Nerdy no more: we're going mainstream!

Question and answer

Question: What have Anand Menon, David Aaronovitch, Richard Murphy, Peter Kellner and Sir John Curtice got in common?

Answer: they all highlighted our failed electoral system in their commentary on the May local elections.

Please note: the operative word here is ‘highlighted’. They went for it as a key part of the debate.

The people cited have probably backed electoral reform and even spoken on it; but this time they raised it upfront, rather than as an occasional low-priority aside.

For example, Sir John on BBC TV directly told Labour cabinet member Bridget Phillipson that Labour should consider electoral reform (shortly after Sarah Olney had called for proportional representation.

Into the mainstream

What’s happening? What’s different? How come it’s on the mainstream public and political agenda rather than being relegated to a nerdy side-show?

Two things: one, we’re still in the unmissable after-shock of the 2024 General Election with its wildly democracy-distorting result.

The stats don’t win the argument but they do underpin it. So a quick summary – only one-third of votes went to the winning party and four out of ten voters didn’t even cast a ballot! Only 15% of MPs were elected with a majority of votes in their constituency; most votes cast were for losing candidates.

The public feeling? A massive majority of the electorate – 79% according to More in Common, is fed up and doesn’t trust politicians or political institutions). Even Kemi Badenoch agreed first past the post produced a ‘scandalous’ result.

Two, this May’s elections have further exposed the volatility, unpredictability and sheer randomness of our elections when there are four parties polling support in the mid-high teens and above. First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) was always the wrong system for elections but projections of any party winning a parliamentary majority on around 30% of the votes, matched with the idiocy of Mayoral elections results under FPTP, have given the need for a proportional system an urgency and relevance it previously lacked.

Opportunity awaits

So: the big opportunity for us – what was a self-styled Lib Dem ‘nerd’ policy is now on the mainstream agenda. It’s current and important, not a minority pursuit. This change is a huge enabler for our party; of course we continue to press home on health and social care, on the cost of living, on the water industry disgrace, but we know we can argue for electoral reform as an increasingly understood underpinning of what’s needed change the UK for the good – sustainably.

Will it stay on the agenda? Interest in electoral reform has tended to rise for a few weeks after a General Election and then drop away again. This time feels different; and as the largest-ever parliamentary party committed to proportional representation we can lead the way, collaborating with like-minded politicians in other parties and moreover in our own right.

Longstanding believers and advocates, but nerds no more. Welcome to the mainstream.