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Our political system has catastrophically failed to represent people’s wishes, needs and votes.

No one voted for housing food, heating or transport to be beyond the means of ordinary people.

No one voted for our health, education and justice systems to be underfunded past breaking point. To build a better society address distrust and alienation in politics and to safeguard the union, everyone must have an equal voice.

First Past the Post (FPTP) does long-term damage to the health of our democracy. Labour must commit to fixing it.

In the 2019 General Election, there were: 38,264 votes for every Tory MP elected; 50,836 for every Labour MP, 25,882 for every SNP MP.

Devolution was a major achievement of the last Labour government. Labour is already committed to extending democracy, from strengthening devolution to Lords reform.

But our democratic system will remain broken – until we replace FPTP with a form of Proportional Representation.

There are systems of PR that retain a strong constituency link between MPs and their electorates, while ensuring that votes count equally and seats match votes.

Conference resolves that:

• Labour must make a commitment to introduce Proportional Representation for general elections in the next manifesto.

• During its first term in office the next Labour government must change the voting system for general elections to a form of PR.

• Labour should convene an open and inclusive process to decide the specific proportional voting system it will introduce.

Mover: Ashford CLP

Seconder: North West Leicestershire CLP

With this spectacular result under our belt, we're suggesting that our supporters do not submit further resolutions to Annual Conference, or to regional Conferences, Women's Conference, etc.

In 2022, the Labour Party Conference overwhelmingly passed a resolution in favour of proportional representation. But if your Labour Party branch or CLP hasn't yet passed its own resolution on the issue, it's still useful to do this - a branch or CLP that already has policy on voting reform is in a position to respond swiftly to policy consultations.

We would encourage you to:

• Keep your motion brief - a short motion is generally better received, and 600 words is the limit for online submissions to the National Policy Forum.
• Include a section in your motion allowing your branch or CLP to affiliate to Labour for Electoral Reform - our affiliation programme is a key to our future success.

After the resolution is passed, please:

• Email us with the name of your organisation, the text of the resolution you passed, and the date when it was passed.
• Upload your motion to the website of the National Policy Forum. The policy commission currently dealing with constitutional issues is Safe and Secure Communities

Proposer: [Name of Member]

Seconder: [Name of Member]

[Name of CLP or Branch]:

• Notes the overwhelming support among Labour Party members and affiliated Trade Unions, as evidenced by the vote at the Labour Party Conference of 2022, for the UK's First Past the Post voting system to be replaced by a system of proportional representation.
• Supports the principle that in any election all votes should count, and seats should be allocated broadly in line with the votes cast.
• Calls upon the Labour Party to make a commitment in its election manifesto to introduce a system of proportional representation for the House of Commons, within its first term of office.
• Resolves to affiliate to the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform.

Proposer: [Name of Member]

Seconder: [Name of Member]

[Name of CLP or Branch]:

This Branch / Constituency Labour Party welcomes the overwhelming support for Proportional Representation amongst the Labour membership demonstrated at the 2021 Labour Party conference.

80% of CLP delegates and four affiliated trade unions voted in favour of a Labour Party manifesto commitment, at the next general election, to introduce a proportional voting system for general elections; and an open and inclusive process to decide the specific voting system Labour will commit to.

However, electoral reform has not yet won the support of all of the wider Labour movement, including some of the largest trade unions.

This BLP / CLP believes that:

• As a democratic socialist party, Labour must commit to PR as an expression of our values of equality, democracy, and fairness.
• First Past the Post does long-term damage to the health of our democracy by forcing Labour to prioritise swing voters in marginal seats, to the neglect of the majority who live in ‘safe seats’.
• First Past the Post gives the Tories an unfair advantage, allowing them to govern the UK for 2/3rds of the last seven decades without ever winning a majority of the popular vote. PR would level the playing field.

This BLP / CLP resolves:

• To call on the Leader, the National Executive Committee, and the National Policy Forum to commit to introducing a proportional voting system under the next Labour government.
• To affiliate to the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform.
• To call on our Trade Union Liaison Officer and other trade unionists in this CLP, to work with local branches of affiliated trade unions, and organisations like Labour for a New Democracy and Politics For the Many, in order to encourage debate about the benefits of PR to outcomes for workers and trade unions.

[This union] notes that many trade unionists have traditionally supported First Past the Post, the voting system used for UK general elections since the 18th Century.

We believe that many of the arguments historically advanced in support of FPTP are no longer valid in a modern multi-party political system.

• FPTP has been said to deliver "strong" government. In fact it has delivered Conservative-led coalitions in two of the last three elections.
• FPTP is said to be simple. In fact FPTP is anything but simple for the millions of people who have to decide between voting for the party they support, and voting tactically for a party they do not support but may have a chance of winning a seat.
• FPTP has been said to provide a shortcut opportunity for the Labour Party to implement a radical programme on a minority of votes. In fact, in the UK FPTP delivers Conservative goverments about twice as often as Labour governments - and many of these Conservative governments would not have been returned to power under a proportional voting system.

We note further that the vast majority of democratic countries use proportional voting systems, and research shows that left-leaning governments with redistributive programmes are elected more often under proportional systems than under FPTP.

EITHER

We note that the Labour Party has pledged to set up a constitutional convention to examine and bring forward democratic reform.

We support the establishment of this constitutional convention, and believe that it should include in its remit an investigation into  alternative voting systems to FPTP.

OR [stronger]

We call upon the Labour Party to include a commitment to introducing a more proportional voting system in its next manifesto.