Tag: Make Votes Matter
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The pro-PR motion passed by Labour Party Conference 2022
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.
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How might the 2021 Senedd election have looked under the proposed new system?
My blog for Make Votes Matter on the proposed Senedd electoral system. Yesterday, Mark Drakeford and Adam Price published a “joint position statement” on Senedd reform. The agreement proposed the use of a closed list D’Hondt PR system to elect 96 Members of the Senedd (MSs). The system would have 16 constituencies, each electing 6…
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Weaver Vale Constituency Labour Party becomes the 166th to back PR, one quarter of all CLPs
Weaver Vale CLP became the 166th local branch of the Labour Party to pass a motion calling for Proportional Representation this week. That means over a quarter of CLPs have passed a motion in recent years, making PR one of the most called for policies in Labour history. The renewed push for PR among Labour…
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Proportional Representation: a Catalyst for Sustainable Policies?
My contribution to the Young Fabians Environment Network pamphlet ‘Ways to Save the World’ the full pamphlet can be found here. Until recently, interest in electoral reform was reserved for political anoraks. Around election time, some party activists grumbled about the unfairness of the system, but there were few serious attempts to change it. In…
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Peterloo led eventually to electoral democracy – but there’s one big bit of unfinished business
New evidence shows that it’s the Right that tend to benefit from the UK’s unequal electoral system. The Left is gradually embracing Proportional Representation, but it needs to move faster. This was originally posted as an article for OpenDemocracy: Peterloo led eventually to electoral democracy – but there’s one big bit of unfinished business Today marks…
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Peterloo 200: the path to Proportional Representation
16 August 2019 marks the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre. To commemorate the massacre, I have been working on a report for Make Votes Matter, co-authored with the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform. From the Peterloo Massacre in 1819, through the Chartist and suffrage campaigns, to the rise of the Labour Party, working people have…
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Debate: will a PR model provide the desired political system?
My quote, originally published in Economia, the member publication for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales: Owen Winter Co-founder, Make Votes Matter “Millions feel unrepresented because first past the post (FPTP) distorts how people vote. In 2017 the DUP and Conservatives won a majority of seats with just 43% of the vote.…
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What if UK European Elections were held under the 1994 FPTP system?
The European Elections are the only nationwide UK elections held under a form of Proportional Representation. Admittedly, due to the D’Hondt counting system and small regions, the system isn’t perfectly proportional, but it is a vast improvement on the previous FPTP system, used until 1999. The last European Election to be held under First Past…
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Greens for a Better Europe – Book
I’m really excited to see the launch of Greens for a Better Europe – Twenty Years of UK Green Influence in the European Parliament, a book which I contributed a chapter to, co-authored by Klina Jordan. The book will be available from early March. Until then, here is the abstract of mine and Klina’s chapter.…
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Why Trade Unions Need to Make Votes Matter
The trade union case for Proportional Representation.
Owen Winter 