Stamford councillor calls for overhaul of England's 'archaic' voting system
Her motion will ask South Kesteven District Council to write to the government about changing the electoral laws
England’s ‘archaic’ voting system which leads to ‘minority rule’ needs to be overhauled, a councillor has said.
Councillor Amanda Wheeler has called for the country’s First Past The Post rules to be replaced with Proportional Representation, which she describes as fairer.
Her motion will ask South Kesteven District Council to write to the government about changing the electoral laws.
FPTP gives each seat to the vote winner, while PR splits seats according to the percentage each party received.
Councillor Wheeler, the Liberal Democrat representative for Stamford St George’s, writes that PR ensures that all votes count.
“Currently in Europe, only the UK and authoritarian Belarus still use the archaic single-round FPTP for general elections,” her proposal says.
“Meanwhile, Proportional Representation (PR) is used to elect parliaments in more than 80 countries. These countries tend to be more equal, freer and greener.
“Under PR, MPs and Parliaments better reflect the age, gender and protected characteristics of local communities and the nation.
“MPs better reflecting their communities leads to improved decision-making, wider participation and increased levels of ownership of decisions taken.”
She describes the current system as minority rule, saying: “In the 2019 election, 43.6% of the vote produced a government with 56.2% of the seats and 100% of the power.”
“PR is already used to elect the parliaments and assemblies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. So why not Westminster?”
Studies suggest that if PR had been used in the 2019 General Election, the Conservatives and SNP would have won less seats while Labour, Liberal Democrats, the Brexit Party and Greens would have benefited.
The motion will be discussed at full council on Thursday, November 24.
However, it is set to be heard after a likely heated debate over the future of the Deepings Leisure Centre.