Andy Burnham: UK's first pro-PR PM?

Prime Minister Andy Burnham is now in 10 Downing Street. It's time for him to honour his long-standing support for a fair voting system, writes Keith Sharp, LDER Chair.

After an anticlimactic leadership challenge, Andy Burnham is now Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It's a good time to remark on his long-standing support for proportional representation and a fair voting system.

Sarah Olney MP highlighted this a few weeks ago in a Westminster Hall debate on the need for electoral reform. Leading the discussion, she said:

“I am committed to proportional representation... I think it would change the political culture. I don’t see how First-Past-the-Post and the point-scoring inherent within it lifts Britain out of the doom loop it is in.

Those words could have been spoken by any Liberal Democrat Member, in this Chamber or beyond, but they were not: it is a direct quote from the Right Hon. Member for Makerfield [Andy Burnham], who is believed to be the Prime Minister-elect.

The moment is now to fix politics. We must make sure that Burnham seizes it."

During the same debate, LDER President Olly Glover MP also spoke, saying proportional representation would “change our politics for the better and for good”, arguing it would bring greater political stability and strengthen democracy across the UK.

And Liberal Democrat political reform spokesperson Lisa Smart MP summed it all up:

“The appetite for reform is no longer confined to the Liberal Democrat benches; it is growing across the House and across the country. We need to fix our politics so that we can fix our country.”

For years, we in LDER and the Liberal Democrats more broadly have been making the case for fair votes in Parliament, in City Hall and across local government.

Andy Burnham is now Prime Minister. With that comes a historic and legacy-defining opportunity to deliver the electoral reform he has long supported. He must not flinch. His Government must turn warm words into action and deliver a voting system that gives every vote equal value.

Keith Sharp,  
LDER Chair