APPG for Fair Elections

Great to be on the James O'Brien show just now talking about how we are working with @fullfact.org and @appgfairelections.bsky.social to get rules for transparency and factual accuracy included in the Representation the People Bill.

We'll post the recording later.

It’s time to end Britain’s first-past-the-post election lottery The Gorton and Denton by-election confirmed just how capricious our electoral system has become

💥 Professor Vernon Bogdanor writes for @financialtimes.com:

"An electoral system should do two things: ensure that the majority rules and that significant minorities are adequately represented.

First Past the Post achieves neither."

📑 In his speech about the Representation of the People Bill, @ollyglover.bsky.social quoted an open letter from 50+ academics, warning about the dangers of FPTP.

➡️ Read it here: www.politicshome.com/news/article...

📣 "We no longer live in a two-party system, and if we continue to have an electoral system that doesn't acknowledge that fact, we will have, as Professor @robfordmancs.bsky.social says, elections that lead to even more chaotic and unpredictable results."

👇 @chriscurtis94.bsky.social

💬 Sarah Olney MP reminded the House that MPs had voted for her Proportional Representation Bill in December 2024.

❌ Inside and outside of Parliament, there is a growing acknowledgment that our voting system is not fit for purpose.

⏰ It's time to consider the alternatives.

❗️"It's increasingly common for people to question whether their vote is meaningful in any sense at all."

📣 @patrickhurley.bsky.social speaking in the Representation of the People Bill debate:

🚨 "The government's refusal to look at Proportional Representation
is dangerously short-sighted."

💬 Brendan O’Hara MP speaks during this week's Representation of the People Bill debate 👇

❗️Increasing political fragmentation means the case for electoral reform is now stronger than ever.

11 Loopholes in Labour’s Elections Bill which MPs are Pushing to Close Labour MPs break ranks to demand ‘Representation of the People’ law is tightened up to tackle crypto donations, AI deepfakes and more

"Numerous MPs across parties called for a move to PR, or at least a National Commission on Electoral Reform, arguing FPTP is unfit for a multi-party political landscape.

@appgfairelections.bsky.social and Make Votes Matter are among those planning to keep up the fight."

@josiahmortimer.bsky.social

🗳️"I think this Bill would have been a great opportunity to have a kind of commission... to make sure that people feel that their vote counts."

📣 @catsmithmp.bsky.social used her speech in the Representation of the People Bill debate to endorse our plan for a National Commission on Electoral Reform.

🚨 "Large groups of permanently unrepresented voters create fertile ground for anger and extremism."

🗯️ Powerful speech by @rozsavage.bsky.social about the dangers of sticking with FPTP in our current, fragmented and polarised reality.

👉 The Representation of the People Bill needs to address this.

👀 Watch APPG member Simon Opher, Labour MP for Stroud, call for a National Commission on Electoral Reform to address Westminster’s flawed voting system

🗳️ "We can do better than fighting elections on the basis of the best worst option."

👏 "I want to put on record my support for the work of the APPG for Fair Elections and to urge ministers to look at the call for some form of National Commission on Electoral Reform."

@jamesnaish.bsky.social

⚖️ "It's the principled thing to do, to ensure every vote counts equally."

💬 Our Vice-Chair @elliechowns.bsky.social also used the Second Reading of the Representation of the People Bill to call for electoral reform.

💯 Most of the public agree: our voting system urgently needs an update.

🗳️"Our First Past the Post voting system was outdated decades ago, [it's] a millstone around the neck of our democratic life."

💬 Our Vice-Chair @lisasmartmp.bsky.social during last night's Second Reading debate of the Representation of the People Bill 👇

Labour must not bind Britain's fate to the failing electoral system - Politics.co.uk It’s fair to say that British democracy is in ill health. Labour has inherited rock bottom public trust in politics and a state wracked by austerity. We are working to show that government can deliver...

Good to see this excellent intervention from Labour MPs Becky Cooper and Tim Roca - rightly focusing on the immediate democratic risks created by FPTP, and highlighting the @appgfairelections.bsky.social's proposal for a National Commission as the way forward

Labour must not bind Britain's fate to the failing electoral system - Politics.co.uk It’s fair to say that British democracy is in ill health. Labour has inherited rock bottom public trust in politics and a state wracked by austerity. We are working to show that government can deliver...

"This Labour government can still build consensus for an alternative, but it must do so urgently.

We need a national commission on electoral reform"

✍️ Beccy Cooper MP & Tim Roca MP

#Democracy
@drbeccycoopermp.bsky.social @timrocamp.bsky.social @politics.co.uk
www.politics.co.uk/mp-comment/2...

The real lesson to take from Gorton and Denton is for the future of UK democracy | Institute for Government Westminster is dangerously underprepared for a multi-party future.

🚨 Gorton & Denton shows “First-past-the-post is creaking at the seams” warns @drhannahwhite.bsky.social of @instituteforgovernment.org.uk

🙈 “Maintaining the parliamentary status quo... is dangerously short sighted."

#ElectoralReform
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/gort...

Interesting overview from @alanrenwick.bsky.social on the range of democratic reforms that will come into focus during the Representation of the People Bill, from dark money to disinformation and Westminster's failing electoral system 👇

🗯️ "At the next election, a minority party could win a majority of seats with just a fraction of the popular vote."

🗳️ APPG member @annadixonmp.bsky.social made the case in Parliament for a National Commission on Electoral Reform.

Read more about our proposal: makevotesmatter.org.uk/national-com...

Electoral reform is the key to Social Democratic renewal With four parties tied in the polls, our first past the post electoral system is failing. How should progressives respond?

In the 1950s, Labour and the Tories won 95% of the vote combined.
Last election? Just 58%.

The two-party era is over. Clinging to First Past the Post won't save progressive politics – it risks breaking it.

Jenny Riddell-Carpenter MP writes

The era of two-party politics is over.

Under First Past the Post, this means:

❌ MPs most constituents didn't vote for
❌ Single-party governments that most of the country never wanted

@appgfairelections.bsky.social Chair @alexsobel.co.uk is right: this is not a way to run a democracy.

Over 50 Academics Warn That Voting System Is Not Fit For Multi-Party Politics Dozens of academics have written to the government to warn that the current voting system risks producing distorted results on an 'unprecedented' s...

Over the weekend, more than 50 academics urged the government to shift away from first-past-the-post, warning that it is not designed to handle multi-party politics

The letter, shared with PolHome, said it risks electoral "distortions" on an "unprecedented" scale at the next general election

bsky.app/profile/appg...

📮 Full text of the letter calling on the Government to engage with the growing risks First Past the Post now presents

✍️ Signatories include leading academics, political scientists and constitutional experts - including a former Chief Executive of the UK Electoral Commission

👇 Read it in full

Over 50 Academics Warn That Voting System Is Not Fit For Multi-Party Politics Dozens of academics have written to the government to warn that the current voting system risks producing distorted results on an 'unprecedented' s...

I never really sign stuff. But this was different. It's not about trying to facilitate or block a particular party's route to power. It's about an electoral system that's unsuited to the political realities we face today and risks giving us government after government with no convincing mandate.

Over 50 Academics Warn That Voting System Is Not Fit For Multi-Party Politics Dozens of academics have written to the government to warn that the current voting system risks producing distorted results on an 'unprecedented' s...

🚨BREAKING NEWS 🚨

50 leading academics, former senior public officials and politics, law and policy experts warn about the risks of First Past the Post.

Letter in @politicshome.bsky.social today 👇

Over 50 Academics Warn That Voting System Is Not Fit For Multi-Party Politics Dozens of academics have written to the government to warn that the current voting system risks producing distorted results on an 'unprecedented' s...

🚨 Over 50 leading academics have sounded the alarm on the UK's voting system

⚠️ In an era of multi-party politics, First Past the Post risks “random and arbitrary” results like never before

🗳️ The experts' letter warn Ministers they must address this to stem growing instability and distrust

The Representation of the People Bill is a good start, but doesn't go nearly far enough. First Past the Post leaves millions unfairly shut out of democracy.

#Democracy #ElectoralReform

📜 APPG member Jenny Riddell-Carpenter @jenny4suffcoast.bsky.social calls for the Government to set up a National Commission on Electoral Reform 👇

We must defend UK democracy from Russian interference and the wider web of dirty money and misinformation which enables bad actors to undermine trust in politics.

The Elections Bill is crucial in addressing this - the govt must not delay it any further.