Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform

Last updated

Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform
AbbreviationLCER
Chair
 Sandy Martin
Website Official website
Formerly called
Labour Study Group for Electoral Reform

The Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform (LCER) is an organisation formed of members and supporters of the British Labour Party, who are interested in issues of democratic renewal and electoral reform.

Contents

LCER campaigns on a range of constitutional issues associated with accountability, democracy and governance; its flagship campaign is for proportional representation in the House of Commons, which it argues is a precondition for other democratic reforms to be effective.

LCER characterises the first-past-the-post voting system (FPTP) as "unfair and deeply flawed, leading to voter apathy, disaffection with politics, and parliaments which don't represent the people". It campaigns for FPTP to be replaced with an electoral system which is "broadly proportional, and in which all votes matter". [1]

The organisation works closely with other organisations promoting electoral reform in the UK, including Make Votes Matter, the Electoral Reform Society and Politics for the Many. LCER is distinct from these other organisations in that it focuses its efforts on promoting proportional representation within the Labour Party. This is driven by the belief that a change to the UK's voting system can only come about via Labour:

"We believe that the impetus for changing the voting system must come from the Labour Party. The Conservatives will never support PR, because First Past the Post gives them such a big electoral advantage. The smaller parties already support PR, but lack the influence to bring about change. Only Labour can drive the change." [1]

Since 2022, LCER has hosted the Labour for a New Democracy (L4ND) campaign.

History

LCER originated in the 1970s as the Labour Study Group for Electoral Reform. After Labour lost power to the Conservatives in the 1979 general election, the group changed its name to the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform. [2] Early supporters included academic Ron Medlow; Robin Cook, [3] Jeff Rooker and Martin Linton, who went on to be Labour MPs; and activist Mary Southcott, [4] who would later become LCER's parliamentary and political officer.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, during which Labour spent most of its time in opposition, support for LCER increased steadily among both Labour members and elected representatives, with motions on electoral reform being tabled at the party conference almost every year. [5] In 1990, the party conference voted narrowly to commission an inquiry into electoral systems; LCER is widely credited in bringing this about. [6] [7] The inquiry, led by Professor Raymond Plant, recommended the introduction of the supplementary vote. [8] Labour included in its 1997 election manifesto a pledge to hold a referendum on electoral reform; [9] however, this pledge was never honoured, despite the work of the Jenkins Commission, in which Liberal Democrat (and former Labour MP) Lord Jenkins explored possible voting systems on behalf of incumbent Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair's government.

In 2010, incoming Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron announced a referendum on electoral reform in return for the support of the Liberal Democrats in a governing coalition. [10] The referendum, which offered instant-runoff voting (branded as "Alternative Vote", or AV) as an alternative to FPTP, was held in May 2011. AV is not a proportional voting system, and as such many electoral reformers considered it no great improvement on FPTP: [11] Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg called it a "miserable little compromise", [12] [13] and some leading proponents of electoral reform considered AV to be such a poor system that they voted for the status quo. [14] LCER did support AV in the 2011 referendum, via the Yes2AV umbrella group, but following the heavy and widely predicted defeat of the "Yes" campaign, [15] LCER's activities fell into abeyance for several years, with activists exhausted and the organisation having spent almost all its money. [2]

Activity has increased steadily since 2015, with many Constituency Labour Parties [16] passing resolutions in favour of PR, and increasing interest from trade unions. In September 2020, LCER joined with a number of other groups and Labour MPs to launch Labour for a New Democracy, a campaign to "build support for UK electoral reform in Labour with the aim of changing party policy by the time its next conference takes place". [17] At the time, polling revealed that three-quarters of Labour members believed the party should commit to supporting proportional representation and adopt it as a policy. [18]

The COVID pandemic meant that the Labour Party conference of 2020 was held online. [19] [20] By the 2021 conference, around half of all CLPs had passed resolutions in favour of PR, and over 150 CLPs submitted conference motions calling for Labour to back PR. 80% of CLP delegates voted in favour of the composite motion, but it was defeated owing to an overwhelming vote against by the affiliated trade unions, most of which at the time did not have policy on electoral reform. [21] By October 2021, the trade union Unite had changed its policy to back proportional representation. [22]

In June 2022, the trade union Unison also voted to support proportional representation. [23] [24] Other unions that have declared their support for proportional representation include the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF), the Musicians' Union (MU) and the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA). [25] Politicians from all wings of the Labour Party have come out in support of proportional representation, including the former leader of Welsh Labour and former First Minister, Mark Drakeford. [26] [27]

At the Labour Party Conference in September 2022, delegates from CLPs and trade unions voted overwhelmingly in favour of adopting proportional representation. [28] [29] The motion was not binding on the party leadership, but did commit the party to including PR in its election manifesto. [30]

Labour leader Keir Starmer commented on the issue during his leadership campaign: "I also think on electoral reform, we've got to address the fact that millions of people vote in safe seats and they feel their vote doesn't count. That's got to be addressed." [31] However, it was subsequently reported that Starmer has a "long-standing view against proportional representation". [32]

Supporters

Sandy Martin wearing a Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform t-shirt at a demonstration for electoral reform in February 2022 Labour for Electoral Reform (51866908252).jpg
Sandy Martin wearing a Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform t-shirt at a demonstration for electoral reform in February 2022

Many Labour MPs past and present have supported LCER and its activities. In the past, this included such high-profile figures as Mo Mowlam, Robin Cook, Paul Flynn, Clare Short, Tessa Jowell, Rhodri Morgan, Stephen Twigg, Oona King and Janet Anderson. [33] [34] [35] [36]

LCER has prominent supporters from both the left and the right wings of the Labour party. [37] It is currently chaired by former MP Sandy Martin, with former MEP Julie Ward and councillor Duncan Enright as vice-chairs. Former CEO of the Electoral Reform Society Ken Ritchie is the group's treasurer, whilst trade unionist Billy Hayes and former MP Willie Bain are also on the executive committee. [38]

In 2017, Cat Smith co-wrote the foreword to a report jointly written by LCER with Make Votes Matter. [39] Other current supporters include MPs David Lammy, Jonathan Reynolds, Tulip Siddiq, Stephen Kinnock, Alan Whitehead and John McDonnell. Outside the Commons, support comes from Baroness Lister of the House of Lords, and the elected mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham. [35]

Position

LCER does not advocate the introduction of a specific system of proportional representation, believing that the selection of a new voting system should be the work of a Royal Commission. Rather, it campaigns for the Labour Party:

LCER bases its support for proportional representation on the belief that PR systems are more democratic than FPTP, but also on evidence that PR voting systems are associated with societies with higher levels of social and economic equality; with higher levels of public spending and redistribution; and with a lower propensity to engage in violent conflict. [40] [41] [42] [43]

Related Research Articles

Proportional representation (PR) refers to any type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions among voters. The essence of such systems is that all votes cast – or almost all votes cast – contribute to the result and are effectively used to help elect someone. Under other election systems, a bare plurality or a scant majority are all that are used to elect candidates. Further, a PR system is one that produces mixed and balanced representation, reflecting how votes are cast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of the United Kingdom</span> Political structure of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy which, by legislation and convention, operates as a unitary parliamentary democracy. A hereditary monarch, currently King Charles III, serves as head of state while the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, currently Sir Keir Starmer since 2024, serves as the elected head of government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixed-member proportional representation</span> Type of mixed electoral system

Mixed-member proportional representation is a mixed electoral system which combines local winner-take-all elections with a compensatory tier of party list votes, which are used to allocate additional members in a way that aims to produce proportional representation overall. In typical MMP systems, voters get two votes: one to decide the representative for their single-seat constituency, and one for a political party. Some countries use single vote variants of MMP, although this article focuses primarily on dual vote versions of MMP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First-past-the-post voting</span> Plurality voting system

First-preference plurality (FPP)—often shortened simply to plurality—is a single-winner system of positional voting. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, and the candidate with the largest number of marks is elected, even if they do not have more than half of the marks. When used in single-member districts, the method is often called first-past-the-post (FPTP), based on a metaphor from horse racing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Labour Party Conference</span> Annual gathering of the British Labour Party

The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conference season when the House of Commons is in recess, after each year's second Liberal Democrat Conference and before the Conservative Party Conference. The Labour Party Conference opens on a Sunday and finishes the following Wednesday, with an address by the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party; the Leader's address is usually on the Tuesday. In contrast to the Liberal Democrat Conference, where every party member attending its Conference, either in-person or online, has the right to vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system, or the Conservative Party Conference, which does not hold votes on party policy, at the Labour Party Conference, 50% of votes are allocated to affiliated organisations, and the other 50% to Constituency Labour Parties, but all voting in both categories is restricted to nominated representatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral reform in New Zealand</span>

Electoral reform in New Zealand has been a political issue in the past as major changes have been made to both parliamentary and local government electoral systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral Reform Society</span> British advocacy group for electoral reform

The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) is an independent advocacy organisation in the United Kingdom which promotes electoral reform. It seeks to replace first-past-the-post voting with proportional representation, advocating the single transferable vote, and an elected upper house of Parliament. It is the world's oldest still-extant electoral reform campaign.

The alternative vote plus (AV+), or alternative vote top-up, is a semi-proportional voting system. AV+ was devised by the 1998 Jenkins Commission which first proposed the idea as a system that could be used for elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Canada holds elections for legislatures or governments in several jurisdictions: for the federal (national) government, provincial and territorial governments, and municipal governments. Elections are also held for self-governing First Nations and for many other public and private organizations including corporations and trade unions. Municipal elections can also be held for both upper-tier and lower-tier governments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fair Vote Canada</span> Nonprofit organization

Fair Vote Canada (FVC) is a grassroots, nonprofit, multi-partisan citizens' movement for electoral reform in Canada. Headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario, it promotes the introduction of an element of proportional representation for elections at all levels of government and throughout civil society, instead of the first-past-the-post electoral system currently used at all levels of government in Canada.

Scotland uses different electoral systems for elections to Parliament, the Scottish Parliament and to local councils. A different system was also in use between 1999 and 2019 for United Kingdom elections to the European Parliament. Historically, only First Past the Post (FPTP) was used for all elections in Scotland, but this changed in 1999 both with the introduction of D'Hondt elections to the EU Parliament and the inception the same year of the devolved Scottish Parliament. Two of the devolved legislatures in the United Kingdom - the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd - use the Additional Members System (AMS). AMS has been used for every Scottish Parliament election since 1999, with the most recent being in 2021.

Electoral reform is a change in electoral systems which alters how public desires are expressed in election results.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in the United Kingdom</span>

There are five types of elections in the United Kingdom: elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elections to devolved parliaments and assemblies, local elections, mayoral elections, and police and crime commissioner elections. Within each of those categories, there may also be by-elections. Elections are held on Election Day, which is conventionally a Thursday, and under the provisions of the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 the timing of general elections can be held at the discretion of the prime minister during any five-year period. All other types of elections are held after fixed periods, though early elections to the devolved assemblies and parliaments can occur in certain situations. The five electoral systems used are: the single member plurality system (first-past-the-post), the multi-member plurality, the single transferable vote, the additional member system, and the supplementary vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Take Back Parliament</span> British advocacy group

Take Back Parliament (TBP) was an organisation campaigning for democratic reform in the United Kingdom. The group was formed immediately before the 2010 general election, with funding from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, hoping that there would be opportunities to push for electoral reform after the election. It took a leading role in the 2011 referendum on the Alternative Vote, pushing AV as better than the existing first past the post electoral system and potentially a step towards a proportional representation system. The group no longer exists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum</span> 2011 referendum in the UK on reforming the voting system

The United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum, also known as the UK-wide referendum on the Parliamentary voting system was held on Thursday 5 May 2011 in the United Kingdom to choose the method of electing MPs at subsequent general elections. It occurred as a provision of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition agreement drawn up in 2010 and also indirectly in the aftermath of the 2009 expenses scandal. It operated under the provisions of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 and was the first national referendum to be held under provisions laid out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. Many local elections were also held on this day.

Vladimir Derer (1919–2014) was a British political activist in the Labour Party who escaped from Czechoslovakia in the late 1930s to live in Britain. For nearly four decades Vladimir was an important leader and strategist in the campaign to transform the Labour Party by making it more democratic and accountable to its members. He helped to form the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) in 1973 and was its secretary from 1974 until 2005. The CLPD is dedicated to introduce constitutional and rule changes and modernise the governance of the Party. Mandatory reselection of MPs and electoral college for the Leader were the most notable of many important democratic reforms implemented from the late 1970s until today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Make Votes Matter</span> British advocacy group for proportional representation

Make Votes Matter is a political pressure group based in the United Kingdom which campaigns for replacing the first-past-the-post voting system with one of proportional representation for elections to the British House of Commons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 British Columbia electoral reform referendum</span> Referendum on British Columbias voting system

A referendum on electoral reform took place by mail-in ballot between October 22 and December 7, 2018, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. 61.3 percent of voters supported maintaining the first-past-the-post voting system rather than switching to a proportional representation voting system, which was supported by 38.7 percent of voters. This was British Columbia's third referendum on electoral reform, following ones in 2005 and 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rural–urban proportional representation</span> Canadian hybrid proportional electoral system

Rural–urban proportional representation (RUP), also called flexible district PR, is a mixed electoral system which combines the use of single- and multi-member constituencies in a lower tier and top-up seats in an upper tier to meet the different needs of both rural and urban areas, while protecting the objective of proportionality. The term was coined by Fair Vote Canada, which devised a rural–urban system with the intention of meeting the special challenges of Canada's geography, which includes wide-flung, sparsely populated areas.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "About LCER". LCER official website. 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  2. 1 2 Southcott, Mary (2021). "Item on LCER's history, downloadable from About LCER page". LCER official website. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  3. ↑ Cook, R. (2003). Where Do We Go from Here? Chapter 9 in Point of Departure: Diaries from the Front Bench. Simon & Schuster. ( ISBN   0-7432-5255-1)
  4. ↑ Linton, M and Southcott, M (1998). Making Votes Count: The Case for Electoral Reform. Profile Books. ISBN   9781861970879.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ Miles, Jasper Charles (2017). The Labour Party and the Westminster electoral system (PDF). PhD thesis, University of Liverpool. p. 151.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ↑ Norris, Pippa (1995). "The politics of electoral reform in Britain". International Political Science Review. 16 (1): 65–78. doi:10.1177/019251219501600105. S2CID   144867316.
  7. ↑ Cole, Matt (1999). "Party policy and electoral reform: A survey of developments, motives and prospects". British Elections & Parties Review. 9 (1): 72–86. doi:10.1080/13689889908413021.
  8. ↑ Davies, Patricia Wynn (1 April 1993). "Plant commission moves towards PR: Labour working party wants 'first past post' system for electing MPs scrapped". The Independent. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  9. ↑ "1997 Labour Party Manifesto -". www.labour-party.org.uk. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  10. ↑ Curtice, John (2013). "Politicians, voters and democracy: The 2011 UK referendum on the Alternative Vote". Electoral Studies. 32 (2): 215–223. doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2012.10.010.
  11. ↑ Clark, Tom (6 May 2011). "10 reasons the AV referendum was lost". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  12. ↑ Curtice, John (2011). "The Death of a Miserable Little Compromise: The Alternative Vote Referendum". Political Insight. 2 (2): 14–17. doi:10.1111/j.2041-9066.2011.00066.x. S2CID   144485220.
  13. ↑ Dommett, K (2013). "A miserable little compromise? Exploring Liberal Democrat fortunes in the UK coalition". The Political Quarterly. 84 (2): 218–227. doi:10.1111/j.1467-923X.2013.12013.x.
  14. ↑ Rooker, Jeff (7 January 2011). "Letters: AV facts and fallacies". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  15. ↑ Robinson, Duncan (28 April 2011). "Why Yes2AV lags so far behind". New Statesman. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  16. ↑ "CLPs with policy in favour of Proportional Representation". Labour for a New Democracy. 2 January 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  17. ↑ Kersley, Andrew (19 September 2020). "'Labour for a New Democracy' launches to push leadership on electoral reform". LabourList . Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  18. ↑ Stone, Jon (17 December 2019). "Three-quarters of Labour members want party to back proportional representation". The Independent . Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  19. ↑ Perry, Alice (10 November 2020). "2021 elections, conferences and party complaints – Alice Perry's NEC report". LabourList . Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  20. ↑ "Fair Votes. Equal society". Labour for a New Democracy. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  21. ↑ Chappell, Elliot (27 September 2021). "Conference rejects motion committing Labour to proportional representation". Labour List. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  22. ↑ "Unite conference 'historic vote' to back PR voting in Westminster elections". 22 October 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  23. ↑ Narcross, Jon (20 June 2022). "UNISON vote to back proportional representation hailed as 'huge boost' in campaign for fair votes". Politics.co.uk. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  24. ↑ Chappell, Elliot (17 June 2022). "UNISON vote to back PR hailed as "huge boost" by electoral reform campaigners". LabourList. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  25. ↑ "Which trade unions support electoral reform?". labourforanewdemocracy.org.uk. Labour for a New Democracy. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  26. ↑ Morton, Becky (27 September 2022). "Labour members back calls for electoral reform". BBC News. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  27. ↑ "First Minister Mark Drakeford tells Labour to work with other parties". BBC News. 27 September 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  28. ↑ "Labour members back calls for electoral reform". BBC News. 26 September 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  29. ↑ Cowan, Doug (27 September 2022). "Labour Party conference backs proportional representation". electoral-reform.org.uk. Electoral Reform Society. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  30. ↑ Walker, Peter; Allegretti, Aubrey (26 September 2022). "Labour delegates back motion calling on party to back PR". The Guardian . Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  31. ↑ "Keir Starmer: "We've got to address the fact that millions of people vote in safe seats and they feel their vote doesn't count"". www.electoral-reform.org.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  32. ↑ Mortimer, Josiah (27 April 2023). "Keir Starmer Now Opposes Scrapping Westminster's Voting System for PR in Blow for Reformers". Byline Times. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  33. ↑ Political Report 1996-7 (Report). Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform.
  34. ↑ Women's movements facing the reconfigured state. Banaszak, Lee Ann, 1960-, Beckwith, Karen, 1950-, Rucht, Dieter. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2003. ISBN   0-521-81278-X. OCLC   49727819.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  35. 1 2 "LCER - Labour MPs and candidates". www.labourcampaignforelectoralreform.org.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  36. ↑ "Labour's electoral limits". The Guardian . 6 May 1999. p. 23. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  37. ↑ "LCER supporters - MPs". LCER Official Website. 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  38. ↑ "Meet the Team - Labour for Electoral Reform". 6 March 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  39. ↑ Stone, Jon (4 May 2017). "Labour eyes proportional representation as party's elections minister backs voting shake-up". The Independent . Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  40. ↑ The Many, Not the Few: Proportional Representation and Labour in the 21st Century. LCER and Make Votes Matter. 2017.
  41. ↑ Döring, Holger; Manow, Philip (2017). "Is Proportional Representation More Favourable to the Left? Electoral Rules and Their Impact on Elections, Parliaments and the Formation of Cabinets". British Journal of Political Science. 47 (1): 149–164. doi: 10.1017/S0007123415000290 . ISSN   0007-1234.
  42. ↑ IVERSEN, TORBEN; SOSKICE, DAVID (May 2006). "Electoral Institutions and the Politics of Coalitions: Why Some Democracies Redistribute More Than Others". American Political Science Review. 100 (2): 165–181. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.828.6087 . doi:10.1017/s0003055406062083. ISSN   0003-0554. S2CID   9418150.
  43. ↑ Lijphart, Arend, 1936- (11 September 2012). Patterns of democracy: government forms and performance in thirty-six countries. ISBN   9780300172027. OCLC   870703414.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.