International Women's Day 2026: Three generations of women tell us why they're campaigning for PR - Make Votes Matter It’s been over 100 years since some women got the vote. In recognition of International Women’s Day 2026, Make Votes Matter hears from activists representing

Happy International Women's Day! ✊💃

Studies consistently show that countries with proportional voting systems tend to have more women's representation in their parliaments.

We spoke to three brilliant campaigners, representing three generations of women, about why they support PR 👇

“My vote doesn’t matter? Why women deserve a fairer electoral system Too many women still feel their vote doesn’t matter. A fairer electoral system could change that

“Now Labour is in government it’s time to change the system at home and ensure that every vote counts so that no woman will ever say again, ‘my vote doesn’t make any difference’.”
@julie4north.bsky.social

#IWD #InternationalWomensDay #Democracy 💜💚
northeastbylines.co.uk/news/politic...

While people feel the foundations of their lives are shaking, this deep crisis will continue | Clive Lewis The partisan debate since the Gorton and Denton byelection risks blinding us to the truth. People are rejecting wholesale the way our politics has developed, says Labour MP Clive Lewis

“The electoral system must change. First past the post manufactures artificial majorities and entrenches safe seats. PR would not eliminate distrust overnight, but it would reflect the pluralism that already exists” @labourlewis.bsky.social 👍
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Today we are spreading the word about a fairer voting system in Stockton Heath, Warrington. #PRnow

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."

Proportional representation is true rule by the people | Letters Letters: Readers respond to Gaby Hinsliff’s defence of first past the post, and Polly Toynbee’s call for electoral reform

Great support for electoral reform and Proportional Representation in the letters im The Guardian.
Time is coming. Tide is turning. ⏰ 🌊

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Pizza Express, elite power, and the women who pay the price Why do we keep shielding powerful men, like Epstein, while depending on the unpaid or low-paid work of women?

Why do we keep shielding powerful men, like Epstein, while depending on the unpaid or low-paid work of women? | Gerry Mitchell

📑 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...

Opinion: International Women’s Day: Time to talk about electoral reform On 8 March, International Women’s Day (IWD) will commemorate the women’s rights movement and highlight the progress still to be made concerning gender equality, reproductive rights and gender-based vi...

It will cause unnecessary chaos and destabilise politics.

It's too complicated, people wouldn't know how to vote.

It's not a priority right now.

Those were some of the arguments used over a century ago against giving women the vote. Sounds familiar?

The Representation of the People Bill contains some useful measures, but it must go further – put proportional representation on the statute books, shut loopholes that let dark money in, and modernise media platform oversights to stop misinformation and disinformation.

Want to stop Farage with your vote? At the moment you can’t – and Starmer must fix that | Polly Toynbee The PM’s in-tray is overflowing. But he can’t afford to neglect the real issue that is distorting our politics and the way we live, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee

“In Monday’s debate, Labour MPs were among many calling for a national commission on electoral reform…

The PM is pulled from pillar to post and his in-tray is no doubt full; still, this should be near the top of it.”

✍️ @pollytoynbee.bsky.social
@theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Simon Opher, Labour MP for Stroud, calls for a National Commission on Electoral Reform 👇

OUT NOW: New research reveals the link between First-Past-the-Post and the rise of Reform UK.

Read our paper ‘Lifting the Lid on Britain’s Pressure-Cooker Politics’ by Stuart Donald.

🗳️"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 👇

⚖️ "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.

🗳️ "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

"If we stick with First Past the Post under an increasingly fractured multi-party political landscape, we have a very real risk of the next general election results looking much like a random number generator."

Well said @rozsavage.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.

Greens overtake Labour in sensational poll The Greens have polled higher than Labour in the latest poll by YouGov, which puts them only two points off Reform UK and five ahead of the governing party.

"YouGov finds that Nigel Farage could become prime minister on a 23% vote, against the strong wishes of three-quarters of the country. Voting has become a fruit machine with random results when tiny shifts bring cascading seats."

@makevotesmatter.bsky.social

news.sky.com/story/greens...

Want to stop Farage with your vote? At the moment you can’t – and Starmer must fix that | Polly Toynbee The PM’s in-tray is overflowing. But he can’t afford to neglect the real issue that is distorting our politics and the way we live, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee

FPTP is dangerous:

'the system has become “dangerous” when people are forced to vote tactically, but can’t know where best to place that X. This denial of democracy' ... 'may “undermine the legitimacy of the future governments it delivers”'

@pollytoynbee.bsky.social share.google/IfrZer2v8VTn...

📜 The House of Commons just debated the Representation of the People Bill

💥 Great to see more Labour MPs joining the call for a National Commission on Electoral Reform

📺 @patrickhurley.bsky.social @catsmithmp.bsky.social @chriscurtis94.bsky.social & @jamesnaish.bsky.social

🌹 #Labour4PR

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...

"The Westminster system is crumbling. Labour must rebuild it – or we will find ourselves under the rubble."

✍️ Beccy Cooper MP & Tim Roca MP

🌹 #Labour4PR #ElectoralReform #Democracy
@drbeccycoopermp.bsky.social @timrocamp.bsky.social @politics.co.uk
www.politics.co.uk/mp-comment/2...

🗳️ Sarah Olney: "There is a very wide acceptance that it is time to scrap First Past The Post. It does not deliver the results that people vote for and this is an enormous missed opportunity."

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 Representation of the People Bill will have its Second Reading today.

While it includes some necessary measures, our position is clear:

It won't fix our broken democracy without reforming the very voting system that leaves millions of people unrepresented.

Scrap FPTP now.

Labour must include PR in its new Bill, otherwise it's only representation for SOME of the people - West Country Voices The government’s Representation of the People Bill, introduced on 12 February, has been hailed as the biggest expansion of democratic participation in a generation. Cleaner political finance rules and...

"While votes at 16 is a genuinely historic step, how motivated will young voters feel when, for so many, their vote will almost certainly change nothing?

The most powerful thing we could do to engage all voters is to give them a system in which their votes actually matter."

Well said 👇

Today is the Second Reading of the Representation of the People Bill.

It's an important bill - it's just a shame it does nothing to change the voting system that leaves millions of people without representation 👀

We went to Westminster to speak to MPs about this. Our CEO Emma Harrison explains 👇

Labour is stubborn in defeat because it knows this: we face the belated end of the political 20th century | John Harris In Gorton and Denton, I heard again and again that people wanted seismic political change – Labour and the Tories are no longer part of that conversation, says Guardian columnist John Harris

PR and agreement with others on wider reforms: an elected senate of the nations/regions to replace the Lords and maximum devolution of power out of Westminster. A more honest and collaborative way of doing politics - A lot of us agree @johnharris1969.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Notable that Farage has stopped mentioning real electoral reform ever since first-past-the-post started working in Reform’s favour.