Last week, Labour Party conference made history by overwhelmingly voting for a pro-PR motion, organised by Labour for a New Democracy. This is a huge moment for the reform campaign. I wanted to record the full text of the motion here, because I have not seen it published elsewhere.
Our voting 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; and 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.
This motion is hugely significant. Democracy campaigns are petitioning Keir Starmer to respect the motion and include a commitment to PR in the next Labour manifesto.
Owen Winter 
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