We have good news! Things are starting to move rapidly in the right direction for democratic reform. Here are the top lines on recent events in the UK, in Parliament and in trade unions.
In the UK
The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) has published the latest findings from their British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey. The survey has been conducted almost every year since its launch in 1983 and has been tracking British public opinion on a range of issues over the last four decades.
The latest BSA findings show that a clear majority of the population support a change to Westminster’s broken voting system – as 60% of the British public now support proportional representation.
This rise in support is no surprise. For too long, First Past the Post has distorted democracy and the 2024 general election gave us the least representative parliament in British history. This means that the way the British public is represented in Westminster looks nothing like how people actually voted.
In Parliament
We are seeing welcome proposals in the Government’s new Elections Bill, including votes for 16 and 17-year olds and a return to the more representative Supplementary Vote (SV) system for mayoral and Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections in the English Devolution Bill.
The government’s strategy paper on how they intend to improve elections – the Elections Bill by any other name – also includes proposals to expand the types of voter ID that can be used at polling stations and hopes to move towards an automated registration system. The rules around donations to candidates and political parties are also likely to be tightened up in an effort to tackle dark money in politics.
Unfortunately, an overhaul of the broken voting system for Westminster elections is not planned which is a missed opportunity.
MPs will be working on the detail of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill over the summer and next consider it in Parliament on Tuesday 2 September. You can find the House of Commons library briefing here.
Meanwhile, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Fair Elections has become the largest APPG in Parliament with over 150 members. This is a highly active APPG that is holding events in Parliament to engage with Ministers, MPs, Peers and think tanks as well as reaching out to grassroots cultural groups. Check to see if your MP is a member and if not, please drop them a line to encourage them to join.
In Unions
Following on from the success of our stall at NASUWT conference we received a warm welcome at the GMB and Unison conferences. Lots of members dropped by for a chat, to share their views and ask questions.
At NASUWT we had politics and citizenship teachers collecting materials for their students which we felt was a double-win in getting the next generation on board with electoral reform.
Our new Trade Union Case for Political Reform booklet proved very popular and in that we’ve aimed to answer all the frequently asked questions but let us know if you have more and we’ll get back to you.
We’ve also launched new motions for trade unions to take to their Branches that includes our call for an independent commission for electoral reform. We are especially keen for unions who do not yet have policy to consider supporting our campaign for fair elections. If you want help with background information, speeches or organising then we’d be happy to help. Just drop us a line at [email protected]