Electoral Reform

With the Middle East in flames and oil prices soaring, a significant piece of legislation – the ‘Representation of the People’ Bill – attracted little attention when it was debated in parliament earlier this month. Among several proposed reforms, the most far-reaching would be the extension of voting rights to 16/17-year-olds. You may agree or disagree with that, but much of the commentary afterwards focussed on what wasn’t in the Bill – our electoral system itself. As Britain’s political landscape continues to fragment, our long-standing ‘first-past-the-post’ system is increasingly delivering outcomes that are ever-further removed from the true balance of public opinion in the country today. So, at this month’s meeting, we’ll be discussing the pros and cons of replacing FPTP with a more proportional voting system. For more information, take a look at these recent articles: ‘After Gorton & Denton: The case for PR’ and ‘Restoring democracy: Labour’s challenge’

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