Yesterday (30th March), we handed in our Less First Past the Post, not more! petition to the government. Objecting to the imposition of FPTP in the Elections Bill, the petition had on it the names of 34,298 Make Votes Matter supporters who objected to this change.
The petition was started last year, when plans were announced by the Home Secretary to introduce First Past the Post to elections for Police and Crime Commissioners. When it was announced last September that the government were going to sneak in an extension of FPTP to PCC and mayoral elections to the Elections Bill, it became central to our campaigning to stop this.
The names on this list were added to by England’s mayors, who also signed an open letter organised by MVM against this change. This month, members of the House of Lords have also been debating removing it from the Bill entirely, and will vote on it at Report Stage, later in April.
Handing in the petition presented the opportunity for MVM, alongside our allies in Unlock Democracy, who had also organised a petition against the Elections Bill, to share our concerns with the government. Speaking with civil servants at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities, we discussed the lack of justification provided for the government for levelling down our elections, and the lack of consultation with civil society, campaigners, or those impacted most by these changes.
It is often easy to be cynical about petitions. Successive governments have ignored petitions on a variety of topics, and they have no legal force other than to demand parliamentary debate. But the hand-in of this petition granted us unique access to the government to start a dialogue, and raise questions which hadn’t yet been asked about legislation planning to severely impact our democracy.
Thank you, to everyone who signed the petition. Make Votes Matter can only run as a campaign because of the tens of thousands of people across the country actively campaigning for equal votes. It was you who made this meeting happen, and you who will continue to drive the movement for electoral reform.