Today marks 25 years since the London Assembly was formally launched. This means, a quarter of a century ago, the people of London gained a new voice – and an ability to elect their new representatives in the Assembly with a fair and proportional voting system.
Thanks to the Additional Member System (AMS), the London Assembly continues to deliver far more proportional outcomes than we see in Westminster, at UK general elections. Under AMS, parties win seats broadly in line with their share of the vote, allowing for real representation of Londoners across the political spectrum.
It’s a stark contrast to the outdated First Past the Post (FPTP) system still used for electing MPs – which in the last general election produced the most disproportional result in British history.
A quarter-century of fairer votes
When the Assembly was created in 2000, it brought with it a commitment to fairer elections and greater accountability. The Additional Member System combines constituency representatives with members elected from a citywide list, ensuring that parties who do well across London as a whole are rewarded, even if they don’t win local seats.
In an AMS election, voters have two ballot papers. On the first is a list of candidates who want to be the sole representative of a particular area. Like a Westminster election, the voter marks their preferred candidate with a cross and the candidate with the most votes wins and gets a seat, even if most people didn’t vote for them.
On the second ballot paper is a list of parties who want seats in a parliament or assembly. Each party publishes a list of candidates in advance for these elections – a vote for a party is a vote to make more of their list of candidates into elected representatives. Seats are allocated in proportion to the votes a party received in the election, also taking into account how many ‘first vote’ seats they obtained.
This means every vote counts, and how people cast their votes is reflected in who they are represented by. Over the last 25 years, the Assembly has ensured that voices that might otherwise be ignored – smaller parties and independents for example– can have a seat at the table.
Under a fairer system, people are getting what they’re voting for
To put this into context: If the London Assembly had been elected using solely First Past the Post, then the voters of parties other than Labour and Conservative would have gone virtually completely unrepresented across the 25 years since the Assembly was founded. Of the 98 FPTP constituency contests held over the seven London Assembly elections to date, just one has been won by a candidate from a party other than Labour or the Conservatives.*
Fortunately, the Additional Member part of the Assembly voting system has ensured that other parties’ voters have achieved representation on the body. For example, across seven elections, 18 Liberal Democrat Additional Member AMs have been elected; 17 Green Additional Member AMs; 4 UKIP Additional Member AMs; and 1 Reform UK Additional Member AM.
Representatives of at least four parties have been elected at each Assembly election and five parties have been represented at four out of the seven elections, including the last election in 2024. This is a far fairer outcome for voters than would have been the case if the Assembly was elected using FPTP alone.
It’s time for Westminster to catch up
London isn’t the only part of the UK to benefit from fairer voting. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland all use proportional systems in their devolved legislatures.
These systems have delivered fairer outcomes and better representation year after year. With research now showing that a majority of the public support proportional representation, the pressure for change is mounting.
As we reflect on the London Assembly’s achievements over the past 25 years, we should also look ahead. We’ve seen what fair votes can do: amplify voices, reflect real support, and encourage politics that serves everyone, not just the winners. It’s time to bring that spirit to Westminster.
It’s time that Westminster caught up with the rest of the UK and changed the way we elect our parliament, so it finally reflects public opinion.
Will you add your name to our call to scrap Westminster’s broken voting system?
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