New polling commissioned by Make Votes Matter for the Labour for a New Democracy campaign found that 83% of Labour members want the party to back Proportional Representation.
This polling is especially significant since support for PR has grown by 7% since the question was last asked by YouGov, for Make Votes Matter, in December 2019. This is a testament to the hard work of activists making the case for PR within the Labour Party.
Read MoreWhat can we learn from this year's First Past the Post by-elections?
Negative campaigning; safe seat voters neglected; tactical voting; and majorities denied: MVM’s Cormac Manning takes a look at what we've seen:
Read MoreGuest blog by Peter Cheng and Debbie Wouldman from MVM Worthing who have produced an easy guide to estimating proportional election results.
We know the First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system produces unfair Parliamentary election results. People may accept that the electoral system could be fairer, but it can be harder to persuade them to support something different, like Proportional Representation (PR), if you only use abstract and general arguments. Concrete figures of how much FPTP distorts elections in your particular region is a useful tool for promoting the PR message. In just a few easy steps, you can estimate what the results of PR would be like in your region.
Read MoreLaurie Taylor has been a passionate campaigner for Proportional Representation (PR) for more than 40 years. He recently returned to his old school to discuss electoral reform with the current cohort of politics students. What an exhilarating experience it turned out to be! And if anyone else is inspired to do the same, Laurie shares his homework on how he went about it.
Read MoreWith so many elections held on May 6th, it was dubbed ‘Super Thursday’. But not all voters will be feeling so super about the results, especially where First Past the Post (FPTP) was in play.
Read MoreMarch, April and May proved to be bumper months for grassroots campaigning, with new groups springing up in several different locations.
There are now around 40 local groups, all run by volunteers who give up their free time, tirelessly campaigning for fair votes. So what’s behind this surge? Sarah Hudspith, MVM’s Communications, Campaigns and Engagement Leader spoke to some of the new group leaders to find out what motivated them to get involved in the campaign.
With every voter in Great Britain eligible to vote next Thursday, we take a look at the voting systems on offer: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Read MoreFriday 12th March saw more than 30 MPs and hundreds of electoral reform supporters take part in our first virtual lobby of Parliament, writes Sarah Hudspith, MVM’s Communications, Campaigns and Engagement Lead.
Read MoreTowards the end of 2020, Worthing MVM analysed the outcome of local district council elections for Worthing. Informally, we had a sense that the results were probably not fair, but we were surprised to find how unfair things actually are in reality. Naturally, we then wondered whether the councillors were happy with this inequitable state of affairs. So, we produced a survey…
Read MorePaul Cooney is a long-time supporter of Proportional Representation (PR) who recently attended a Make Votes Matter training session on speaking up for PR. With a number of speaker engagements under his belt, Paul shares his top tips on engaging an audience and inspiring people to take action.
Read MoreSaturday, 12th December marked the anniversary of the 2019 General Election; an ideal time for another Make Votes Matter Day of Action. This year, the need for collaborative politics in the UK could not be more obvious…
Read MoreMVM Worthing has been an active MVM local group since its launch on 22nd August, when they “occupied” Worthing’s multi storey car park as part of the MVM Summer Day of Action. Since then, they have been wondering… what would the share of seats on Worthing Council be if the local elections used a proportional system?
Read MoreFour years ago Donald Trump became US President without winning a majority of votes. With 46.1% of the popular vote, he was almost three million votes behind his rival Hillary Clinton. But what about Boris Johnson?
Read MoreWard Safi, 30, is from Middlesex and felt let down that the first time he cast his vote in a general election it simply did not matter. A decade on and still feeling unrepresented, he has developed a website called Where Votes Go to help show how undemocratic the voting system really is.
Ward explains his motivation for creating the website and why he thinks a move to Proportional Representation will ensure more people’s voices are represented in Parliament.
Read MoreSurrinder Chera is an activist working as the diversity lead at Make Votes Matter. To help celebrate Black History Month, he’s been delving into the past to uncover the contributions black reformers have made to help make Britain a better place.
Read MoreLast Saturday we held our socially-distanced national day of action, Demand Democracy Day! Hundreds of activists from across the country joined in, sending an unequivocal demand for the reform of our broken voting system.
Amid the pandemic, this was a day of action like no other. We all know that now, more than ever, we need Proportional Representation - and people across the UK were determined to do something about it…
Read MoreMVM Lewes took grassroots campaigning virtual in lockdown, inspiring our upcoming Day of Action on the 22nd of August. Hazel Fell-Rayner (MVM Lewes Acting Chair) writes about their experience…
Read MoreMVM volunteers and activists from in and around London got together to prepare a huge banner for our socially distanced Day of Action. Olly Baker, intern with Make Votes Matter, writes about the experience…
Read MoreUnder pressure from members, Labour’s National Policy Forum is finally consulting the party about electoral reform. Kind of…
Read MoreMonday night saw the first debate on electoral reform of this parliament and it showed how hollow the arguments for FPTP truly are.
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