Thoughts on the subject by Dr Mark Pack

How does electoral reform for the House of Commons get voted through the Commons itself? That’s the key question electoral reformers and a plausible answer has to be at the heart of any electoral reform campaigning that wishes to succeed.

Saying ‘vote Lib Dem, get a Lib Dem Prime Minister and get PR’ has a neat simplicity about it. But as 2019 general election showed, there are plausibility issues of making this pitch when you start with a small number of MPs.

That’s why realistic answers to the PR question involve getting overwhelming support for PR from the MPs of at least one of the two largest parties. If the vote is on PR directly, then that’s needed to win it. But even if the vote is on holding a referendum, then unless there’s solid support from one of the two big parties, it’s really hard to go on to win that referendum. (That was the essential flaw with the 2011 AV referendum plan. Although the dynamics of a hung Parliament were enough to force Conservative MPs to vote for a referendum, the referendum campaign then was sunk by Conservative opposition and Labour apathy.)

That’s also why the news of Momentum’s support for PR is so relevant: “Momentum balloted its members last month to determine which policies it would push the leadership to adopt, with PR the second most popular suggestion after a £15 minimum wage.” This adds to the grassroots pressure in Labour for electoral reform, being skilfully supported by the cross-party Make Votes Matter alliance. 

Labour has a long and sorry recording of talking the talk on reform but then when it comes to the crunch deciding that hating the Conservatives matters more. Hence the apathy over AV in 2011. Hence the decision to help sink House of Lords reform too when Labour could have got it through just by agreeing to a timetable for the legislation. Causing division in the then Conservative-Lib Dem coalition was just too tempting. And 13 years of Labour government never got round to PR for the Commons either.

So a certain cynicism about this latest news from Labour is understandable. But only a certain amount, because in one important respect this support for PR in Labour ranks is very different from the past. Previously, support for PR was much more associated with those on the right or modernising wing of Labour, and viewed by suspicion by those on the left and local party activists. The strong support from Momentum members for PR shows a very different dynamic within Labour. 

In fact, it’s Starmer who is currently most resistant to a cross-party vision of politics, with his bizarre recent refusal to take part in cross-party cooperation aimed at holding Boris Johnson to account over his troubles with telling the truth.

But with so many of the most vulnerable Conservative seats having the Lib Dems in second place the route to pressurising Starmer isn’t just through Labour. It’s also through Lib Dem votes in the ballot box, for the stronger the Lib Dems are, the greater the pressure on Labour to embrace a multi-party future if it doesn’t want the Conservatives to keep on winning.

John Cleese’s classic 1980s party political broadcast about proportional representation is still well worth a watch, and in fact remains one of the most watchable PPBs ever.

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