Reform of our voting system badly needed

Gloucester Citizen and Glos Echo, 20 February 2025, p. 22

It’s been eight months since the general election saw the Labour Party replace the Conservatives in government.

The result suggested Labour substantially benefited from voter anger at Tory “elitism/mismanagement”, a carryover from the imbecilic actions of Johnson and Truss when Prime Ministers.

A visitor from abroad would view the result as remarkable, a political party in a democratic election able to gain a massive majority of 174 seats, able to govern at will.

Should that visitor delve further into the result, they would discover that even though the Tories were so despised, only 59% of the electorate bothered to turn out, and Labours share was 34%.

They’d also ascertain that due to the quirks of our antiquated voting system of First Past The Post, Labour won 411 seats for Labour, two thirds of the seats, with the “anti” Labour majority (66%) gaining 249.

The “big” two, the bipartisan coalition of Labour/Tory, have no wish to change to a more democratic system.

It seems the one-time champions of voter reform, the Lib Dems, are now deafeningly silent.

Perhaps having won 72 seats in Parliament with 12% of the turnout turned their heads.

A reform of our voting system which ends in the dissolution of the bi partisan, sorry, tri partisan coalition who rule Westminster, is badly needed.

About time a voice for all the electorate was heard in Parliament, not just those from the politically blinkered, interest in politics and taking part would be resurrected.

M Spiers

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