 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
Proportional representation in the United Kingdom has been a political debate onelectoral reform in British politics for many years.
Some British political parties, campaign groups and campaigners have long argued that the currentfirst-past-the-post voting system used forParliamentary elections should be replaced with aproportional representationelectoral system. British lawyerThomas Hare invented (or perfected)single transferable voting, a candidate-based proportional representation election system in the 1850s. British philosopherJohn Stuart Mill endorsed PR in his bookConsiderations on Representative Government. From 1918 to 1929, Scottish school boards (educational authorities of counties and large cities) were elected using STV. STV was used from 1918 to 1950 to elect university MPs, representing the university constituencies of Cambridge, Oxford, Combined English Universities, Combined Scottish Universities and Dublin University (up to 1922). Five of these constituencies (Combined English Universities, Combined Scottish Universities, Dublin University, Oxford University, and Cambridge University) were multi-member seats, electing two or three MPs; the other two had a single seat each. TheRepresentation of the People Act stipulated that university elections were to use STV. STV was used for the 1919 Sligo municipal election. STV was also used for Northern Ireland elections circa 1920.[citation needed]
The devolved states of Scotland, Wales,[a] and Northern Ireland use anadditional-member system (AMS)[a],closed list PR[a] orSTV to elect their legislatures.[citation needed]
The first nationwide election using proportional representation was the1999 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom, when12 districts were used with district magnitude ranging from 3 to 10. After the2010 United Kingdom general election,Take Back Parliament was founded and protested the disproportional result.[1] Similar results happened in 2015.[2]
Following the2024 general election, theElectoral Reform Society published a report to show how the election results would look like under a system of proportional representation.[3]Labour remained the largest party but much reduced to 228 seats while theConservatives increased slightly to 139 seats andReform UK significantly to 100. TheGreen Party of England and Wales also increased significantly to 71 seats while theLiberal Democrats remained largely unchanged.
A 2015 poll found that 57% of the public agree with the principle that "the number of seats a party gets should broadly reflect its proportion of the total votes cast" – compared to only 9% who disagree. The poll, which was scientifically weighted, also found that 51% of the population said they were "unhappy with the current electoral system and want it to change" compared to only 28% who want to keep first-past-the-post (FPTP).[4]
A Redfield and Wilton poll[5] conducted in July 2020 showed 54% of respondents supported switching to a Proportional Representation system, with 16% opposed. Results from aYouGov poll of 1,799 adults inGreat Britain, conducted on 29 August 2022, placed those supporting proportional representation at 46%, don't know at 28%, and those supporting first-past-the-post at 26%.[6][7]
In February 2025, a poll suggested British voters support a change to the voting system.[8] A 2025YouGov poll, found support for proportional representation at 49%, don't know at 25%, and those supporting first-past-the-post at 26%.[9] MostReform UK,Liberal Democrats,Green Party andLabour voters supported PR while Conservative voters are divided.[citation needed]
The introduction of proportional representation has been advocated for some time by the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party of England and Wales,[10][11] and by some pressure groups, such asCharter 88,Unlock Democracy and theElectoral Reform Society, first formed in 1884. In 1998 and 2003, independent commissions were formed to look intoelectoral reform.[12] After the2005 election, in whichLabour was elected with the lowest share of the national vote for any single party majority government in British history up to that time (that record was beaten in2024), more public attention was drawn to the issue. The national newspaperThe Independent started a petition for the introduction of a more proportional system immediately after the election, under the title "Campaign For Democracy".[13][14]Make Votes Matter also advocate for proportional representation.[15]
After its inaugural meeting on 29 November 2016 and until September 2017, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Electoral Reform was a cross-party group consisting of 150 MPs who support electoral reform, chaired byRichard Burden and latterlyChuka Umunna.[16]
Labour pledged in its manifesto for the1997 general election to set up a commission on alternatives to the first-past-the-post system for general elections and to hold a referendum on whether to change the system. The Independent Commission on the Voting System, headed byRoy Jenkins and known as theJenkins Commission, was established in December 1997. It reported in October 1998 and suggested theAlternative vote top-up or AV+ system.[citation needed]
The government had expected a recommendation which could have been implemented within the Parliament, and decided that it would be impractical to have a general election using First Past the Post (FPTP) after a referendum decision to adopt a different system, and therefore delayed the referendum until after the next general election. Those elements within the Labour Party opposed to any change persuaded the party not to repeat the pledge for a referendum in the 2001 manifesto, and therefore none was held once the party was re-elected.[citation needed]
After the2005 election, Lord ChancellorLord Falconer said there was "no groundswell" for change, although a Cabinet committee was given the task of investigating reform.John Prescott was appointed as chair; given his known opposition to change, proponents were critical and dismissive of the move. Several prominent Labour MPs expressed a desire for investigating electoral reform, includingPeter Hain (who argued in the House of Commons in March 2004 for theAlternative Vote),Patricia Hewitt,Tessa Jowell andBaroness Amos.[citation needed]
As mentioned above, in January 2008 the government produced a "desk-bound" review of the experience to date of new voting systems in the United Kingdom since Labour came to power in 1997. This review was non-committal as to the need for further reform, especially as regards reform of the voting system used inparliamentary elections.[citation needed]
In the 2005–2010 parliament, theConservative Party was predominantly in favour of retaining FPTP. Although the Conservatives would have won significantly more seats in the 2005 election if some form of proportional representation had been used[citation needed], some in the party[who?] felt it might find itself politically isolated on theright, and face Labour/Lib Dem coalition governments. Electoral reform, towards a proportional model, was desired by the Liberal Democrats, theGreen party, and several other small parties.[citation needed]
In 2019 the Liberal Democrats, Green Party of England and Wales, Scottish National Party, and the Brexit Party (which has since changed its name toReform UK) all "signed a declaration calling for the first-past-the-post method for Westminster elections to be replaced by a proportional system".[17]
After theUK 2010 general election,the new coalition government agreed to hold a referendum on voting reform. TheAlternative Vote referendum took place on 5 May 2011; voters were given the choice of switching to theInstant-runoff vote system or retaining the current one. The result was a vote against AV (a non-proportional system), with 32% in favour and 68% against.[18]
In 2015, the non-profit ventureMake Votes Matter was formed to campaign for proportional representation.[19] It made the point that some 68 per cent of votes were ineffective, and hence 'wasted' in theUK general election of 2015.[20]
Thetwo-round system was previously used for PCC elections. In 2021, the Conservative government proposed that the voting system for English mayoral and English and WelshPolice and Crime Commissioner elections be reverted to the first-past-the-post system. These elections previously used thesupplementary vote system, in which the winner requires at least 50%+1 of the votes after preferences to win.[21][22] The proposed move was heavily criticised by other parties, which said the Tories "demonstrated their breathtaking arrogance and their utter disdain fordevolution". The Electoral Reform Society said the government was seeking to return to "a discredited, outdated and broken voting system".[23] The plans became law following the passing of theElections Act 2022.
In 2025 the Labour government announced plans to return to the supplementary vote system for mayoral and PCC elections as part of theEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.[24]
The2026 Senedd election will be held under full proportional representation for the first time.[25] Thereforms to the voting system which increase the size of the Senedd, adopt aparty-list voting system and reduce thenumber of constituencies to sixteen.[26] By abolishing thesingle-member districts, first past the post will not be used again for the Senedd.[27]
PA451 Central Government currently revolves around the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, with the role of Parliament greatly diminished. The most important reform needed to redress this imbalance is the move to proportional representation. This will help to bring an end to the traditional dominance of two political parties in Britain.
