And we’re off - the starting gun has been fired on the biggest ever year of elections. Countries comprising more than half the world's population have already begun heading to the polls. In May, every voter in England & Wales will have the chance to vote. Plus of course, for all of us across the UK there’s the near certainty of a General Election!
Read MoreIn this edition: taking on the system, Christmas reading and crowdfunder final stretch
Read MoreIn this edition: party conference season part 2, winter crowdfunder and another round of by-election betrayal
Read MoreIn this edition: party conference season part 1, by-election campaigning and reading recommendations
Read MoreIn this edition: MVM on the campaign trail, the Labour Party’s new position on FPTP, and how to meet other MVMers at party conferences this autumn!
Read MoreJune is a time for wrapping up ongoing projects, preparing for the holiday lull, and planning for the post-summer restart. Or so the theory goes. In this edition, the movement for PR hits on the by-election campaign trail, at public meetings and in the media.
Read MoreMay was quite the month. Bookended by the local elections and Sort The System, we saw the worst and best of our democracy. On the one hand, First Past the Post once again left huge numbers of voters feeling short-changed. On the other hand, May was a month of collaboration across the democracy sector, as MVM coordinated the Sort The System people’s lobby of Parliament.
Read MoreWelcome to MVM’s latest monthly newsletter. The flawed First Past the Post electoral system means that huge numbers of voters were faced with an unfair choice at this week’s local elections: to see their vote essentially count for nothing, or to vote tactically in order to block their least preferred party. All because the party they support could not win in their area.
Read MoreIt’s been a busy few months here at MVM central, with new staff members joining the team, various events, and lots of progress being made towards Sort The System - the lobby for equal votes. We’ve also bid a fond farewell from the day-to-day team to MVM co-founder Owen Winter as he took on a new, exciting challenge beyond the world of electoral reform.
Read MoreDecember has been a time of change for MVM, with new staff coming on board and newer staff in the pipeline. We’re planning a host of events for the new year, including Democracy Loves Climate Justice, a mass lobby of parliament and trials for door-knocking. Read more…
October saw MVM finishing up our conference season activities, at Green, Conservative, SNP, TUC and Reform UK respectively. We also officially hired a new media manager and have been working on our postcard writing campaign. Read more…
This month’s major campaign development is the fantastic news that the Labour Party voted to back PR at their conference! A massive thank you to all our activists and allies who helped make it happen. While our campaign goes on, PR is now one step closer. We also have events coming up at other party conferences, despite some having to be rearranged due to the sad news of the Queen’s death. Read more…
This month we had one of our all too rare in-person staff team gatherings, which was a wonderful chance to catch up. We’ve also been prepping for party conferences, organising ‘Democracy Loves Climate Justice,’ and working on recruiting a new media manager. Read more…
This month gave us a chance to talk about the Action Day and hear the perspectives of our activists in our All Activists Call. We’ve also been working on getting more volunteers involved, been campaigning around the Conservative leadership contest and been sharing all the brilliant coverage the campaign is getting all over our social media. Read more…
This month we held our summer Action Day, ‘Get Moving for PR’ which saw brilliant events happening up and down the country. Our latest webinar ‘Democracy Loves Strong and Stable Government’ was also a hit, and we’ve had a lot of media coverage, both local and national. Read more…
This month saw several big events for MVM with the launch of Councils for PR and Democracy Loves Diversity both a huge success. Planning for our National Action Day in June has also been well underway, with good coverage in national and local press. Read more…
This month, MVM has been working with Get PR Done! on getting UK councils to back PR. Our next All Activists Call is also coming up, and more local group launches have taken place. There has been lots of positive coverage of the need for equal votes in the media, we launched a new petition to Priti Patel, welcomed new Alliance members, and have been hard at work planning our ‘Democracy Loves’ events series. Read more…
The Elections Bill made its way to the House of Lords in March, with plenty of vocal opposition from all sides against the proposed change to FPTP for mayoral and PCC elections. The Grassroots team is starting to plan action days and local groups are continuing to be launched across the country. Read more…
In February we held our first action day of 2022, protesting together against the Elections Bill. There was also lots more local group activity, new alliance members, speeches against FPTP in the House of Lords and MVM’s first ever Twitter Spaces, among other things. Read more…
This month marked the beginning of a new working relationship between Make Votes Matter and Labour for a New Democracy, as the latter formally became part of the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform. We will continue to work together and thank MVM’s departing team members for all their hard work. Plans are also well underway for our rallies against the Elections Bill, and we have lots more local group activity to report on. January also saw our first Alliance meeting of the year, and debates on PR and citizens’ assemblies in the Commons…Read more…
