Reform UK fails to back electoral reform at City Hall

Reform UK Assembly Members failed to support a Liberal Democrat motion calling for more proportional representation in London local elections, ignoring their party's 2024 manifesto backing a referendum on electoral reform. Some Labour Assembly Members also failed to vote in favour and Conservative members were also split.

The motion, proposed by Gareth Roberts AM and seconded by Hina Bokhari AM, was passed by the London Assembly with 11 votes in favour, five against and five abstentions.

Opening the debate, Roberts said the Liberal Democrats' clean sweep of seats on Richmond Council despite winning 51.5% of the vote demonstrated the flaws of the First-Past-the-Post system, arguing that no party should win every seat on just over half the vote.

After the vote, Roberts said: “Reform had a chance to back reform today. They refused, despite the fact that proportional representation was a central promise in their own manifesto.”

“The Liberal Democrats are willing to say the system is broken even when it benefits us. A landslide for one party should not mean a wipeout for local democracy.”

Bokhari said: “Londoners deserve a democracy where votes count equally and communities are fairly represented.”

Keith Sharp, Chair of LDER, welcomed the vote.

He said: “This is another excellent initiative from the Liberal Democrats, highlighting the failure of the current electoral system to give Britain a democracy that truly works.”

“The need to fix our politics is more urgent than ever. In the last two weeks, Sarah Olney led the debate in the House of Commons. Now Gareth and Hina have taken the case to regional government. Liberal Democrats for Electoral Reform are continuing to work at every level of politics to bring about the change that is so badly needed.”

"I just hope Andy Burnham, a long-standing advocate of electoral reform, is listening.”