoreWatching what happens in Scotland
We have heard much about SNP squabbles and Salmond’s new Alba party. Party leaders debates have been held, the last one on Tuesday, see LCER’s Scottish Representative William Bain’s report of the first: http://progressonline.org.uk/anas-sarwar-hope-for-a-scottish-labour-recovery/. In Scotland, Labour may be saved from almost extinction, which practically happened under first past the post in GE2015 and GE2019, by…
Read MoreGetting into the detail of the Count: D’Hondt and Modified D’Hondt
In the UK, one ‘family’ of electoral systems appears to offer solutions to those searching for a more acceptable electoral system for the House of Commons, namely the so-called Additional Member and Mixed Member systems. Among these, the systems adopted for the UK’s devolved Assemblies seem particularly attractive, although enthusiasts will soon notice that the…
Read MoreUnions will Thrive Under Proportional Representation
In a spring article for Labour List, John Spellar MP said that “voters in England don’t seem to share the enthusiasm for constitutional affairs of politicos and think tankers.” In a sense this is true: it doesn’t come up much on the ordinary doorstep, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t important. A new electoral system…
Read MoreOpportunity to discuss voting reform
We have in the rest of 2020 opportunities to work with other reform groupings. Besides the South West trade union meeting on 19 November, on 17 November we have the annual meeting of the Make Votes Count which still functions as a cross party electoral reform intelligence meeting chaired by Jonathan Reynolds MP. Chartist Magazine has just joined Labour for…
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