The House of Commons recently debated on a Private Members’ Bill that calls for proportional representation (PR) to be implemented in UK elections. Last July, first-past-the-post (FPTP) broke numerous records for the most unrepresentative election in recent UK history and calls for reform have grown since. Starmer has rebuffed the idea at every turn, but in doing so he ignores a majority of the electorate and inaction could cost Labour in the long run.
Introduced in December under the Ten-Minute Rule, the bill put forward by Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney proposes to introduce a system of PR for parliamentary and local elections in England. A majority of MPs present that day voted in favour of the bill, of which over half were Labour. At 138 ayes to 136 nos, the proposal began to move forward as a piece of legislation.
Public firmly in favour of change
It has always been known that the UK’s first-past-the-post system distorts the electoral picture, but the July 2024 general election took the misrepresentation up a notch. The Labour Party won by a landslide but only after receiving the smallest vote share of any majority government since the second world war. At 33.7%, Labour’s vote share was only a 1.6% increase on their 2019 performance, and actually a smaller share than their election defeat in 2017.
A record number of votes were ‘wasted’; in 85% of all constituencies, the losing candidates collectively received more votes than the winner. This led to seriously skewed results. Reform UK, for example, received 14.3% of the vote, but only won five seats. It’s no wonder that the public is losing interest in democracy – 41% of voters did not turn out, a higher number than any single party’s vote share.
One thing the public does seem broadly to agree on is the need for reform. Since 2019, YouGov has been asking the public the same question on electoral reform: keep first-past-the-post or adopt proportional representation? The gap has never been higher. As of January 2025, 48% of respondents were in favour of PR, double the 24% in favour of FPTP – itself a number lower even than the 29% of undecided responders.
Labour resistant to reform
Labour’s relationship with proportional representation goes back to 1998 when, with a colossal electoral majority, Tony Blair backed down from his manifesto pledge to hold a referendum on the issue. At the time, Labour supporters were largely against PR. That’s not the case these days.
At the Labour Party’s 2022 conference members, in tandem with unions, voted to adopt a commitment to PR in their manifesto. The motion was not binding though and the recommendation was ignored by leadership and nowhere to be seen in Labour’s 2024 manifesto.
Starmer has not budged since. In response to the recent bill, the Labour leadership has assured members that the government will give no time to the policy. Indeed, the bill’s second reading has been pushed all the way back to July 2025.
Would reform be in Labour’s interest?
Admittedly, after such a resounding victory last July, it would seem like self-sabotage if Labour were to reform the very system that granted them 412 seats. FPTP has always sustained the two-party model that maintains Labour and the Conservatives as the only real contenders to form a majority. A turkey doesn’t vote for Christmas.
But some have said that that’s exactly what Labour should do. Whether just an anomaly or the beginning of a new trend, the recent general election saw a slight crack in the two-party dominance. Labour and the Conservatives combined managed a vote share of only 57.4% – their lowest since universal suffrage was established. 2024 was the first time the right-wing vote was split and that four parties each received over ten percent of the votes.
First-past-the-post is not designed to support such a spread in voting patterns. When the votes are shared out between more parties, the winner’s portion is reduced, as was the case in 2024. We end with a situation such as the one that Labour finds itself in now: an imposing parliamentary majority that is actually resting on flimsy foundations.
Critics argue that PR can lead to coalitions involving the far-right, but as Reform UK climbs steadily higher in the polls, a Conservative-Reform UK coalition come 2029 – electoral reform or not – is no longer impossible. And if PR has not been implemented by that point then Labour would be in double trouble. This is because FPTP would deprive Labour’s natural coalition partners, the Lib-Dems and Greens, from winning enough seats to enter into a majority government with Labour. Research shows that if PR had been in place in 2024, Labour would have been able to form a coalition with these two parties.
Situations where parties scramble for coalitions post-election day constitute another one of the main arguments against proportional representation. So for PR to be implemented effectively, it would have to be accompanied by a clarification of post-election procedures and a tightening of the constitutional rules around forming governments.
A reform to restore faith
Perhaps most surprisingly, the YouGov poll found that those who align themselves to Labour are still overwhelmingly in favour of a PR system. It was always popular among supporters of the parties traditionally side-lined by FPTP, but a lasting popularity among Labour supporters proves to the Labour leadership that a change to the system is popular among the electorate, and here to stay.
Above all, electoral reform could incentivise so many apathetic voters back to the polls. It could also steer them away from populist politicians who would be all too glad to exploit public exasperation at under-representation and wasted votes – painting it as a sign of an ignorant Labour government out-of-touch with the public’s basic grievances. It may not seem to some to be in Labour’s immediate self-interest, but the introduction of a PR system would be a reform in service to the public, and to democracy.
